Did you know there’s an entire Trailhead Module to help you create your Salesforce Resume??!! I just found out too. How awesome is that! You can learn to master your Salesforce Resume and even earn a badge for it to add to your Trailblazer.Me Profile. This is incredible! Trailhead surprises me again and again. Writing a really good resume is one of the hardest parts in your Salesforce job hunt process. It’s a huge factor in getting you the desired job interview…or NOT! Therefore, you want to be strategic how to craft your Salesforce Resume in order to highlight all those relevant hard and soft skills.
You kiddin’ me?? A strategy for my resume? Indeed! Your resume is the most important document during your job search. It’s going to be how recruiters and hiring managers view and evaluate all other documents they receive from their job applicants, like YOU. This means, you want your resume to speak volumes and spark interest!
In order to achieve this, having a strategy how to write and design your Salesforce resume will help you achieve this. Since resumes should not only offer relevant experiences, they should also be used to demonstrate your creativity. Creativity doesn’t mean drawing fancy pictures, or designing sparkling dresses. Creativity means being creative with the ways you format your resume and how you arrange the contents of your resume. There’s no one-size-fits-all resume. Your resumes should represent YOU, and you are unique and so should your resume be.
🌶️ Did you know that the average hiring managers scans through job applications at about six seconds per page?!! This means, every detail matters, because every second counts. It doesn’t have to be a thousand words to describe your work experiences or certifications. What matters more is that it’s concise but also thorough.
So, have a plan!
KEY ELEMENTS OF YOUR SALESFORCE RESUME
Here are some of the most relevant aspects of a stand-out Salesforce Resume:
👉 Keep your resume short and precise
This means, only include recent and relevant experience. No more than 10-15 years back, if you have that many. And if you don’t have any work experience yet, than that’s fine too. You can still showcase your skills in creative ways.
👉 Create a unique resume file
There are loads of templates out there that you can most certainly refer to. And you should! Because they help you understand how to design your resume. BUT, don’t blindly copy a template. Recruiters and hiring managers are well aware of all these templates and they can tell right away whether you just copied something or whether you added your own twist to it.
👉 Spotlight relevant skills and experiences
This is where your Salesforce expertise comes in. In a Salesforce resume you want it to scream ‘Salesforce’. Therefore, you MUST include any form of experience, even if it’s “only” Trailhead hands-on experience. ANY! form of experience matters!
Therefore, make sure to include any of the following:
Your Salesforce Certification/s – If you don’t have one, add your Salesforce Superbadges instead (they fall under the Salesforce Certification Program)
A Salesforce project – If you don’t have an on-the-job project yet, then create your own
Your Trailblazer.Me profile – If you don’t have one yet, there really is no way around it! Go create one!
AND NOW… GET WRITING YOUR SALESFORCE RESUME
Of course, there’s a lot more to writing a really good resume. And Trailhead wouldn’t be Trailhead if they didn’t even offer a Module on this topic.
Et voila, here’s an extensive Trailhead Module on “Resume Writing Strategies”. It not only includes step-by-step instructions, it also includes resume examples and a lot more resources:
And please do let me know how this module worked out for you (if you’re giving it a try). Did you find it helpful? Did you use any other resources to write your resume? I’d love to know.
Sounds like overkill? It may be. BUT! This is your chance to build a truly outstanding Salesforce Resume, in a digital format. Because you want to showcase your digital skills right? Right! And there’s no better place to do so than with Experience Cloud on your Trailhead Playground, completely free of charge. 🤯 And you know why? Because…you’ll be killing two birds with one stone like no other resume can do! In this article we discuss why you may want to go overkill and how this will set yourself apart from the Salesforce competition.
Even though tech companies, including Salesforce, have recently been in the news for laying off employees, the demand for Salesforce jobs is still there. You can ask any Salesforce recruiter to confirm this. And with the demand being high, so is the competition. However you can most certainly stand out from this Salesforce crowd by building something unique no-one else will have and that is your very personal Salesforce Resume website. There is no other YOU, and that is your unique advantage.
Even if you are brand new to Salesforce, you can already start building your unique Salesforce Resume, sometimes also referred to as a Salesforce Portfolio.
Your personal portfolio website is pretty much the online version of your resume. It’s a compilation of work experiences including examples and documents, as well as education and extracurricular activities. But wait…it’s not just a list of items like you would do in a classic resume created on MS Word. That would not be worth the effort. But what is worth the effort is the opportunity to incorporate your Salesforce knowledge and configuration skills in a very smart way.
BEFORE YOU CREATE YOUR SALESFORCE RESUME SITE
A Salesforce resume requires Salesforce skills to start with right? Right! Therefore! If you are brand new, don’t go straight into building an Experience Cloud Site. You may not even know what Experience Cloud even is. Instead, start by learning the fundamental Salesforce skills first. Otherwise, it’s like trying to drive a car without a drivers license. It probably won’t go very well.
You can learn all things Salesforce, including Experience Cloud, on Trailhead with self-guided Trailmixes like this one:
🌶️ Click the ‘Follow’ button to save this Trailmix to your Favorites.
