Recruitment
Organizations must be able to identify ways to distinguish consultants’ level of experience.
Skill gaps can be filled using in-house education and or external consultants. However, up-training in-house employees only has so much runway, and the quality of external implementation partners or full-time hires is more critical than ever. Gartner Inc. surveys of CIOs across the US reveal a plurality of those surveyed consider lack of skills and resources as a major inhibitor to the IT Division’s ability to be successful.
Critical factors contributing to implementation failure underscores further the criticality of consultant acumen across a wide spectrum. An organization’s inability to procure consultants meeting this profile may be problematic; organizations must identify ways to distinguish consultants’ level of experience.
Managerial competencies, business acumen, and technical acumen result in a balanced set of skills, which allows teams to be more effective. Knowledge transfer remains one of the most critical aspects of integrating outside talent and preparing for their departure.
Critical success factors of project teams include:
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- Key player involvement
- True skill and competencies mix
- Ability to complete work assigned
- Motivation
- Past accomplishments
This means firms need to find people who not only possess given skill sets and Salesforce certifications, but also seek out lifelong learners. Firms who have myopically focused on the quantity of Salesforce certifications or target a very specific certification may not consider applicants with track records that show they continue to acquire necessary skills outside of the Salesforce platform.
Conversely, as the demand for Salesforce professionals increases, job seekers may also be looking to certifications and interview prep guides to artificially bolster their actual experience. While there is nothing wrong with hiring entry-level Salesforce talent, the reality is some positions require experience, and that experience needs to be vetted before resumes arrive in your Inbox.
At the end of the day, there is always a best candidate for each position, and that candidate can’t be found by simply searching for certifications, nor can certifications alone make the perfect candidate.
Since each incorrect hiring decision wastes time and resources, firms may benefit from collaborating with experienced talent consultants to vet candidates and help them hire the best professionals for their business. Pinkus Partners possesses a blend of deep knowledge in both talent acquisition and IT services to develop a Salesforce Talent Network: a community of skilled professionals who are poised to help a company’s CRM initiatives succeed.
Conclusion
This post draws from information found in the professional handbook How to Win at CRM: Strategy, Implementation, Management, written by Seth J. Kinnett and published in 2017 by CRC Press.
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