If you’re starting a new job in the second half of 2020, chances are some or all of the process will be carried out remotely.
Salesforce has continued to hire throughout Covid-19, highlighting the company’s continued success – not even a pandemic has been able to slow them down.
Roles in Salesforce had been creeping towards a more remote setting for some time, but the recent events have been the catalyst for systems to be as remote as possible.
So if you’re starting a new Salesforce role soon, first of all, congratulations, and secondly, this guide is for you.
Starting a new role remotely is still a relatively new experience, so here is our guide on how to make the process go as smoothly as possible.
Ask About How Remote Employees Are Kept in the Loop
There are two types of remote recruitment going on right now.
- There are companies who have had remote employees for years,
- and those who are now doing so as a necessary move due to Covid.
If your new job is with the latter, there may be some teething problems around systems and processes; this is to be expected when such a significant change has happened recently.
But despite this, your hiring manager should be able to reassure you how you will be treated as a remote employee.
Questions to ask in the early stages are –
- How long are you planning on this role being remote?
- How many other remote employees are there; and how many are office-based?
- What procedures do you have in place for remote employees?
- Are there daily or weekly Zoom/Microsoft Teams or phone calls to keep everyone in the loop?
- What remote tech support will be available to me, and how much?
- Are my ‘at desk’ hours flexible?
You should be able to discern from their answers how well they’ve got their remote working practices down.
By the way, if you’re currently looking for a new remote Salesforce role, you can browse our vacancies here.
Introduce Yourself as the Newbie
When you start a new office-based job, it’s easy to stand out as the new employee; this is much harder when you’re working from home.
You will be introduced to your new colleagues via video, but this might be where the interaction ends. It might be left up to you to add your new colleagues on LinkedIn, or to say hello on group messaging chats, but you should do so.
Depending on the size and scale or the team you’re joining, it might be a real possibility that your presence on the team goes unnoticed due to remote working constraints on larger teams.
So make sure you say a digital ‘hello’ to everyone you will be working with, not just to start a professional relationship; it’s friendly too.
Check-In (But Keep it Brief)
Remember that it’s normal to need to ask questions when you start a new role and that these questions will range from the small to the more significant.
Don’t worry about asking your line manager questions – that’s what they’re there for.
Remember to use your new colleagues to ask any smaller queries you might have about systems and processes, but keep it brief.
Instead of bombarding your new remote workmates with a long email of questions, ask as and when things crop up. There is a whole culture of unspoken and inherited ways of doing things whenever you start in a new company.
These are much harder to ‘figure out’ remotely – so don’t be afraid to ask.
Get to Know the Culture
One of the reasons employers in the past have been reluctant to let teams work remotely is the perceived negative effect on the company culture.
While there is the risk of those starting a new role this year remotely feeling ‘cut off’ from the company culture, there are ways around this. Technology has made it possible to feel connected to our workmates even from a distance.
In ‘Remote’, a bestselling book about working from home, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson state, “You don’t need everyone physically together to create a strong culture. The best cultures derive from actions people take”.
Culture is not just about Friday drinks; it’s about how we work and how we communicate.
Be open to communicating with different team members on different channels, save Zoom for your manager and use WhatsApp or another social media messaging app to exchange messages with distant colleagues quickly.
Learn who prefers direct messages and who prefers a phone call. Choose your words and the tone of your messages carefully. Remember that things can get lost in translation when communication isn’t face-to-face.
Finally
Remote working is here to stay.
If your current role is restrictive and you have been considering a move to remote working in your Salesforce career, call me on 01322 272 532 or get in touch here to find out how we can help you find your next job.
About Resource On Demand
Resource On Demand is Europe’s first specialist Salesforce Recruitment Company, now also focusing on growth Cloud markets.
We assist innovative and disruptive organisations to grow their technology teams. We are supporting companies to fill Cloud roles that span across Digital Marketing, Marketing Automation, Human Capital Management and the growing Salesforce.com suite of skills.
The team at Resource On Demand have access to an extensive database of key talent, registering over 8000 Cloud professionals each year.
To find out how we can support you call us on 01322 272 532, or you can contact us by clicking here.