If you prefer a more structured and instructor-guided learning experience you may choose a Salesforce Certification Course like this one:
It doesn’t matter which option you choose, what matters most is that you start building your Salesforce knowledge profile, a.k.a. Trailblazer.Me Profile. And once you’ve learned your Salesforce Basics you’ll know what Experience Cloud is too, and even how it works. 🤓
BUILD OUT YOUR TRAILBLAZER.ME SALESFORCE KNOWLEDGE PROFILE
This is where all your Salesforce skills come together, by completing Trailhead Badges, Superbadges and ultimately Salesforce Certifications.
Your Trailblazer.Me Profile will therefore become an essential component of your digital Salesforce Resume.
“Trailblazer.Me Profile: A Trusted Resume for the Salesforce Economy.”
Salesforce.com
Now, the Trailblazer.Me Profile page is provided by Trailhead and cannot be customized to your personal style. And this is where Experience Cloud comes in.
DESIGN YOUR PERSONAL DIGITAL SALESFORCE RESUME WITH EXPERIENCE CLOUD
With Experience Cloud you are creating a digital experience. In simple English: You are creating a website, using Salesforce’s own service called Experience Cloud. Sites created with Experience Cloud are called Digital Experience Sites. Don’t worry, you don’t have to pay anything and you don’t need to know how to use HTML.
Digital Experiences can be created with your free Trailhead Playgrounds, or other Developer Orgs, which won’t expire anytime soon unless you stop using them. Plus, when creating Digital Experience Sites you can choose from a range of templates from where you can drag and drop the components you wish to use.
And the best part is, you can learn how to create your own Digital Experience Site on Trailhead and earn additional badges to add to your Trailblazer.Me Profile. How awesome is that!
While you are designing your Digital Salesforce Resume, don’t forget to incorporate your Trailblazer.Me Profile. Because this is your proof of your Salesforce skills. This means, your digital Salesforce Resume will display your work history and education including your Salesforce Experience, and even if that is “only” your Trailhead Badges, Superbadges and Certifications. You may not have any on-the-job Salesforce experience yet, but you DO HAVE EXPERIENCE with the Salesforce platform. And that alone is fully worth to be demonstrated!
Therefore, once this is all put into place, you’ll publish your Experience Cloud site and share it with the world!! 👏🏻 You’ve worked hard for it. You can share it on your LinkedIn profile, other Social profiles, even your classic Resume, email signature and so on.
You’ve not just completed your learning on Trailhead and may have gained a Salesforce Certification, you’ve taken it even A HUGE STEP FURTHER by building an Experience Cloud Site all by yourself in your very personal way.
The side effect: You’ll learn even more about Salesforce’s Clouds and how they integrate with each other, considerations in Salesforce Profiles and Permissions etc. You’ll be able to answer technical Salesforce questions in your upcoming job interviews with much more confidence. Plus, you’ll be able to demonstrate you can think outside the box and find suitable solutions for business processes, such as expanding Salesforce to relevant products or apps.
Are you going to build one? Yes? No? Maybe? Let me know in the comments. And if you built one, share the link too. I’d love to take a look. 👏🏻
Being new in the Salesforce job market can make you feel tiny in this vast Salesforce ecosystem. Many job ads seem to be looking for applicants with 2-3 or more years Salesforce experience. And you may not have any of that at all and you may feel like you will never find that Salesforce dream job. In this article we discuss how you can still stand out from the crowd and showcase your Salesforce talent… in your unique way!
Showcase Your Salesforce Experience – Even if you don’t have any
Being new in the Salesforce job market can make you feel tiny in this vast Salesforce ecosystem. When you see a job posting, in most cases they seem to be looking for applicants with 2-3 or more years of Salesforce experience. And you may not have any of that at all and you may feel like you will never get a job in the Salesforce ecosystem.
Now, keep in mind that all those experienced Salesforce Admins or Salesforce Consultants have started just like you. Hence, they must be coming from somewhere. And with the Salesforce job market growing constantly, the Salesforce ecosystem is in need of building out more Salesforce professionals, just like YOU.
However, this also means there are a lot of newcomers competing with you. How can you still stand out from the crowd and showcase your Salesforce talent?
Prove your Salesforce Talent in your next Salesforce Job Interview
It’s about the big picture. It’s about understanding the Salesforce platform, how it can improve business processes and how you can contribute with your skills to your future employer’s success. Recruiters and Hiring Managers are looking for a well-rounded skill profile. They are not just looking for your Salesforce Admin Certification or other certifications. They want to see how you can apply your technical knowledge in combination with your soft skills. There are three key aspects employers are looking for:
Creative Thinking
This means, thinking outside the box. Can you identify what a business needs and what a potential solution may be? This can include setting up Custom Apps and Custom Objects to manage business-specific processes with all corresponding details in one place.
Problem Solving
What do you do when you don’t seem to find a declarative solution? This is a common scenario. Do you have to take it to the next level with more complex automations or should you look for a solution on the AppExchange?
Forward Thinking
This means helping a business look into the future. How can they get business insights and identify potential improvements for future business success and growth, for example with Reports and Dashboards. Maybe consider the integration of Salesforce external data with tools like Tableau.
