Are Salesforce Certifications worthwhile?

Is it really worth the time and effort to study and achieve Salesforce certifications or is it just to pamper one’s own ego?

Well as someone with five (5) Salesforce certifications, I’d have to say “it depends”.

It depends on your position. Are you the:

• job applicant
• recruiter
• employer

Job Applicant

As a job applicant in a competitive market, you need to be able to stand out from the crowd. If you have a certification and another applicant does not, this makes you stand out.

Completing certifications is a good way to achieve goals. You may have a goal to learn more about the advanced features of Sales Cloud. What better way to finish off your study and practice by achieving the Sales Cloud Consultant Certification?

With Salesforce producing three new software releases and many new products each year, keeping up with these changes is vitally important. Keeping your certifications current, achieving new ones and completing Trailhead badges is a good way to become a continuous learner. Learning does not stop once you get your certificate.

Achieving certification is one thing but being able to back that up with plenty of hands on experience is the key. It’s pointless having 3-4 certifications if you have no experience to back them up.

Recruiter

A recruiter will analyse your resume and online presence like a Private Investigator, looking for something that does not fit. Have they achieved a record number of certifications in a very short period of time? Can they back up their certifications with real experience? What are the “red flags” that may suggest this person is a “paper expert”?

Remember, the recruiter wants to place the best candidate they can find into a position where they will be successful and stay there the length of the contract. The last thing they want is to find you have lots of certs but no real experience and can’t do the job.

Employer

An employer wants reassurance by way of external validation of your skills. You may be the most technically qualified person at the company so how can they measure those skills?

Salesforce Certification is an industry benchmark that recognizes the skills, expertise, and real-world know-how of today’s Salesforce specialists. Employers rely on certifications to give them the reassurance that they are employing someone who can do what they require.