On average I speak to around 50 candidates, and a further 30 business leaders / hiring managers EACH WEEK. These conversations have shaped my perspective and understanding of the Salesforce ecosystem. Here is what I have learnt from their experiences so far…
To give you some background
During 2021/2022 there was a dramatic increase in demand for all IT roles, particularly Salesforce professionals, due to the economic pause of 2020 and the shift in business requirements post-pandemic. Resulting in many Salesforce positions being left vacant. To keep up with demand, there was an influx of junior candidates entering the market being upskilled through various training companies and consultancies offering a ‘learn and you earn’ style of employment. With such high demand, salaries were heavily inflated and to retain staff, businesses were having to offer expensive counter-offers.
Fast Forward to 2023
Due to economic pressures with interest rates, inflation and an uncertain economy, businesses refrained from investing in new technology. This not only affected new sales for Salesforce but also resulted in a reluctance among businesses to allocate resources to digital transformation technologies, hence Salesforce was frequently overlooked. However, we did see a shift towards growing internal Salesforce teams, rather than the use of Salesforce partners for managed service solutions. Therefore, positions like ‘Salesforce Administrator’ or ‘Salesforce Platform Owner’ were on the rise.
Having dramatically hired junior-mid level professionals in 2021/2022 (usually with inflated salaries), Salesforce partners had no choice but to initiate surges in redundancies, leaving candidates without a job and companies flooded with applications- sometimes exceeding 100 per role. This overwhelmed recruitment processes and left internal talent teams and hiring managers stuck wading through hundreds of applications.
This pattern continued throughout most of the year….
In the last quarter, there seemed to be a positive shift in the market, business confidence had returned and there was more talk of digital investment. Companies wanted to hire Salesforce talent, with a preference for more experienced candidates. However, the challenge was, that those experienced candidates who had seen the market downturn at the beginning of the year, didn’t want to risk leaving their secure jobs to start a new role, with a 6 month probation period.
In response to this, we often saw internal recruitment teams try to attract the right candidates via adverts, given the high number of applicants seen earlier in the year. However, after multiple rounds of advertisements and CV reviews with little to no success, employers struggled to find the right talent. With poor recruitment processes in place, many candidates have become disillusioned with companies they’ve applied to but never heard back.
As we head to the end of the year, the future seems brighter for the Salesforce recruitment ecosystem. With more businesses looking to invest in their Salesforce solution in the new year and some projects kicking off early which has driven a need for Contractors.
In terms of talent flow, it appears that salaries aren’t going to spike like they did in 2021/2022 and candidates can expect a small increase in salary for their next role. We will also see some candidates taking a side step in their next role in order to gain experience on other / newer Salesforce technologies.
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