This doesn’t mean you have to know the apps on the AppExchange or tools like Tableau inside out. That’s impossible. However, having an understanding of the potential capabilities will go a long way. So just step outside your Trailhead zone and take a browse through Salesforce’s product range as well as the AppExchange. Maybe get a free trial for Tableau (or other Salesforce products) or watch some demo videos.
Just like Albert Einstein used to say:
“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.”
Albert Einstein
This means you don’t need to know everything but you need to know when and where to look for answers.
The next question is how you can build up these qualities to prepare for your job interview meaning for your Salesforce dream job.
Build Your Own Salesforce Experience
Even if you don’t have on-the-job experience with Salesforce, you can start building your very own technical experience and soft skills. It all starts with your hands-on practice, a.k.a. experience on Trailhead ▶️ (Video Guide included). And then … taking all that Salesforce knowledge and converting it into a tailored build completely done by yourself.
Does this feel unachievable? No need to pull your hair out! Let’s take it step by step:
Gaining Salesforce Hands-on Experience starts by Learning Salesforce
As mentioned earlier, your Salesforce learning and experience journey starts with Trailhead. Get a Trailhead Account and start learning.
A good starting point is the Salesforce Administrator Certification Trailmix, even if you’re not sure yet whether or not you want to get certified. It covers all fundamental knowledge and hands-on practice every Salesforce professional needs to have, even those that choose not to get certified.
What I’ve done with the official Trailmix though, I’ve tweaked it a little to add a bit more logic and additional learning units, that I know will serve you better grasp the contents. This will give a more comprehensive learning experience:
If self-guided learning feels to overwhelming, how about taking a Salesforce Course. Have a look at our guided video tutorials and study workbooks to complement your learning success.
Once you’ve got your fundamentals covered, you are ready to take it to the next level. This means, start completing more advanced Trailhead Modules and Projects. This will not only help you prepare better for your Salesforce Certification Exam but it will help you deepen your expertise.
Here are some recommended Trailhead Modules and Projects:
You can also choose to complete one or more Superbadges. They are provided by Trailhead to give you real-life business use cases of the type of challenges you’ll be confronted with in a real Salesforce Admin job role or similar.
While Superbadges won’t take forever they still do require some time and patience to be completed. You may as well skip them for now (but not forever) and see how far you get with what you’ve already learned. Why not give it a go and build your very own business use case.
🌶 Because…eventually, this part is what will set you apart from the competition.
Build your own Salesforce Custom App based on your own Real World Experience
And this is where you can truly prove that you can think outside the box and come up with customized solutions. Now how does this work?
By building your very own app in Salesforce. You are essentially replicating a real-life business process in Salesforce. Simply look around you. What types of shops are in your area? Are you a member of a sports club? Think about how these shops or clubs would manage their day-to-day to-dos. Think about how they would manage their customer details, their memberships, their sales, donations, equipment, and so on?
🌶 KNOW THIS: It doesn’t have to be perfect, a potential employer just wants to see how you can approach solving a business problem.
Let me give you a couple of examples you can use to create a Custom App on your own:
Salesforce Custom App Example 1 – Manage your job applications:
Track best job portals (a.k.a. Custom Object)
Identify suitable positions and corresponding job applications (a.k.a. Custom Objects)
Use a dedicated workspace for job applications (a.k.a. Custom App)
Store Recruiter contact details (a.k.a. Account and Contact Standard Objects)
Manage different types of jobs you may be interested in such as Volunteer, Full-Time, Part-Time etc. (a.k.a. Record Types, Page Layouts)
Track your application progress (a.k.a. Paths Settings)
Set up automated follow-up reminders (a.k.a. Flow Builder)
Monitor time and effort (a.k.a. Reports and Dashboards)
Salesforce Custom App Example 2 – Manage your running club:
Set up club departments, sponsors (a.k.a. Account Types = Record Types)
Set up club members (a.k.a. Contacts)
Manage equipment (a.k.a. Custom Object)
Track donations (a.k.a. Opportunities)
Use dedicated workspaces for club internal details versus sponsorship details (a.k.a. Custom Apps)
Set up automated sponsorship renewals (a.k.a. Flow Builder)
Monitor sponsorships and donations over time (a.k.a. Reports and Dashboards)
🌶 Struggling to find ideas? Then check out the Salesforce Customer Success Stories. They range from small businesses to larger organizations that have decided to solve their business issues with Salesforce. You can read about the types of challenges and which Salesforce products they chose to overcome these challenges:
Once you’ve created your personal business use case, a.k.a Salesforce Experience, it’s time to tell the world about it!
Share Your Salesforce Experience
Don’t be shy to share your work with Recruiters and Hiring Managers, even if it’s not the typical on-the-job type of experience. It still shows that you’ve developed your Salesforce skills plus soft skills to match the criteria employers are looking for.
Therefore, add your Salesforce experience to your resume. And even better, add it to your LinkedIn profile, because that’s a common place where Recruiters and Hiring Managers are looking for talent. And you want to make sure you can be found.
And don’t forget to add your Salesforce Certification as well as your Trailblazer.ID.
Closing Remarks
Gaining Salesforce experience has different faces. They include practicing hands-on with Trailhead, completing Superbadges or building your own Salesforce App. Other ways to gain experience is through volunteer opportunities and of course real-life Salesforce jobs. As I always like to say: Take it step-by-step, and you will get there!
