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How to Build a Successful Career with Help from Salesforce Staffing Part 2: Starting and Growing a Successful Salesforce Career

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How to Build a Successful Career with Help from Salesforce Staffing Part 2
In Part 1 of this 2-part series, How to Build a Successful Career With Help from Salesforce Staffing, the VALiNTRY Salesforce Staffing team walked through why you should want to work in Salesforce and what types of jobs are available.

In Part 2 of How to Build a Successful Career with Help from Salesforce Staffing, the VALiNTRY Salesforce Staffing will dig into the requirements for new Salesforce professionals to start their career and best practices that experienced Salesforce experts can use to accelerate their career growth.

Key Sections

How to Start Your Salesforce Career

To have a successful Salesforce career, talent must be committed to continuous learning as well as maintaining and growing their presence in the Salesforce ecosystem.

Learn, Learn, and Learn Some More

1. Trailhead: Earn badges and trusted certifications for in-demand skills on Salesforce’s completely free
2. Podcasts: Hear users and other experts discuss the latest updates and emerging trends in the Salesforce ecosystem. Podcasts like The Salesforce Admins Podcast, Blazing Trails, and Salesforce For Everyone are great places to start.
3. Events: Events from on-demand webinars to user-led local meetups to Salesforce events happening daily throughout the world deliver incredible content, networking, and inspiring success stories.

Categories

4. Social Media: Connect with a robust online community via Salesforce Partners and Professionals, Reddit, and Trailblazer Community Groups where Salesforce professionals from around the world connect, collaborate, and discuss all things Salesforce.

Demonstrate Your Skills

1. Trailhead Ranks: No matter your expertise or career path, Trailhead uses gamification to make learning relevant skills and earning credentials fun. You can showcase the status of your Trailhead learning journey to the rest of the Salesforce ecosystem by climbing the Trailblazer Ranks.
2. Salesforce Certifications: Salesforce has over 35 certifications that span a variety of products, services, and career paths. Certifications are typically required for most Salesforce jobs as they provide verifiable and trusted proof of your Salesforce skills to potential employers.

Build a Portfolio of Salesforce Work

1. Superbadges: Similar to Trailhead badges, these badges are more difficult to obtain as they challenge you to apply your skills in complex, real-world business scenarios.
2. Volunteering: Volunteering your Salesforce skills in support of a nonprofit is a great way to solve the chicken/egg scenario of needing work for experience and experience for work.
3. Real-World Projects: Notice a need around you that a Salesforce app could solve? Put some requirements together, build it, and release it on the AppExchange. Future employers will see your skill and you might create a revenue stream for yourself in the process.
Remember, becoming Salesforce-certified and building a portfolio requires focus, and effort. But if you strategically select the best badges, Superbadges and certifications while building a solid portfolio, you will position yourself for success in your Salesforce career.

How to Get Your First Job in Salesforce

How to Get Your First Job in Salesforce
Now that you have a bit of experience and the necessary certifications, it’s time to get out there and start looking for your first real job in the Salesforce ecosystem. There are several ways you can help yourself be more successful here.

Brand Yourself

Confidence

Starting out, it will be easy to feel like others are more experienced but only you have your unique mix of skills, expertise, and background. The only person you should compare yourself to is the person you were yesterday.

Portfolio

As you gain experience, document your projects in a portfolio format and provide a project summary, your role on the team and any results

Soft Skills and Certifications

Find ways to promote examples of your talent from Salesforce certifications to soft skills such as communication, strategic thinking, and collaboration.

Network

Events: Salesforce events, such as World Tour or Dreamforce, local user groups or online webinars are some of the best ways to connect with fellow Trailblazers and understand the latest releases and trends.

Trailblazer Community: Engage with other users in the Salesforce ecosystem by contributing to discussions in forums like Trailblazer Community Groups, Discord, Slack, and LinkedIn. Follow Salesforce thought leaders to learn from their content and share relevant articles from them with your network.

Stay Motivated

Learn from Failure: Setbacks and missteps happen in every career path. Reframe failures into learning opportunities and let them propel you forward.

Self-Care & Kindness: No matter how bumpy the career path gets, treat yourself with patience and kindness in order to give yourself the best chance to bounce back.

Actively Search for Jobs

Recruiters: Work with headhunters that specialize in Salesforce Staffing (like VALiNTRY) as they have in-depth experience recruiting in the Salesforce ecosystem and they know what hiring leaders are looking for in Salesforce talent.

Hire Me Button: At the start of your job search, don’t forget to go to your Trailblazer profile and activate the Hire Me Button. This will allow hiring leaders to see you are ready to work!

How to Maintain a Successful Salesforce Career

How to Maintain a Successful Salesforce Career

Keep a Growth Mindset

Career Plan: With the career growth Salesforce offers, develop a vision for your career and create a roadmap to achieve your goals. This will keep you motivated to press forward and never settle as you gain more experience.
References: Ask old colleagues, clients, or managers to highlight your skills, work ethic, and achievements in a LinkedIn recommendation. These testimonials can then be shared on various platforms or directly with hiring leaders and prospects.

Find a Mentor

Salesforce MVPs: These rock stars are exceptional members of the Salesforce ecosystem who have been recognized for going above and beyond to help others succeed.

Personal Connections: Ask peers to help you connect with those who can inspire, encourage, and push you with their invaluable experience and support.

Give Back

Collaborate: Participate with fellow Salesforce professionals in volunteer projects, content creation, or event presentations. You will be able to increase your visibility within the Salesforce ecosystem and learn new skills while making stronger personal connections.
Be a Mentor: Mentorship should be a two-way street, so pay it forward as you progress in your career and help those coming up behind you with your own insights and experiences.

Be Proactive

Always Be Innovating: Look for ways to improve your work by experimenting with new tools and ideas, streamlining processes, or simply enhancing the customer experience. This innovation mindset will ensure you stay flexible and ready to adapt to the next evolution of the Salesforce ecosystem.
Build Soft Skills: Outside of the technical skills Salesforce experts need, they must also learn how to interact and effectively communicate with others, while maintaining emotional intelligence.
Develop Transferable Skills: From asking good questions and managing your time well to being creative and following directions, many skills most people have, regardless of their education or career background, are similar to those needed in the Salesforce ecosystem. And vice versa.

As we come to the end of this 2-part series, How to Build a Successful Career with Help from Salesforce Staffing, the VALiNTRY Salesforce Staffing team hopes you have found value in these recommendations and would love to help you move forward in your Salesforce career.

Find Your Next Salesforce Job with Help from the Salesforce Staffing Experts at VALiNTRY

VALiNTRY’s Salesforce Staffing Experts, understand how valuable skilled Salesforce experts are to any organization and because of that, you can be very selective on which roles you take.

The Salesforce Staffing team at VALiNTRY has spent the last decade working to build strong partnerships with Salesforce, its users, and highly skilled Salesforce candidates. From entry level Salesforce Consultants to expert Platform Architects, they understand the value each of these professionals bring to their clients.

Whether you are looking for a permanent position or your next contract gig, the VALiNTRY Salesforce Staffing team saves you time and stress by expediting and streamlining your job search.

Ready to take the next step? Search for Salesforce jobs in our exclusive Salesforce Staffing database and send your resume to us today to get started finding the right match for you!

Missed Part 1 of How to Build a Successful Career with Help from Salesforce Staffing?

Read it here
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