What Salesforce hiring problems are keeping you up at night?
For nearly 14 years my company has been helping US firms that have made significant investments in Salesforce licenses to optimize and realize their ROI. We do this by providing them access to the top 15% of Salesforce talent so they can put the right people in the right seats and get the most out of their Salesforce Org.
That said, I have spoken to hundreds of hiring managers and HR leaders about the challenges they face when hiring for these critical Salesforce roles. Here are some things that keep them up at night and some suggestions on how to get back to sleep!
Salesforce Talent Acquisition is getting too expensive
Not only are salary levels increasing faster than the national average, but they feel they’re wasting money on job postings that attract under-qualified candidates and bad hires that leave them back at the starting line.
Suggestion: Yes, salaries are certainly on the rise, but if clients think of this as part of the overall Salesforce investment, it’s much easier to stomach and justify. If you compare the salaries of a SF Dev and SF Admin combined (avg. 250K), to the loss created by an under-utilized and inefficient SF org, you’re winning on the salaries!
The caliber of candidates isn’t up to par
For example, Salesforce candidates they find can have robust resumes outlining their experience, but when they dig in further they don’t have the depth of experience their resume portrays, or they don’t have a verified record of success.
Suggestion: Remember the job posting above? That really only attracts people who are actively looking at the job boards. Over 80% of the highly qualified Salesforce talent in the US aren’t looking for a job. You’ll have to headhunt for those people.
Negative impact of bad Salesforce hires
What’s a bad hire? It can be qualified as anyone who: misrepresented their skill level and can’t perform the tasks associated with the job, leaves 3 months after being hired, or doesn’t get along with the team (and shows no desire to do so). The negative impact is felt long after they’ve left or been fired. Decreased morale, increased workload on those who adopt the uncovered tasks, missed project deadlines, more stress, all leading to high turnover risk.
Suggestion: A dedicated person on the hiring team who is knowledgeable about the technology they are hiring for and can do an initial technical screen to weed out the bloated resumes/candidates. High praise and acknowledgement for those left with extra work will alleviate stress and morale problems. Have the hiring manager put a lot of thought into the kind of person the team needs and the environment that person will work in, and write it down, so initial interviews can narrow the field.
It takes too long to fill critical Salesforce openings
By the time they are ready to hire a Salesforce Leader, their candidate of choice is either choosing between multiple offers or has already gone off the market (top candidates stay available for an average of 10 days only before getting hired, even in this market).
Suggestion: Tighten up your hiring process. Some companies are way too rigid in following a certain process for everyone they hire. Really, for any technical role, but especially a Salesforce role, there should be a shorter, more pointed process. 3-4 interviews tops, and then an offer. Have all who need to interview on-call and ready to schedule the meetings during the two weeks following the first interview.
Their process for recruiting top Salesforce talent lacks continuity
They don’t have a passive candidate pipeline or a system in place that gives them predictable results every time. Therefore, every search has to start from scratch and it quickly feels like a game of chance (reactive vs proactive).
Suggestion: This is tough because it’s likely that your Talent Acquisition department is working on a plethora of different and wide-ranging job openings, so they can’t possibly be expected to focus on the continuity of one type of search. At the risk of shamelessly plugging the use of a recruiting partner (hopefully us!), this is the time to get one.
Can you relate to any of the situations above? These suggestions aren’t necessarily easy to implement and sometimes impossible. If you find yourself facing a roadblock, consider working with a specialized Salesforce recruiting company like mine, Tech2, to ease some of the stress associated with these issues and allow you to sleep at night while we are feverishly working to find your perfect Salesforce candidates. We always work hard to serve the Salesforce ecosystem!!