Let me know in the comments if you managed to create your very own Salesforce app. What did you set up? I’d love to hear about it. 👏🏻
That depends! Not the answer you wanted? Bear with me. There are a number of factors contributed to your experience, study materials, career goal and more. You are going to make this work using the guidelines we’ll discuss in this article.
“Success isn’t overnight. It’s when every day you get a little better than the day before. It all adds up.”
Dwayne Johnson | actor and former pro-wrestler
One of the most popular questions around Salesforce Certifications is how long or how much time it takes to get ready for the Salesforce Certification Exam. And this is indeed a very important question to ask yourself. Understanding the timing will help you prepare accordingly and avoid the frustration.
While there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, we can certainly apply a rule of thumb to give you some direction. Therefore, in this article we will break down the most relevant factors that will contribute to the date you’ll register your Salesforce Certification Exam for. These factors include:
Your Salesforce experience
Your available study time per week
Study materials at your disposal
Your Salesforce career plans
Your desired Salesforce Certification exam date
Your Salesforce Experience
Have you had any experience with Salesforce yet? If yes, then we need to look at the type of experience.
This includes the type of Salesforce User, the type of Salesforce Org, type of involvement, and time spent in the system. Here are a few examples of what this may look like:
Type of Salesforce User:
Trailhead Learner completing Trailhead Modules and Projects
Salesforce Business User like a sales person using the User Interface, not the Setup
Salesforce Administrator working in the system setup
Type of Salesforce Org:
Trailhead Playground/Developer Org
Production Org such as Enterprise Edition, Essential Edition etc.
Robust org setup or disorganized org
Type of involvement:
Trailhead Learner completing step-by-step projects or completing complex SuperBadges
Business User working in the User Interface only, no Salesforce Setup
System Administrator configuring the Salesforce Setup, differentiating between simple setup items (e.g. setting up Users) or complex customizations (creating Custom Objects/Apps, Workflows, Flows etc.)
Time spent in the system:
Daily usage
A few hours per week
Irregular login
Where do you think you fit in? How confident do you feel about your experience with Salesforce?
Based on your previous experience, you may consider the following time frames:
0 Experience: 3-6 months
6 months+ Experience: 6-8 weeks
12 months+ Experience: 3-4 weeks
However, you need to consider how much time you can afford to study. Therefore, let’s look at the weekly study time and how this can affect your timeline.
Hours Per Week You Have Time to Study for your Salesforce Certification Exam
What does your daily life look like? Are you currently working a full-time job? Do you have kids or other people to care for? Do you have any leisure activities/hobbies to attend to?
This will help you determine how much time you can free up to focus on your Salesforce studies. You have various options, such as studying full-time or part-time or casually.
If we take the number of hours per day or week into consideration, the time frame may look like this:
And that’s not all, yet. We also need to look at the study materials you’re learning with as well as your learning pace to work through the materials.
Salesforce Study Materials at Your Disposal
You’ve got a lot of options to choose from in regards to how you are learning all the Salesforce Certification knowledge topics. These include Trailhead Modules/Project, video tutorials, study workbooks, practice exams, quizzes, and others.
If you are a Salesforce Newbie, you will certainly have more knowledge topics, or more material, to work through than someone with prior experience. And even if you are experienced, you may need to work through topics you thought you are confident in to make sure you’re not missing something you may not have been exposed to yet. At least, that’s what I’d suggest you should do. 🤓
What’s the best way to learn all that Salesforce knowledge to prepare for your certification exam?
With so much content out there, we’ve collated the essential details into a comprehensive Salesforce Certification Guide. It’s an 8-step guide telling you exactly what you should do in order to reach your exam day and pass at the first attempt. It also includes important information about what happens after you got certified. Because this is where your career really starts off. 👔
Your exam day will only be as successful as the Salesforce knowledge and skills you are bringing with you. The key to a successful exam day, therefore, is HOW you prepare yourself.
This means learning the right content in an effective way for your brain to absorb all that knowledge and retain it. It’s not just about “learning” it’s about “understanding”. There is science behind this, combined with real-life experience from other Salesforce learners.
Here are the recommended study materials that will help you prepare and give you the confidence for your exam day YOU want to have:
Salesforce’s Trailhead Modules and Projects – Each Salesforce Certification requires a different set of knowledge and tools. You will learn these through Trailhead Modules and Projects. The ones relevant for the Salesforce Certification you are preparing for are collated into so-called Trailmixes.
Salesforce Video Tutorials – Video tutorials are a great way to learn in a well-structured and coordinated way. Especially if you are a visual learner who prefers some guidance. Our video tutorials will not only help you “learn” but will offer plenty of opportunities for self-guided practice to help you “understand” what you’ve been learning about.
Salesforce Study Workbook – If you enjoy reading, taking notes, and even like to print out pages to pin at your desk, then our Study Workbooks are perfect for you. They give you a summary of all exam knowledge topics for review, and also include links to the Trailmixes mentioned earlier, so you can deepen your hands-on practice.
Salesforce Practice Exams – I believe these are a must-have for everyone. Because they do two things. One, get you familiar with the exam format and complexity of questions and answers. Two, they help you determine whether you are actually ready to take the exam. They are used to identify your strength and weaknesses, including detailed explanations and additional learning resources to strengthen your weaker knowledge areas.
