Trends in the Salesforce Job Market


Trends in the Salesforce Job Market


Following on from my earlier post about the Salesforce Salary Survey that Mason Frank runs each year, I wanted to share some of the results from 2015. 

It will be interesting to see what comes out of the 2016 survey.


Salaries Increased

It's always a positive sign to see that the increased demand for Salesforce professionals is pushing salaries up.

Mason Frank recorded an average 6.2% rise in 2015 with an 8.2% rise in Germany. It will be interesting to see whether 2016 follows suit and shows salaries increasing at a similar rate.

Salesforce.com salaries rose on average 6.2%

Whilst the number of Salesforce positions keeps growing, there are also large numbers of newly certified Salesforce professionals entering the market and this may well serve as a counter balance to keep salary rises in check.

Do you believe 2016 will show a higher or lower average increase?

Certificates don't always result in Pay Rises

This result from the survey surprised me last year and it will be interesting to see the results from the same question this year. The majority of respondents from last year survey stated that their salaries did not always increase after gaining a new accreditation.

Salaries do not always increase with new Salesforce.com certifications

Given the time and cost of studying for and passing a new qualification, it would seem logical that people should be rewarded for their studies. 

However, as many companies sponsor completion of Salesforce courses and exam costs it could be the case that achieving the certificate alone is not sufficient to justify the additional budget.

What do you expect to see in 2016? Should a new qualification entitle a professional to a raise?

Lower Freelance/Contractor % balance

Many people commented to me in 2015 that the Salesforce contractor sector was booming. However, looking at the 2015 data only 11% of the Salesforce population were freelance.
Breakdown of Salesforce professionals by employment status
With a number of new Salesforce.com professionals in the market, a lot of my colleagues are estimating that the contractor population % will decrease in 2016.

This is based on the assumption that companies will recruit permanent employees in the first instance and hire contractors for short-term specialist projects. With more professionals in the job market, they say, more permanent positions will be filled.

I'm not so sure about that. I believe the figure will stay pretty stable as I know of several companies who have a permanent Salesforce administrator but still hire in specialist developers/consultants for short-term projects where required.

What do you think? Will the percentage of contractor/permanent staff be higher in 2016?

If you would like to complete the survey as well click the link below.

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