The continuing growth of the Salesforce ecosystem generates new jobs every year, and a new wave of additions to the Salesforce Platform, such as Heroku, Einstein and Tableau, creates a new set of job roles entirely.
The need for Salesforce professionals has increased exponentially in the last 5-10 years, which gave birth to a new niche of recruitment: Salesforce recruitment agencies.
I want to provide a few notes that will hopefully sweeten the relationship between Salesforce professionals and recruiters. Please note that this article is not written to support or criticize the Salesforce recruitment industry.
Let’s start with the basics – who is in the relationship, and what do they want out of it.
Salesforce Recruitment Services – Overview
After having a number of conversations with both Salesforce professionals and recruiters, I have come to the conclusion that the relationship is quite simple. Why? Because each party knows exactly what they want out of the relationship.
Warning, this is a dry explanation, so apologies if anyone feels I have oversimplified their offering.
- Recruiter: wants the opportunity to pitch an opportunity, ideally with the objective of placing you within that job.
- Salesforce professional: wants the recruiter to find him/her an opportunity when the time has come for a job or career change, contract expiry, or redundancy.
Types of Salesforce Recruitment Services
There are a number of agencies that specialize in Salesforce recruitment services. Depending on where you are based, there will be some that focus solely on Salesforce recruitment, whereas others will have a specific arm of the organization that provides this.
Additionally, there are a number of micro recruitment agencies that have popped up. These agencies should not be ignored, as most of the time, the founders are ex-recruiters from other agencies.
There’s a common perception in the industry (that I have heard on many occasions) that micro recruitment agencies are able to serve the Salesforce Community better than the larger recruitment agencies. This could explain why so many have sprung up in recent years. If a recruiter is able to provide a service to the community while being a founder of a micro recruitment agency, then more power to them.
To summarise, the types of Salesforce recruitment services you will come across are:
- Salesforce recruitment agencies
- General recruitment agencies, with a Salesforce specific arm
- Salesforce micro recruitment agencies
Getting Approached by Salesforce Recruiters
There is no question that if you have anything related to Salesforce on your LinkedIn profile, the likelihood of being approached by a recruiter is very high.
That in itself is not a negative point. I do believe that even a simple interaction from a recruiter can actually make a positive impact on one’s self-esteem. Most of the time, as newcomers enter the Salesforce Community, a sign of being sought-after can bring a wave of mental motivational benefits.
The issues of this relationship come when any one of the two parties crosses a certain line. That line is different for each Salesforce professional, as well as for each recruiter – it’s a personal thing.
We could also say that the negative feelings that a Salesforce professional could feel when a recruiter is reaching out, is not in relation to that specific recruiter, but with the bad taste any previous encounters left ‘in their mouth’.
How Can You Work Effectively With Recruiters?
I do not think that there is an easy way around the fact that there will be some great relationships built, and some…not so successful.
We have to learn, adapt, and understand that each individual may have different boundaries and also personal circumstances.
On the other hand, there are a few things that we can try as Salesforce professionals, and for recruiters to remedy a bad reputation:
1. Provide Value
Recently I stumbled across a post on LinkedIn by a Salesforce professional where he was advising (rather than criticizing) the recruiters that use LinkedIn as their main tool to find potential candidates. His point was that LinkedIn was used by recruiters as a spamming platform, and concluded that the majority of recruiters were posting positions that they were trying to fill, and use the Premium LinkedIn features to message other Salesforce professionals.
The issue that he pointed out is that there is no value added to the community. As a result, anyone that is planning to join the ecosystem should embrace the community values and build on top of this great foundation.
As Salesforce professionals, we share tips, how-to-articles, solutions to complex problems and entire training courses and webinars. Do this by joining your local Salesforce community, engaging on the Trailblazer Community and other forums – and overall, supporting other Trailblazers.
A recommendation for recruiters
Provide visibility on the hiring process to this community of potential candidates you are targeting.
- Examples:
Candidates would find it interesting to understand which skills end user organisations are looking for vs. consultancies, from a recruiter’s insider point of view. - Recruiters should share and encourage the best ways to provide interview feedback to candidates from the hiring organisations.
2. Build Relationships
Building strong relationships can be of great value to both the Salesforce professional and the recruiter. Supporting a win-win situation provides a reassuring sentiment when you know that the recruiter has your best interests in mind.
That trust should also be repaid by the Salesforce professional as a two-way bridge. Each individual will see the encounter in different ways, but overall, the recruiter needs to provide a good offer that will encourage the Salesforce professional to start a conversation.
Going forward, the objective may be that Salesforce professionals will end up having work relationships with their recruiter, just like they would have with their accountant or solicitor.
This is especially relevant for Salesforce contractors, who need to rely on the expertise of a recruiters periodically, and deciding to work exclusively with one recruiter is a powerful signal of trust.
3. Transparency
Transparency is one of the top priorities when a decision to collaborate on a job opportunity has been made.
The recruiter will aim to secure the best option in terms of compensation and benefits package. At the same time, the Salesforce professional should be upfront with any specific requirements and changes in their situation throughout the process, such as their notice period.
4. Honesty
To follow-up on the previous point, honesty will be the foundation of the Salesforce candidate-recruiter relationship.
Again, honesty should flow both ways. Firstly, the Salesforce professional should be honest about their experience and knowledge. Based on the current Salesforce market, there are enough opportunities for experts as well as for newcomers!
On the other hand, the recruiter should be honest with the requirements and responsibilities of the opportunity in question. I have personally been presented opportunities where the discussion took a turn at the point that I made contact with the hiring manager. Not a good experience!
Summary
A final point I want to get across in this article is this: Salesforce recruitment agencies are building strong relationships with organisations in order to advertise job opportunities, which makes them invaluable to Salesforce professionals.
If we again take out any complications, specific circumstances and personal preferences, a Salesforce professional has a group of highly skilled salespeople at their disposal, who are actively finding them a job. I think all professionals should appreciate this more, whether we’re current or future candidates for a role.
As the Salesforce ecosystem continues to grow, offering more personal development opportunities, learning, connections, excitement and comradeship, we have to realise that each member of this community has something to contribute. Let us support each other and strive for success together!
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