The staff shortage in the area of communications and networking on the local market is of over 9,000 people, and studies conducted by specialised companies show that problems in finding human resources in this industry will worsen in the next few years, say representatives of Cisco Romania, the local branch of the biggest network equipment producer worldwide. “In terms of networking, which is the focus of our activity – figures indicate a 9,000-people shortage in the near future, and this deficit is rising,” Bogdan Constantinescu, CEO of Cisco Romania told ZF. “This figure covers the whole market, and, in addition to suppliers of equipment and services, it also includes the big telecom operators and the necessary personnel in the companies, which use and benefit from this technology,” explains the head of Cisco Romania. He says that the human resources shortage is currently a common problem for local telecom and IT companies due to the harsh competition.