Interview preparation in the Salesforce ecosystem

Feel free to pick what is most relevant to your situation, and good luck!

Do your research

Research and preparation for your interview are imperative and simply of utmost importance. It is not always the person best suited for the job, who gets hired but the person who interviewed best.

So where should you begin? It is always good to start broad and then filter down.

Research the company

• Look up the company website and learn more about what they do, how they have differentiated, their values and potential company benefits
• Look up the company on Linkedin. The salesforce ecosystem is small and you might know someone working there or see familiar faces
• If they are an end client, type in the company name and the word “salesforce” into google and you might be able to find success articles, how they use salesforce and who did the initial implementation
• If they are an implementation partner, have a look on app exchange and you might find some of their projects and additional useful information
• Type the company name and the word “news” into google and read the latest news articles
• Look up the company on YouTube. You might be surprised how many organisations have content and further information on different platforms

Look up the interviewer(s)

Once you know who will conduct your interview, look up the persons Linkedin profile. You might know people in common or have worked in the same company in the past. You will be able to refer back to this at a later stage.

One example would be: “I noticed you have worked at XYZ company since this date, what did you like the most about working here, compared to ABC company?” It shows you have done your research and are interested in this position.

Prepare for potential questions

General interview questions:

• Talk me through your CV and your projects? Talk about your salesforce configuration/development/architecture/project experience, what salesforce was used for, and the value you added
• Which project/accomplishment are you most proud of and why?
• What interests you about our company?
• Why would you want to work here over other companies you might be interviewing with? You can refer to your previous research, their salesforce environment, articles you have read and videos you have watched
• Where do you see yourself in the next 12 months and also in the next 5 years? The most common answer has been to become a CTA. Whilst that is a valid answer, it often is not relevant or of little value to the organisation and makes them feel like they are just a stepping stone. Feel free to add more detail on why you want to progress in your salesforce career, the things you want to learn and see and which ones of your current skills you would like to continue to apply and share and teach
• What are your strengths?
• What is a weakness of yours? You can always mention a scenario where you made a mistake before and realised what was your weakness here and how you learnt from it
• Where have you made a mistake and how did you go about this?
• What do you like to do in your spare time?

Technical questions / Salesforce specific questions:

• What did you like most about the latest release notes? It’s always good to show you are on top of the latest Salesforce news and releases and will be able to apply them at the organisation
• What do you like about working in the Salesforce ecosystem and on Salesforce projects?
• How would you solve xyz scenario from a technical perspective?
• What tools would you use for xyz scenario?
• What other Salesforce products, clouds, integrations did you have exposure to?

More specific behavioural questions:

• What is your experience working in a highly agile environment? They will want to see how adaptable you are to change
• How do you keep up to date with the latest technologies and Salesforce releases? You can mention Salesforce user groups, your network, trailhead, salesforce blogs, salesforce release notes, subscriptions etc.
• Explain a scenario where you were dealing with a difficult stakeholder and how you went about solving it?
• How do you deal with conflicting timelines and/or priorities? 
• How do you like to mentor others and be mentored? 

Be clear and concise in your answers

Follow the STAR method. Please refer to another one of our articles for more information on this.

Ask questions

It is important for you to ask questions at the end of the interview to express your interest and show you have done your research. This is a great opportunity to learn more specifics about the company, the role and the team you might be working with.

Some questions you might want to ask are:

• What are your deliverables and how can I best support you in achieving them? 
• Where does this role fit within the team? 
• What are your expectations of the role? 
• Why is this position available?
• Why do you like working here? 
• Would you like me to elaborate further on any points discussed? 
• What will be the next steps?

And of course anything else you would like further clarification on.

Try to avoid questions such as:

• How much will you pay me?
• How much annual leave will I get?
• How much do you pay in bonuses and other benefits?

Whilst they are important to know, they can usually be answered by your recruiter, talent acquisition or human resources. Your recruiter will be able to provide all these details upfront and should have a detailed discussion with you about your expectations, requirements and planned leave and manage expectations with the interviewer and organisation as a whole.

Send a thank you message afterwards

It is always good to send a little note of appreciation afterwards. This can be thanking for their time, reaffirming your interest and asking for the next steps.

If you are working with a recruiter, share this note with them to pass on. If you are engaging with the company directly, you can send this to the hiring manager or talent acquisition person afterwards.

Conclusion

Whilst properly preparing for your interview might be a time consuming process, it can make all the difference and help you secure the role.

I hope this covers most of your questions and potential scenarios and questions you might come across. If you are in the process of preparing for a Salesforce interview, please feel free to reach out to me any time. I will be here to help as much as I possibly can.