In today’s episode, Ben shares a quick update on the market and what he has seen in the last quarter, April to June 2023. He touches on vacancy volumes, redundancies, job applicant numbers, managed services offerings, and how Salesforce salaries are tracking
Our aim is to give some context and commentary as we navigate between the headlines, and as always, we hope you enjoy the episode.
Ben
Welcome back to Talent Hub Talk. Today, I wanted to provide a quick update on what I saw during Q2, Q2 ending in June 2023 in the ANZ Salesforce market. So you may have heard my Q1 update a couple of months back, and I wanted to jump back in and just record a quick update to spread messages across all of our listeners so they understand what I’m seeing in the market right now or more so what I saw over the last three months.
The first part of the quarter was definitely a bit slower than the end. So we have seen things pick up a little bit over the last few weeks. Things have definitely spiked a little bit. But the reality is that there are more Salesforce professionals available in the market right now than we have seen at all over the last few years. So we’re definitely seeing more people on the market.
And unfortunately, we are still seeing some redundancies affecting Salesforce professionals, with a mixture of end customer businesses, smaller partners, and also Salesforce product companies making people redundant over the last few months. This hasn’t been kind of tied to any specific region. We’re seeing people unfortunately being impacted across the board. Again, not mass numbers from different companies, we’re seeing a handful of Salesforce professionals from certain companies that are unfortunately being affected. So we’re not seeing whole massive teams being wiped out or things like that. Typically, it’s anything from one to seven or eight people from different companies. There may have been more that have slipped my mind right now but that’s what I’ve been seeing, unfortunately.
The good news is that some of the people that have been affected by these redundancies have managed to secure new opportunities quickly and we are seeing numerous companies actively hiring for Salesforce talent and although we’re not seeing the same volumes that we saw in 2021 and 2022 in terms of the volume of vacancies that we saw back then, it is great to see that there are jobs out there and that some people have been able to secure roles really quickly when unfortunately they have been affected by these downturns and the redundancies that I mentioned. Historically when the market is a little bit quieter and we see a reduction in permanent roles, there is usually a bit of a spike in contract work. So when companies don’t have the headcount or the budget to bring on a permanent member of staff for the long term, sometimes they plug gaps in their team with contractors.
But that hasn’t really been something we’ve seen over the last quarter. We haven’t really seen a spike in contract or permanent roles. They’ve both been a bit flatter than we would like to see and have seen over the last couple of years. So yeah, unfortunately we’re not seeing a spike in contract, which we would hope at times like this. Many companies are currently preferring to hire directly when they do have a role and where possible.
And I’m speaking to a lot of candidates that have become quite frustrated with their job search because they’re applying for lots of roles and not hearing back. So we’re seeing if you look at a Salesforce role on LinkedIn, a job advert there, you’ll notice that there are quite a few applicants for a lot of the roles out there. So the challenge that companies are finding, in some cases they’re receiving in excess of 100 applicants for a vacancy.
And then the reality is that very few of those applicants are actually suitable for the role. So, you know, even if it was 20% of the candidates that are applying are actually suitable, that would be that would be great. But unfortunately, that’s not what a lot of clients are finding. But it does create a lot of work for hiring managers. So they’re working their way through CVs and unfortunately, often dropping the ball by either not reviewing all of the profiles because obviously, a hundred CVs is a lot to look through when they’ve got other deliverables they need to do as well. Maybe not giving each profile enough attention. So not really looking through and looking for the positives of each candidate, maybe just scanning the CVs or just failing to respond to everyone that has applied. So, although companies are getting a lot of applicants for roles, they’re not always the right candidates for the job and the people that are potentially the right candidates for the role aren’t always getting the best candidate experience because the hiring manager might not be getting back to them or might miss something on their CV. So obviously I’m always going to be pro using agencies, that’s my job ultimately, but it definitely can help to deliver a positive candidate experience and make the recruitment process a lot smoother for everyone.
