What to know when hiring a Salesforce Administrator
Salesforce is the world’s premier customer relationship management (commonly abbreviated to CRM) system. As a result, businesses that wish to make the most of CRM, and the advantages it may offer to their company, need to ensure that they have at least one member of staff who can use this powerful software to its fullest capabilities.
However, hiring a Salesforce administrator is not always an easy task, so it’s worth keeping the points below in mind the next time you’re going through a recruitment drive…
#1 - Don’t count on certifications
Certifications for Salesforce technology do exist, with a range of different levels available. These are used to provide evidentiary support for a prospective employee’s skillset regarding the Salesforce software and, as a result, many recruiters believe that certification is an essential.
This isn’t always the case. Certification is nice, but experience is nicer. With some training and a test, someone with no practical experience of using Salesforce in a business environment can earn certification— and the value they may be able to offer to your company could be negligible. However, someone who has been working with the Salesforce software day-in, day-out as part of their work offers real, inherent value to your organization. This applicant has proven that they are accustomed to dealing with the software, and getting the most from it, as part of their everyday working life— and that, ultimately, is far more valuable than certification.
Of course, the ideal scenario is that you will receive applications from candidates who have both practical experience and formal certification— but this isn’t guaranteed. As a result, it’s important to take into account the value of practical experience.
#2 - Use a dedicated site
When you’re hiring a Salesforce administrator, your primary concern is that they will be experienced with the software. If you advertise the job opening on general job-seeking boards, you will undoubtedly receive applications from people who have no Salesforce experience whatsoever. Many job applicants simply don’t read requirements of job ads, and even those that do will hope that a clever cover letter and a promise that they can “learn on the job” will be enough to overcome the fact they are lacking a key requirement.
As a result, you will spend your time having to sift through countless job applications in an effort to find the few that actually do have the Salesforce experience you require. This is dull, time-consuming, and rather irritating— and it’s also completely avoidable.
Rather than posting a job advert for a Salesforce administrator on a general board, use our specialist site. All of the jobseekers on our site have experience with Salesforce— they wouldn’t be on our site if they didn’t! Save yourself time and advertise your job opportunities with our targeted site, and save yourself the unpleasant task of having to sift through countless irrelevant applications.
#3 - Be sure you know how many Salesforce administrators you need
If your organization is looking to make the most of Salesforce, then you will want to take advice provided by Salesforce themselves regarding the number of administrators that are required. After all, few people are going to know how to make the most of Salesforce like the company themselves!
Salesforce suggest that company size is directly related to the number of Salesforce administrators you need to hire. Focusing just on the administrator level, here’s the numbers you should be looking to hire:
So, when you are hiring a Salesforce administrator, try and keep the above in mind. Getting the numbers right is absolutely essential to allowing your company to move forward, and both too many and too few administrators can be problematic.
If after reading the above you have realized you need more administrators than you were intending to hire, you may want to consider expanding your search and hiring more than one person. If you have realized that you need fewer administrators, amend your job posting as soon as possible to ensure you’re not overwhelmed with unnecessary applications.
In conclusion
Hiring a Salesforce administrator is always going to be tricky; the software is unique and very niche, which means that finding truly experienced admins can be a difficult process. However, if you keep the tips above in mind, you should be able to find the staff you need to help continue to deliver Salesforce-related results for your business.