NOTE: If you are a Salesforce Newbie, I would not recommend to start learning with Practice Exams, rather use them at a later point in time. They are meant to check in on your existing knowledge of the Salesforce features and functionalities.
And again, it depends on your prior experience. Salesforce Newbies may need all of the study materials, Salesforce Experienced may only need the Study Workbook and/or Practice Exams. Choose for yourself, it’s YOUR Salesforce Career!
And this brings us to the next factor.
Your Salesforce Career Plans
Now, we need to look at your Salesforce Career plans. This means, how important is the Salesforce Certification to you and how fast are you looking to use it to make a career move.
A Salesforce Certification is not a must-have to move into a Salesforce job, however, it will likely open more doors if you have at least one. You may even be in a current Salesforce job, maybe as an accidental Administrator, and you’re considering adding that Salesforce Certification to your CV but you’re not in a rush.
The urgency to gain the Salesforce Certification will also determine your exam deadline. And this takes us to the last but certainly not least factor.
Your Desired Salesforce Certification Exam Date
If you already have a date in mind, you can take the table from above and count backward to determine how many hours per week you would potentially have to study.
For example:
You’re desired exam date is 4 weeks from today. Two scenarios:
As a Salesforce Newbie, you’d have to study almost 240 hours per week. 🤯 I guess this is not very realistic. You may need to consider moving out that exam date.
As a Salesforce Experienced, you’d have to study 40-120 hours per week based on the type of experience. You may or may not be able to make it in 4 weeks.
🌶 Keep it realistic, and use the table above to determine your potential exam date. Yes, you can book your exam date already. This may help to push you forwards. However, if it’s an unrealistic date, you may get super stressed out and even fail while you could have prevented that by setting a realistic date.
If you are not sure whether you should book your exam date already or not, I’d suggest you get started with your learning curriculum. As you progress over the next few days or weeks, you get a feel on how well you are managing the complexity of the knowledge topics and your learning pace. Remember to make use of the Practice Exams to determine your exam readiness. Once you have a better idea, you can certainly go ahead and book that exam date.
Hands-on practice is included in any of the above-mentioned study materials. However, if you are a Salesforce Newbie or even if it’s just a few new topics you are studying, you should double-up your hands-on practice. The more you get your hands on the system, the better you’re learning success will be. And learning success means “understanding” your knowledge topic, which in turn will help you pass the exam. PLUS, retain the knowledge for your upcoming job interview.
This means you can either retake the Trailhead Modules/Projects in a new Trailhead Playground, or try on your own in a Developer Org. Alternatively, go and complete Trailhead Superbadges. They are based on real-life business scenarios and requirements which you need to set up in a Trailhead Playground all by yourself without any guidance. They are pretty tough and therefore the perfect way to really deepen your Salesforce skills. Yes, they do require a bit more time and patience. You can skip them, however, I’d really recommend you complete the ones listed in your Trailmixes. Superbadges can even be linked to your LinkedIn profile page, just like you can with your Salesforce Certification. That should tell you something. 💡
Here’s one which is part of the Salesforce Administrator Credential Trailmix:
Provides an extensive library of product features, knowledge articles, how-to documentation and so much more. While you are studying through your knowledge topics, you may want to read through some of the provided references on help.salesforce.com. They often contain additional or contributing information you should at least have a browse through. This also helps you get familiar with Salesforce Help and how to use it, because you’re going to need it, not only to prepare for your exam but also as an on-the-job reference. 🤓
Contain important updates to the Salesforce platform. Each Salesforce Certification Exam is based on a release cycle. Which release cycle it is, is provided to you on the exam guide. Therefore, before you sit the exam, it helps to have a look at the exam relevant topics.
For example, if you are studying for the Salesforce Administrator, you should have a look at Analytics, Configuration, Einstein Automate, Sales, Marketing and Service.
This should give you plenty to contemplate. I hope you’ve been finding this helpful to determine your realistic exam date. Let me know in the comments when you are planning to take your Salesforce Certification Exam. We’re here to support you and help you keep going!
Your LinkedIn Profile page is the first impression a recruiter or potential employer will get of you. Therefore, you want to keep it professional. Plus, it should be obvious that you are passionate about Salesforce. And don’t worry: If you don’t have Salesforce job experience yet, there is still a way to showcase your Salesforce hands-on experience. In this article, I’ll walk you through the key elements you should consider in order to highlight your Salesforce talent on your LinkedIn Profile.
Your LinkedIn Profile page is the go-to page for many recruiters and potential employers. There are two ways they will look at it:
They find your profile page through their search keywords because your profile contains the relevant job roles, certificates or other criteria they are looking for
You share your profile with them directly
This means you want to make sure your LinkedIn Profile contains all relevant details, AND…leaves a positive impression for the recruiter or potential employer wanting to contact you.
In this article, we will not only look at how you can add your Salesforce skills and experiences but also how you can improve some other aspects at the same time. Altogether, it will only take 8 steps in just a few minutes to spice up your LinkedIn profile.