Now I know obviously at times like this companies are looking at budgets and they have certain constraints but the reality is, it ultimately is really important that you’re delivering a positive candidate experience for anyone that’s applying for your role and realistically, it’s very difficult for a hiring manager to screen every CV and deliver a good level of engagement with candidates. So it’s definitely something to consider if companies are advertising directly and not ultimately getting the right people or delivering the right engagement with people that are applying. One thing I have found is that if companies are spending a couple of weeks reviewing CVs because they’ve got so many to review, by the time they get through them all and the people they have chosen, they like the look of, in many cases have actually taken other roles because they’re taking things as quickly as they get offered, not wanting to sit on the market for too long.
So the longer the process drags on, the more chance companies have got of losing the suitable candidates that are applying. Over the last couple of months, we have seen a big push for Salesforce partners in promoting their managed services offerings. This makes sense. Obviously, many companies are cost sensitive right now and maybe not investing in as many new projects as they have done in the past. So partners are looking for ways to grow or maintain revenue. And in this climate, managed services is an obvious choice. Some of the partners that we are still seeing that are actively hiring are the ones that have very clear and established industry specialisms such as government, health, utilities and a few others. So we are definitely seeing some partners in growth mode still, which is absolutely awesome to see. There are some partners out there that have consistently hired and are consistently hiring. So it’s great to see some of these partners really making the most of the talent that is on the market. And it’s interesting to see how many partners are really pushing their managed services as well and making sure that as many companies out there are aware of their offering in that space. Unfortunately, right now the market does not favor junior or entry level sales source professionals. I’ve definitely seen a reduction in companies hiring at this level.
And I know it’s really, really frustrating for people that have been lured into the ecosystem with promises of lots of jobs, security, high earning potential. And right now we are speaking to a lot of people that are really frustrated at their job search because they’re just not getting opportunities to really get their foot in the door and prove themselves and really start to build out their Salesforce experience. So unfortunately that’s the kind of the space that we’ve seen affected most by this downturn in volume of opportunities because when companies are hiring, unfortunately often they’re looking for someone ready to hit the ground running and step into the role from day one. So I would love to be able to help more people who find themselves in this position where, you know, they have maybe cross-trained or have followed the path of Trailhead and getting certified and things like that and haven’t been able to secure a role. You know, it’s something I’m really passionate about helping people in this space, but I’d love some input. If anyone knows any ways that we can help and support more people, then I definitely would love to hear from you because unfortunately it’s just not a kind market to people in this space at the moment.
One area that I’ve been paying a lot of attention to over the last couple of months, the last quarter, is Salesforce Industries, previously Salesforce Vlocity. And over the last couple of years, I hadn’t really seen a huge amount of demand in this space, but more recently we have seen big companies going down the industry’s route. So companies like QBE, Optus, AGL, and a lot of the partners are, you know, ramping up their knowledge in this space. There’s some government departments that are doing Salesforce Industries work as well. So Salesforce Industry skills are still very hard to come by. So as more and more companies go down this path, it’s an area that people should definitely be considering upskilling in and looking at things like OmniStudio. You know, you don’t necessarily have to be working on a Vlocity project to start doing some trials or trying to understand the capabilities of some of the tools in the Industry space. So OmniStudio is one I hear about a lot. It’s very powerful. Apparently it’s something that can do a lot more than Flows. So anyone that’s kind of been on that Flow journey and is looking to continue expanding their skillset, it’s definitely worth checking out OmniStudio.
Salaries and rates were fairly stable, I would say over the last quarter. I don’t think they’re going up at the moment, but I haven’t seen too much of a drop in terms of what’s out there and when people are securing new roles, I’d say they’re fairly stable. I have seen some people willing to take a bit of a drop if they’re contracting and looking for a new contract, but right now I wouldn’t say there’s been an across-the-board significant drop on rates or salaries.
So that’s what I’ve been seeing over the last few months, really hoping the market continues to pick up a little bit. As I mentioned, the last couple of weeks have been a bit more buoyant than the beginning of Q2 and we’re really hoping that the second half of 2023 is really positive for everyone. Some new projects come through. Salaries continue to be stable and anyone that is impacted by redundancies, I’m really hopeful that we can help as much as possible and people aren’t out of work for too long. I’d love to answer any questions you have, any comments on anything I’ve said, or if you need any further clarification, I would love to answer and love to hear from you.
Feel free to reach out to me on email, LinkedIn, I’m always happy to help and offer any insight into the market. So here’s to a positive second half of the year and I look forward to working with as many of you as possible!
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