The Dreaded Salesforce Catch-22
Mike Wheeler
Velza.com for Salesforce / Agentforce Implementations - RapidReskill.com for Salesforce & AI Training - Urelevant.com Podcast - Author and Best Selling ChatGPT, Prompt Engineering and Salesforce Instructor
It’s a common refrain. “How do I get a Salesforce job without Salesforce experience?”
Not to be outdone, this is quickly followed by, “How do I get Salesforce experience without a Salesforce job?”
It’s the Salesforce Catch-22!
This dilemma is common in any field of work - not just Salesforce.
And the good news is that this is a less formidable obstacle in the Salesforce ecosystem, due to the every-increasing demand for talent.
If no one could ever get hired without experience, then we all would be unemployed.
And there’s also the issue of unemployment in general being at historic lows. So employers are not going to be nearly as picky and selective as you might think.
My answer to the dreaded Salesforce Catch-22 is to….
MAKE YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE
You simply can’t wait for the perfect job to land in your lap.
For your first job in the Salesforce ecosystem, you can’t be picky.
Just take A job that gets Salesforce on your resume. There will be time to be picky later, once you do have verifiable experience.
Until then, make your own experience.
This is done primarily two ways.
You have to either ‘grow where you are planted’ or volunteer. (Or both!)
Growing where you are planted is figuring out some way to incorporate Salesforce into your life.
This may be on your current job.
It may be somewhere in your home life.
The bottom line is that you can create apps on the Salesforce platform in roughly 10 minutes. So build an app (or several) that make your life easier.
Look at your life through the lens of ‘how can Salesforce make my life easier?’ and then build the app(s) accordingly.
You will then have stories to tell in Salesforce interviews regarding technical challenges you had to overcome. You will also have a portfolio of apps, and dare I say it….EXPERIENCE.
The other approach is to volunteer.
There’s catchafire.org.
There’s volunteermatch.org.
There’s local non-profit meetups in your area.
Consider any local clubs, home owners associations, little league teams, youth orchestras, (the list could go on and on and on) and offer to help these non-profit organizations to implement their own Salesforce org, free of charge.
Salesforce is the most attainable path to a Cloud Career, and you can get hired without experience.
And I hate to tell you this - but someone needs to...
...often, when you are Heismaned in interviews with the 'not enough experience' refrain - all that is is a safe excuse for them saying NO.
In reality, you may be exhibiting a lack of confidence.
You may be displaying a sense of entitlement, simply because you are certified.
You may be low energy.
You may have not done your homework about the company and/or the person you are interviewing with.
You may not have been making eye contact.
You may be sending negative vibes that are hard for the other person to put their finger on.
I have heard of people not landing a job because they gave a bad handshake.
It's just simply safer to say you don't have enough experience, because then the person rejecting you can't be sued for discrimination.
Telling you the real reason for their rejection may hurt your feelings, or lead to drama (and who needs that in their lives?)
I've created many Salesforce certification courses to help people launch their cloud careers and recently surpassed the 100,000 student mark.
So it may surprise you to hear me say that experience actually trumps certifications.
And there's nothing like experience to help you to pass the certification exams.
This extreme importance of Making Your Own Experience is why I created a Salesforce 11-Module Bootcamp series.
Here are coupon code links to each of the modules:
Salesforce Bootcamp Module 1 - Grow Where You Are Planted
https://www.udemy.com/salesforce-bootcamp/?couponCode=BOOTCAMP
Salesforce Bootcamp Module 2 - App Building Fundamentals
https://www.udemy.com/salesforce-bootcamp-2/?couponCode=BOOTCAMP
Salesforce Bootcamp Module 3 - Easy App Pack
https://www.udemy.com/salesforce-bootcamp-3/?couponCode=BOOTCAMP
Salesforce Bootcamp Module 4 - Jobs and Recruiters App Pack
https://www.udemy.com/salesforce-bootcamp-4/?couponCode=BOOTCAMP
Salesforce Bootcamp Module 5 - Agile Apps Enhancements Pack
https://www.udemy.com/salesforce-bootcamp-5/?couponCode=BOOTCAMP
Salesforce Bootcamp Module 6 - Contract Management App Build
https://www.udemy.com/salesforce-bootcamp-6/?couponCode=BOOTCAMP
Salesforce Bootcamp Module 7 - Application Automation Pack
https://www.udemy.com/salesforce-bootcamp-7/?couponCode=BOOTCAMP
Salesforce Bootcamp Module 8 - Nonprofit Cloud Success NPSP
https://www.udemy.com/salesforce-bootcamp-8/?couponCode=BOOTCAMP
Salesforce Bootcamp Module 9 - Resume and LinkedIn Accelerator
https://www.udemy.com/salesforce-bootcamp-9/?couponCode=BOOTCAMP
Salesforce Bootcamp Module 10 - Salesforce Interview Success Pack
https://www.udemy.com/salesforce-bootcamp-10/?couponCode=BOOTCAMP
Salesforce Bootcamp Module 11- First 30 Days Success Pack
https://www.udemy.com/salesforce-bootcamp-11/?couponCode=BOOTCAMP
Happy learning and I'll see YOU in the Cloud!
Mike Wheeler
PS - Not sure what career path is for you in the Salesforce eco-system? Check out my free Salesforce Career Paths course to start blazing your own trail to a cloud career!
Salesforce MVP | 8x Salesforce Certified Application Architect | 3x Dreamforce Speaker | TrailblazerDX Speaker | Co-Founder #SuperbadgeSunday | RADWomenCode Coach
5 年Couldn't agree more! There's a great sense of self-empowerment that comes along with making your own experience. When I entered the ecosystem in June '17, it took me 5 weeks to reach Ranger, and I had earned 3 certs by Dreamforce that year. And when I couldn't get an interview due to lack of experience, I started building an app to prove my skills. Two months later, I decided that app, Proton Text, was viable and marketable, so by August '18, I was an AppExchange Partner and Proton Text got its first customer. Now, my resume shows 2 years of app design and development experience for a successful AppExchange Partner. Plus, the marketing of the app has resulting in speaking opportunities at more than a dozen User Groups and 3 Dreamin' events, a "Best of Lightning" App demo contest at DF '18, 2 speaking opps at DF '19, Lightning Champion and Trailblazing Partner status. So part of the equation is creating your own experience, but you also need to spend time building your own brand. That's more than having an active Twitter account. You have to get out there, teach, mentor, volunteer, participate, advocate.
Director Technology Solutions @ FTI Consulting | Marketing Communications, CRM
5 年A really great article! I take a little issue with volunteering as a way to get experience - most Salesforce volunteer opportunities require considerable expertise because you are usually in the position of having to build in Salesforce with no support, and then having to train other people. I would also recommend going to the Answers tab in the success community and trying to answer as many questions as you can. It's essentially consulting experience, and I know a few people who have gotten either part-time or full-time work based on the answers they've given.
Salesforce Functional Consultant at Capgemini
5 年Abigail Julian food for thought x
Police Records Management at Clearwater Police Department - City of Clearwater
5 年This was a great article by Mike Wheeler.? Thanks for sharing.??
3x Salesforce Certified. Tackling complex business challenges and solving them through business improvements and process automation.
5 年Aimee Hickman?here's the article! Hope you find it useful :)?