Let’s go through each step and start from the top of your LinkedIn Profile page:
STEP #1 – Choose Professional PROFILE Image
Your profile image is the first impression a recruiter or potential employer will get of you. Therefore, you want to keep it authentic and professional.
I’d recommend one of two options:
Use something which represents the job, maybe a Salesforce Administrator, you are aiming for. This can be something like sitting at a desk or doing a presentation similar to what a Salesforce Consultant might do etc.
Alternatively use a professional image wearing an outfit you would wear at work, maybe a suit or dress
While no one should judge you by your appearance, most recruiters and future employers though will see this as a sign of respect and professional attitude. You can certainly choose a more casual image. In any case, ensure that your face is clearly visible (and it’s your face only) and the composition represents your personality. What matters most is you being you, meaning being authentic.
Here’s an example:
By the way, LinkedIn even provides some basic editing tools to make your image look even better:
STEP #2 – Add A BACKGROUND Image & Include Your Salesforce Certificate
Similar to your profile, your background image will draw attention too. It’s there for a reason, so make use of it. 🤓
If you are looking for a Salesforce job, you can absolutely use something Salesforce specific or cloud computing related to show your passion for Salesforce and/or the industry. This may be a display of your Salesforce Certificates or a more generic cloud computing image or similar.
Now one thing to keep in mind: Always consider copyright. There are lots of royalty-free image platforms like unplash.com where you can find something suitable. Otherwise, I’d recommend creating your own, using tools like PowerPoint or Canva. 🧑🎨
STEP #3 – Create A Crisp HEADLINE
This is what appears right below your name. It should be a crisp one-liner that doesn’t have to be a job title, especially if you are currently unemployed or not working for other reasons. You may use something like ‘Helping customers to build tailored Salesforce business solutions” or “Aspiring Salesforce Administrator”. You can get creative here as long as you keep it real.
For example, like this:
STEP #4 – Tell Everyone ABOUT Your Skills and Experiences, including Salesforce
This part is often neglected but really shouldn’t be. It’s where you tell your story and it’s where you can truly leave an impression.
It is very much like what you add to a typical resume where you summarize your key skills and experiences. Make sure to include your Salesforce qualifications. In case you don’t have a Salesforce Certification yet, then list the most relevant Trailhead Modules, Projects or SuperBadges for sure. Recruiters can already see that you are not lazy. 🧑💻
🌶 DON’T FORGET: Add your Trailblazer.ID link to make sure recruiters or hiring managers can look at your Trailblazer.Me Profile too.
Here’s an example of what the “About” section may look like:
STEP #5 – Showcase Your Work EXPERIENCE
This is where you list your current and previous work history, just like in a classic resume. Double-check that the companies you work or worked for are linked correctly. When you see a company logo not appear correctly, re-link it again.
If you don’t have a current job, don’t sweat it. Many of us are going through periods of either unemployment or career development phases at some point in our lives. And this may include your time spend on Trailhead to upskill your Salesforce experience. Recruiters will recognize this.
🌶 Beware though: Your time spent on Trailhead belongs in the Education section of your LinkedIn profile. “Trailhead by Salesforce” is a recognized school and will be understood as such.
STEP #6 – Share your EDUCATION Path
Add the most recent schools or universities you have attended. You don’t have to list everything all the way back to Primary School (or adequate to your first school entry in your country). The more recent ones are sufficient.
🌶 Now, one thing which is important here is your Trailhead education. As mentioned above, this section is perfect to add your Trailhead hands-on practice. Use “Trailhead by Salesforce” as the school, then list your most recent or most significant Modules, Projects and Badges you have already completed or you are currently working on.
STEP #7 – List Your LICENSES and Salesforce CERTIFICATIONS
This is where you can shine a light on your hard-earned certifications, including your Salesforce Certifications. Make sure to add them as soon as you’ve completed them.
🌶 Did you know you can even add your Trailhead Superbadges as well? YES, you can and you should! However, in case you got dozens of Suberbadges, choose the ones which are most relevant for the job you are applying for.
This may look like this:
STEP #8 – Show Your INTERESTS And Active Community Engagement
Recruiters also look for your interests to see how you are engaging yourself and what else you are interested in. This shows them that you are a human being and not a one-trick Salesforce-pony.
Here, recruiters can see which groups you are a member of, like Salesforce-related groups, or companies you follow, maybe Salesforce.com, Mulesoft.com, and others.
🌶 Be reasonable though how many groups you join and how many companies you follow. Focus on those that you are truly interested in or engaged in. It may not look very authentic if you are a member of hundreds of groups just to pretend you are being active.
Always keep things real!
As you can see, updating your LinkedIn Profile and including your Salesforce skills doesn’t take much time. So get right to it and spice up your profile to get found by recruiters and potential future employers.
These are just some of the key edits you can do, in particular, to highlight your Salesforce talent. There’s certainly more you can improve like your job descriptions.
Therefore, let me know in the comments if you have any further ideas about what you have done and what you’ve seen others do. I’d love to hear from you.
I’ve always wanted to do something different but didn’t quite know what it was. I knew I loved working with people, I knew I didn’t like sitting at my desk all the time. But what does that mean? How does that help me find out which career I should be pursuing instead?
Have you been thinking about changing your career, doing something else that you enjoy more? Maybe turning a hobby into a career? But you don’t know how to do it or whether it’s worth it?
