As the Salesforce ecosystem continues to grow and expand, I have been intrigued to see how businesses are adapting; bringing on new technologies and implementing new systems to remain on the cutting edge and one step ahead of their competitors.
But a survey by 10K Advisors has now revealed that this adaptation may quickly be brought to a halt. Indeed, whilst IDC analysts estimated Salesforce’s professional network will create more than 3 million jobs by 2022, a survey by 10K Advisors revealed that the need for talent most likely won’t be met – despite this continued growth of the ecosystem.
And that means one thing; business progression is likely to be stunted by a lack of resources.
Indeed, reviewing more than 104,000 data points on sources such as LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Indeed, ZipRecruiters, PayScale, Salesforce AppExchange and Salesforce Trailhead, their extensive survey revealed four critical reasons as to why the Salesforce talent pool may be drying up…
- The demand for skills is high
With Salesforce continuing to expand its range of products and use of innovative technologies, the demand for jobs is only going to continue to grow – in particular for developers and architects. In fact, 10K advisors found that people who claim to have an architect certification from Salesforce make up only 1.7% of the Salesforce-related profiles on LinkedIn, but that the market for these skills has grown annually by 41% over the past four years.
- The gender divide isn’t equal
The Salesforce ecosystem is not immune to the gender gap seen in technical job markets, with 10K Advisors said that 91% of Salesforce technical architect jobs, are filled by males. With this gender disparity prevailing, it seems unlikely that there will be enough skilled individuals to meet demand…
- The plethora of open positions
If you needed any further proof that there are WAY more jobs that individuals out there, 10K Advisors pointed to developer jobs in North America, where openings outpace available talent by a more than a 4-to-1 ratio. And to make it even worse – there are 10 job listings for every self-identified technical Salesforce architect. Clearly, demand is outweighing supply across a number of positions, and the stats are proving it.
- Skilled professionals want to be flexible
What happens when you match a load of unfilled positions with a rise in the gig-economy? That’s right – even less permanent talent to fill business need. The gig economy is providing skilled Salesforce freelancers who don’t require full-time benefits and only charge half or two-thirds of what a Salesforce consulting partner charges but relying on this talent could potentially leave organisations vulnerable in the long-term when their talent moves on.
Having worked in the Salesforce world for more than four years, it doesn’t surprise me that Salesforce talent is highly sought after. Salesforce has become business critical to a plethora of organisations out there, and with more and more reports stating that the biggest barrier to digital transformation is the lack of technical and digital skills necessary to implement cutting-edge technologies, it isn’t surprising to see ‘find the right talent’ jumping to the top of almost everyone’s priority list.
What do you think; will we ever see enough talent to meet this growing demand in the Salesforce ecosystem?
