I spend the majority of my working week speaking to and meeting with a whole range of Salesforce professionals who are either working in the ANZ market or have a desire to be.
My professional network ranges from candidates who have just achieved their first certification and are looking for their first break – right through to Salesforce Certified Technical Architects and owners of Salesforce Consulting Partners.
I am in the fortunate position of knowing the ANZ Salesforce market very well, so wanted to highlight some of the things I have learnt from engaging with hundreds, if not thousands of Salesforce professionals over the years.
You do not need 5 + years experience to be a Salesforce superstar
It is common to see job descriptions seeking candidates with X number of years experience, but this is a major mistake.
Salesforce evolves incredibly quickly and what someone was doing 5 years ago isn’t always as relevant as what they are doing right now. Although some of the most well known Salesforce professionals in ANZ have been around the market for a considerable time, there are plenty of ‘newbies’ with less experience kicking major goals. It’s not how long you have been doing something, what’s more important is how well you do it.
Hiring decisions should not be made based on the Salesforce certifications that someone has
Unless hiring a Salesforce CTA, certifications should not be the major factor considered when looking to bring on a new team member.
Companies should only be making hiring decisions after completing a thorough interview process where they assess and review a candidate’s practical skills, tangible achievements with previous employers and their culture fit. The fact that a candidate does or does not have a certification is only a small part of their credentials.
Salesforce certifications are 100% worth having if a candidate has approached the learning and study required in the right way.
Unfortunately not all candidates want to play the long game but are eager to ‘be certified’ in the hope it will open up a greater pool of opportunities and earning potential.
But note – The Technical Architect and Platform II certifications are the only two that require either a practical assessment or face to face discussion where the candidate truly needs to demonstrate their practical capabilities!
The ANZ Salesforce market has some incredible talent but like all markets – also has some not so talented professionals. Some of our very best do not hold any Salesforce certifications but can breeze through a technical discussion, provide glowing references and can deliver instant results.
And yet some other less capable candidates hold multiple Salesforce certifications but have left a trail of destruction with their previous clients and would crumble if you put them thorough a technical skills based interview – (which luckily for them, not many companies do!)
A job title is not an accurate reflection of seniority or capability
Job titles are subjective!
I have seen examples of candidates with ‘Senior’ titles at certain Salesforce partners interview with competing partners and be classed as ‘Junior’.
Job titles can be incredibly misleading which means that some candidates are interviewed for jobs that they aren’t ready for while a more than capable candidate is overlooked because their current job title doesn’t do them justice.
You can never really truly understand what level a candidate is able to operate at until you have had a detailed discussion with them. Many companies miss out on top talent by forming an opinion based purely on a resume and previous job title and yet as an example – A Salesforce Platform Manager with one company is often entirely different to someone with the same title at another company.
Your reputation precedes you
News travels fast in the ANZ Salesforce market (bad news travels extra fast) and it’s rare to speak to a candidate who doesn’t already have an opinion on the company that we are recruiting for.
This opinion has sometimes been formed a long time ago and can be entirely wide of the mark but the way in which a company treats their employees or delivers projects is often well known by the wider market.
I have spoken to candidates who have ruled out a role the instant they hear the company’s name and have also placed candidates into roles when they had insisted they weren’t looking to move role until they hear who they could be joining.
This is also true for companies having opinions on candidates before they meet them based on feedback they have heard or places they have worked.
Reputation is everything in the Salesforce market and a bad one is incredibly hard to shift!
The Salesforce market in ANZ is very small but its fast paced and an exciting one to be operating in – if you would like to talk to me about the best way to find a new opportunity or to attract the best talent, I would love to help so please get in touch.