Very good questions! You won’t know until you try it out. It’s a risk but without taking any risk you won’t be able to move forward in life and truly discover who you are and what you want to do.
I’ve been asking myself the exact same questions and it took me a long time to find the answer. I’ve written about my own journey before but I wanted to look at it from another angle.
I’ve always wanted to do something different but didn’t quite know what it was. I knew I loved working with people, I knew I didn’t like sitting at my desk all the time. But what does that mean? How does that help me find out which career I should be pursuing instead?
There is no one-fits-all answer. But…if you don’t even start looking around, you will never find the answer.
TAKING THE LEAP OF FAITH TO BECOMING A SALESFORCE INSTRUCTOR
In my case, what happened was, that my partner suggested I try out a career as a Salesforce Trainer. I could work with people and could walk around a classroom all day. So far this sounded like the perfect fit. But, I would also have to present in front of a lot of people. I had never really done any presenting before, maybe back in school, which I remember vaguely I quite enjoyed. But that’s been a very long time ago. So I really had no clue if that’s something I would be able to make a profession of.
I played it through my head, imagined standing up in front of a large classroom, talking to students, showing them something on the computer. It was all there in my head and looked pretty. However, it’s very different to actually doing it in real life.
It took me about half a year to finally take the leap of faith and just go for it. I guess I was desperate enough to get out of my old job that pushed me ahead. I really had no clue if it would work out or not.
I boldly applied for a job as a Salesforce Trainer with a small boutique training provider and did get a job offer. What? Without much prior experience in this area, it must have been something else that was convincing enough to hire me. What I’m saying is, that it’s not always about having years of experience in a certain field, it’s a lot about soft skills, character and attitude.
THE FIRST STEP INTO THE WORLD OF SALESFORCE WAS THE HARDEST
The first step was done. The next step was to get certified by the Salesforce University which is now the Trailhead Academy. This was a requirement in order to be eligible to teach Salesforce’s official courses. The certifications included the technical certification like the Salesforce Administrator as well as the Salesforce Instructor Certification to teach the Salesforce Administration Essentials class.
The technical part wasn’t too hard, but getting the Salesforce Instructor Certification almost turned into me quitting the whole thing. 🤯
So what happened? A real new challenge came my way. Something that forced me to jump into ice-cold water and really stepping far outside my comfort zone. It’s not something I do every day, so I wasn’t quite prepared how to get ready for this Instructor Certification. I had so many questions, like: “How do I become an Instructor?” and “What does it need to be a good instructor?” or “How do you manage a class full of students?”
Do you know what I did? I studied all the course materials and exercises and felt well prepared to take the instructor certification exam. Guess what happened? I FAILED MISERABLY. I wasn’t prepared at all. The Salesforce Master Instructor who led my certification exam session became one of the best mentors I’ve ever met before. He wasn’t shy about telling me what I did wrong. That included telling me straight up that I had no hands-on practice, I didn’t know how to deal with difficult questions asked by students and so on and so forth. I cried! And I never cry, NEVER. But this made me cry, I felt humiliated and I wanted to hide in a dark cave where no one could find me.
Of course, that was not an option. The Master Instructor was very kind and explained exactly which steps I needed to take to prepare and practice and get ready to truly become a great Salesforce Instructor. I did follow his advice and completed every single step he asked me to do. I read tons of Salesforce documentation, practiced the hell out of the system, did some role-plays and practiced even more until I felt like I had turned every stone. I registered for another instructor certification exam session and PASSED WITH FLYING COLORS.
IT’S ALL ABOUT PREPARATION
There we go. It’s all about preparation, well, the right type of preparation of course. I had a few more instructor certifications to complete for different types of classes, and I never failed a single one again. Because I learned so much the first time around, it taught me a lesson for life.
Every single time I’m learning a new skill, not just something Salesforce related, but also things like becoming a Yoga Teacher or learning how to sew my own clothes, I vividly remembered what it takes to learn something properly in order to achieve the results I want to get.
I’ve been taking this approach into my Salesforce Classes to transfer my Salesforce knowledge to my students in a way that makes sense and shares the skills it needs to put the knowledge into perspective. I’ve been teaching for many years successfully, so I guess this learning concept is working. In order to reach even more students, I’ve decided to create my own Salesforce Learning Platform www.welearnsalesforce.com which contains a range of Salesforce Courses for beginners and beyond.
TRUST THE PROCESS!
So what can YOU take away from this? If you want to do something different, be courageous and take the first step. Trust the process of putting in the work and you will achieve your goals.
And if you are interested in learning Salesforce with me, I will give you all my experience and expertise to help you become a successful Salesforce Professional, no matter which Salesforce career path you choose to take.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my personal story and maybe found some inspiration. Let me know in the comments which career path you are currently considering (even if it’s not Salesforce 🤓).
Based on your background, getting your foot into the Salesforce Career Market can feel easy or it can feel overwhelming. If you belong to the latter category, then this article will help you understand what it takes to make an informed decision whether or not a Salesforce Career is for you. We’ll then explore how you can turn your Salesforce Career Aspirations into a logical and organized process. This will leave you feeling at peace and confident that you can reach your Salesforce Career Goal indeed, which often starts by getting a Salesforce Certification.
