Hi, I’m Velu Palani, Chief Mentor & Founder of CRM Mentors. My association with the Salesforce platform spans across 20 years. Over years I have played various roles, entrepreneur, technical architect (publishing appexchange product), leadership and exec roles, COE leadership, etc. Currently, I am based in Chicago, IL, USA and lead the Salesforce Chicago developer group.

And it gives me great pleasure to introduce you to CRM Mentors –

What is CRM Mentors?

It is an affordable and credible mentoring platform for Salesforce professionals, to create a long lasting & satisfying career.

Salesforce professionals are in demand, is there a need for such a platform in the first place?

In my research and humble opinion: I would Say YES, let us talk about that for a minute. I would say there are 4 key reasons:

1. You are stuck in a rut:

Unemployment is usually low for experienced salesforce professionals; they are paid well.The biggest challenge is keeping up with the trends. Most of us are constantly busy with our work, there is no time to take a break and look around to review the career path we are on

For example: You work in the financial services industry as a technical developer, the company has aggressive targets to release new functionality spring after or spring – Do you have time to catch up with the industry trends and what is going on with the Salesforce platform?

Since you are so busy, the time passes by, and you realize that there is a lot of disruption – Salesforce released many new features, you feel left out…

2. Too many options:

There are different roles and different industries, decent pay. People seem to stick with one industry or plan for progressive growth.For example, multiple roles you can choose (architect, developer, BA, tech lead), consulting vs full time, multiple industries, some industries are doing well now, but some are not  – for example hospitality and retail (physical stores).. You don’t know what role, industry or full-time vs consulting. Too much confusion!

3. The New Normal:

Adding fuel to the fire – remote jobs and limited in-person network, working long hours, anxieties due to so many external situations, and family circumstances due to Covid-19, peer pressure, etc. We are still struggling to adjust to this new reality.

4. Finally, there is no reliable mentoring platform for Salesforce professionals.

I believe that creating a transparent platform where mentors and mentees can collaborate to create a sustainable workforce within the Salesforce ecosystem.

How does this work?

We created a mentoring model, which we call the ‘iEEE career laddering model’.

iEEE stands for (industry, education and experience, leading to employment)

As the Salesforce ecosystem is changing rapidly with newer applications into AppExchange, Salesforce industries are shaping up well. Most of the experienced people who are in the field seem to be confused more than ever with this rapid change.

It is important to have a clear vision, choose an industry (since Salesforce is focusing on providing industry solutions such as health care & life sciences, manufacturing, retail, communication, media, financial services, etc., in fact they call their solutions Health Cloud, financial services cloud, manufacturing cloud and so on). Once you choose the industry you love or like to explore deeper, then focus on education, experience and employment.

Even though it seems simple, but, understanding the ecosystem, drafting a career plan, which you can be confident of, needs a platform and a proper mentor. Our platform offers that framework with professionally trained and qualified professionals (mentors).

What does it mean to Mentors and Mentees?

There are several accomplished Salesforce professionals, who want to help mentees. We recruit professionals (volunteers) and train them to be mentors. They are indeed focused on the well beings of mentees, and hold the mentees accountable throughout the program. The platform regulates and monitors the performance of mentors as well.

For mentees, it is a life changing experience. They have a reliable platform, dedicated mentors with greater accountability for their own success. At the end of the day, a mentee graduates from our program will have a clear direction for his or her own future, and a network of proficient professionals.

How do you sign up?

Go to our website www.CRMMentors.org, and register online as a mentee or mentor, one of our volunteer professionals will be in touch with you shortly.

Closing Remarks

We face more challenges than ever before, with respect to building a sustainable career in the Salesforce ecosystem. It is indeed a great opportunity to build a stronger workforce to address the future demand.

Let us come together and make a difference.