What is a Salesforce portfolio?
A Salesforce portfolio is a collection of projects and other relevant information highlighting your skills and experience using the Salesforce platform. It typically includes examples of Salesforce customization and development work that you have completed, such as custom objects, Apex code, visualforce pages, and Lightning components, as well as any certifications or training you have received.
It may also include screenshots or other forms of media that demonstrate your work and its impact on the organization. The portfolio can be in a physical or electronic format, such as a website, PDF document, or hosted online. It is usually tailored to the specific audience or job you are applying for.
Why do you need a Salesforce portfolio?
Before sharing our tips for building a portfolio, let’s warm up to this idea by understanding the why-how-what behind creating a portfolio.
Say you’re just starting your career as a Salesforce Admin. Or perhaps you’re years down the career path shaping business processes and guiding the efforts of a global sales team. Either way, you want a portfolio to help you shine bright in an ecosystem that is rapidly growing daily.
Salesforce portfolios accomplish 3 goals:
- Help you tell your Salesforce platform story
- Boost your career opportunities
- Ensure you become the customer relationship management professional you want to become.
How to build a Salesforce portfolio?
Now we’re ready to discuss how you create a Salesforce portfolio. Like most things in the Salesforce world, there are at least three ways to accomplish this.
Option 1: Build a traditional portfolio with a touch of Salesforce flavor.
Before we had interactive options, this approach was an effective strategy for building a Salesforce portfolio. This style is still functional today because it is versatile and can be easily adapted to fit the needs of recruiters, hiring managers, and potential employers.
To create a traditional portfolio, you can start by creating links to a repository of screenshots. These screenshots should depict features and capabilities you have learned along your path and be presentable enough to embed into your resume.
The repository can be hosted on free cloud storage platforms such as Google Drive, Box, or Dropbox and should be easily accessible via a public link. When creating your repository, you want to bake relevant keywords in the file names and descriptions to attract potential employers or recruiters. Examples of skill keywords include data management, business processes, training users, creating reports, implementing, designing, etc.
Additionally, including certifications and sought-after keywords such as Platform App Builder, Advanced Administrator, Salesforce Administrator Certification, and Customer Relationship Management can also make your Salesforce portfolio more attractive.
Option 2: Customize your resume and supplement it with a bio that spotlights your personality.
This approach includes all of the items from the option above and a resume. Your resume should include the following:
- A clearly defined elevator pitch;
- Updated Trailblazer Profile page complete with the “Hire Me” button activated;
- Add a 16personalities.com profile to show what you bring to the table in a fun and engaging way;
- Be sure to include your exam scores (if they are high) and Superbadges.
We’ve included a sample for you to download, courtesy of Salesforce Ben.
Option 3: Build your portfolio on Salesforce to create a fun interactive way to showcase your talent.
There are immediate benefits to be gained by building your portfolio on Salesforce. Some of the benefits include:
- Earning a badge and 400 points.
- Getting tons of likes and expanding your network if shared on social media.
- Features make adding Bootcamps, certifications, Clicked, and Salesforce Partner Learning Camp credentials easy. Remember, including these special achievements is another way to show off your qualifications, skills, and hands-on experience with Salesforce. Your portfolio will instantly demonstrate to employers that you are knowledgeable about the platform’s best practices.
- It allows you to tell your story with pictures and videos, making it more engaging.
- You’ll also be able to include all the supplemental details and information we outlined in options 1 and 2.
Key Takeaways
Regardless of which option you choose to move forward with, we want to emphasize some of the tips we shared above.
Implementing them before building your portfolio will help you create a strong Salesforce portfolio.
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- Identify your audience before building your portfolio. Consider who will see your portfolio (potential employers or clients). Tailor your portfolio to the specific audience and highlight the skills and experience more relevant to that audience.
- Decide on your format. While we recommend digital due to the flexibility of online portfolios, you need to decide on your format.
- Gather and organize your materials. Collect all the materials you’ll need to demonstrate your experience, training course completion documents, certifications, and Salesforce skills in one place. Then organize them in a way that is easy to navigate.
- Optimize for SEO: As mentioned above, keywords are your best friend. Make your portfolio more visible to potential employers and recruiters by including relevant keywords in your file names, descriptions, and content.
- Don’t be afraid of personal touches. When we say tell your story, we mean it. Practice storytelling because this will demonstrate the impact of your work on the organizations and stakeholders you’ve worked with previously. This is especially important if you’re starting out in your Salesforce career. Maybe, you’ve taken an online certificate program or freelance. Take those experiences and weave them into a story that sells your qualifications!
Be proud of your work! Publish and share it! Once you build your Salesforce portfolio, share it with your network, potential employers, and recruiters. Keep it updated regularly to reflect your latest skills or achievements.
What to expect once you publish your Salesforce portfolio
Last but not least, you may be curious about what to expect once you create your portfolio on Salesforce. Best case, you get invited to share your Salesforce portfolio at the next Dreamforce event!
At the very least, you should expect an inbox filled with recruiters asking to meet and tons of connection requests on LinkedIn. Modern portfolios are part of what keeps the Salesforce ecosystem fun and attractive to so many. Creating your Salesforce portfolio can help future-proof your career opportunities and add long-term residual value to your life.
See you on the trail, fellow blazers!
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