Have you been getting confused by all the information out there?
Do you struggle to understand what Salesforce is and how it works?
Do you feel like you keep forgetting what you have already learned?
If the answer to at least one of the above questions is Yes, then keep on reading. The concept I’m going to walk you through applies to any new topic or area you are getting into. Therefore, this article is for everyone who is either brand new to the Salesforce ecosystem or wants to revive their Salesforce talent.
WHY ARE YOU LEARNING SALESFORCE 🤔
Whenever you start learning about a new topic, or you got a new device or you want to learn a new hobby, it helps to understand why you want to learn more about it, or better, why you should learn more about it.
Why is the Why relevant? If you don’t know what you are learning something for, you may lose interest as well as motivation very quickly. Understanding the Why and how you will benefit from it, will not only give you purpose but also reason and motivation to keep going, even when the process gets tough along the way.
For example, if you have no idea why you should learn Salesforce or whether you will actually be able to find a job in the Salesforce ecosystem, why should you even get started? Only because everyone else around you does? Only because someone said you can earn so much money with a Salesforce job? These are potential motivators for sure, but not the reasons why a Salesforce job would actually be something for you to pursue.
The good news is, Salesforce jobs have very different faces and pretty much everyone can potentially find a suitable role. You don’t have to have any IT background whatsoever. Salesforce jobs range from Salesforce Administrator to Salesforce Developer to Platform App Builder to Salesforce Consultant, to Business Analyst, Product Manager, and on and on.
This means the first thing you need to look into are the requirements of the Salesforce job role that sound most appealing to you. Or rather, browse through all of them and pick those that seem most attractive.
‘Appealing’ or ‘attractive’ means, they speak to a skill or belief or philosophy that you agree with. Let’s take the Salesforce Administrator job role as an example. This role is primarily about working with people on a daily basis, such as answering questions, setting up users, fixing issues, managing change requests and so on.
Therefore, if you are someone who is more of an extrovert person and happy to deal with daily requests from business users, plus you like getting your hands on an IT-based system, then this might be the job to go for.
However, if you are more of an introverted person who prefers to work quietly in a quiet environment, then a Salesforce Developer or Platform App Builder role might be better suited to you.
Therefore, make yourself familiar with the different Salesforce job roles and Salesforce career paths to see if any of these may suit you: https://trailhead.salesforce.com/career-path/
Source: trailhead.salesforce.com
HOW DO YOU REACH YOUR SALESFORCE CAREER GOAL
Once you’ve decided that a Salesforce career might indeed be something to pursue, you’ll move on to the next phase. And this is exploring Trailhead.
You have probably heard of Trailhead, Salesforce’s own learning platform. It includes a lot of information about Salesforce career profiles, Salesforce Certification paths and even more content on all the learning topics around their entire Salesforce product line and Salesforce ecosystem, and even beyond that.
Trailhead is huge and it can be rather confusing to find out where exactly you should get started. What you need to get your head around is that it takes time and patience. It won’t take forever, but it’s important to take it step by step. Avoid trying to understand and learn everything at once. 🤯 Your brain can handle a lot but it’s still not a machine.
In order to get started, I’d recommend taking the following steps:
Identify your preferred Salesforce career path (as mentioned earlier)
Familiarize yourself with the corresponding Salesforce Certifications and their requirements, for example the Administrator Credentials
Follow the provided learning units of the selected Salesforce Certification, for example the Administrator
Get involved with the Salesforce Community, a.k.a Trailblazer Community to connect with peers, ask questions or share your own experiences and knowledge
Of course, there is so much more to explore. But again, don’t rush it, you’ll get there. I promise! 🤓
HOW DO YOU STAY MOTIVATED THROUGHOUT YOUR SALESFORCE CAREER-BUILDING PROCESS
The toughest part in all of this is staying motivated and seeing your progress. You may be a self-driven person, you may be not. In any case, it can be helpful to follow a guided structure and build a routine to stay on track and see how you are getting closer to your Salesforce career goal. Or maybe, you’re still not yet sure whether a Salesforce career is for you, I’d say get to know it better first.
And that’s why we have created a 21-Day Salesforce Beginner Challenge. It takes you through every single step in your Salesforce discovery process in bite-size chunks. Every day we will send you an email with tasks to complete. This starts pretty much with the steps above, then moves into setting up your Trailhead Account and Trailblazer.Me career profile then takes you all the way into the Salesforce platform to gain hands-on experience and start building your Salesforce skillset.
Throughout this challenge, you’ll get to know both the Salesforce platform as well as the Salesforce ecosystem. This helps you understand whether or not Salesforce is the place to be for you. It also gets you set up already in case you decide to keep going.
Now, why is this challenge 21 days long? This period of time is generally considered to be required in order to form a new habit. While we are talking about learning Salesforce, we’re also talking about keeping on track as well as staying motivated by building a routine. You’ll get into the habit of logging into Salesforce on a daily basis. Some days you’ll spend 15 minutes in there, others may take up to two hours or more. That depends on the complexity of the task and your own personal curiosity to explore the Salesforce Platform. You will probably want to spare some days for other things, but what matters is, that it becomes a more natural task.
