Talent Hub Talk

Suraj Sreekumar on helping customers succeed and giving back to aspiring Trailblazers

In today's episode, we are delighted to be joined by Suraj Sreekumar, a Senior Success Architect with Salesforce, specialising in Revenue Cloud.

Suraj shares details on his early career and how his Salesforce journey started. We then explore the different hats he has worn and how being open to taking on different roles and responsibilities has been beneficial for his career.

Having spent many years working for Salesforce partners, Suraj talks about his knowledge of the partner ecosystem and gives some insight on what he feels makes a great Consultant. Suraj also details how and why he came to focus on CPQ.

Suraj has been working for Salesforce for almost a year, so he explains what his role is, shares some insight into the Customer Success team and explains why he has taken on the responsibility of being a Trailblazer Guide and why he is passionate about mentoring aspiring Trailblazers.

If you have more questions or if you want to connect with Suraj, you can contact him on Linkedin

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Poonam Keswani on her journey to Salesforce CTA and sharing her success with loved ones

In today's episode, we are joined by Poonam Keswani, a Salesforce CTA and Senior Manager for Accenture.

Poonam recently became the first non-Salesforce employee to become a Salesforce CTA in India. We unpack her career, how she has progressed at different stages and look at the impact COVID has had on how the onshore/offshore model is viewed.

Poonam talks us through how she first became interested in pursuing the CTA, who inspired her and how she explained the challenge and commitment required to her family. Poonam shares how it felt to receive the results and how her loved ones reacted to the news that she had passed.

You can find out more about Poonam on her Linkedin page.

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Ram Babu Singh on the importance of being out of your comfort zone and the value of engaging with the Salesforce community

In today's episode, we are joined by Ram Babu Singh, a Salesforce CTA and Associate Director for Accenture UK.

Through the episode we explore Ram's early interest in Engineering, whether he saw it as a long term career and how he got started in the Salesforce ecosystem. Ram talks us through the early days as a Salesforce Developer and how on site opportunity in the Netherlands really enabled him to enhance his engineering skill set.

Ram has progressed from Developer to Tech Lead and Technical Architect, so he shares some of the steps he took to improve and grow along the way. He talks about the importance of being out of your comfort zone and asking for feedback, aswell as discusses how he manages stress and burnout.

Finally Ram talks about his journey to CTA, how it played out and the lessons he learnt through the process, plus shares how valuable he found the Salesforce community and different groups that helped him achieve his goal.

You can connect with Ram on Linkedin and also find out more about the CTA Gang of Four here.

Nageen Hussain on her journey to cross cloud Architect

In today's episode, I am joined by Nageen Hussain, an experienced cross-cloud Salesforce Architect based in Brisbane.

We discuss what Nageen had initially wanted to do as a career, what first attracted her into the Salesforce ecosystem and why the company she first worked for was such a great environment and learning ground for numerous high-performing Salesforce professionals today.

Nageen shares some insight into the Salesforce market in Australia when she first emigrated, and how some of her previous training had prepared her for the onsite model.

Having started as a core Salesforce consultant, Nageen has upskilled and now works as a cross-cloud Architect, so we explore how and why she learnt Marketing Cloud and discuss the current barriers that may prevent others from doing the same.

Nageen has worked in large and small consulting firms as well as directly for the customer, so she shares some insight into the benefit of each environment. Finally, Nageen shares some exciting career news and talks about the studying she is doing and how it will help in her Salesforce role.

If you want to reach out to Nageen you can connect with her on Linkedin.

Vamsi Bollineni on growing a Salesforce practice and some key decisions along the way

In today's episode, I am joined by Vamsi Bollineni, the CEO of Access Global Group.

We cover Vamsi's background and how he came to form Access Global. We then discuss the journey he has been on with the business, starting with partnering with other partners to then going direct-to-customer, aligning the business to specific industries, building Salesforce products and hiring and retaining staff.

You can connect with Vamsi on Linkedin and find out more about his business here.

Getting set up to land your first Salesforce role

In today's episode, Ben shares some tips and guidance for anyone looking to land their first Salesforce role.

Ben covers transferable skills, networking, branding, meetups and more.

Christopher Hopper on current trends and observations from the Salesforce market

In today's episode, Christopher Hopper returns to the show. We discuss the impact of the current global economy on the Salesforce market, whether there is hesitancy to move roles from candidates, if contract is riskier than permanent employment and we also cover a range of other topics.

For Chris' insight and observations on the Salesforce market, we recommend that you follow him on his Linkedin page.

Katie Villanueva on thriving in the Salesforce ecosystem and ending the stigma around mental illness

In today's episode, we are delighted to be joined by Katie Villanueva, a Senior Salesforce Administrator based out of the US.

We cover Katie's background, how she found her way into the Salesforce ecosystem and why she is thriving since she became a full-time Salesforce Administrator. Katie is passionate about ending the stigma around mental illness and talks openly about her own diagnosis of bipolar and explains why it is so important that mental illness is talked about.

We go over some very important topics, such as communicating openly with employers, safe spaces and the impact of working in environments where you cannot be open, plus resources that Katie has found valuable. This is a topic we feel strongly about, so we are very grateful for Katie sharing her story and pushing the need for more conversation around mental illness.

You can connect with Katie on Linkedin

Steve Baines on his entrepreneurial journey, mergers, acquisitions and lessons along the way

In today's episode, we are joined by Steve Baines, a Salesforce CTA and Vice President with Apps Associates in the US.

In the episode, we explore a little bit about Steve's early career, how he started in IT and then found his way into the Salesforce ecosystem. Then we focus on Steve's entrepreneurial journey, where his entrepreneurial spirit comes from and the realities of being a business owner with a family.

We discuss why Steve has been driven to start new businesses after previous exits, what some of the key factors are behind business success and explore how he balanced being a business leader with being a technical leader in the Salesforce ecosystem and staying on top of the technology.

The last couple of years have been busy and exciting for Steve, so he shares the story around merging his business with another company, and then talks about how they were then acquired by Apps Associates. Steve also discussed what the whole experience was like in the middle of a pandemic, when meeting people face to face was impossible.

Make sure you are following Steve on Linkedin.

We hope you enjoy the episode as much as we enjoyed recording it.

Dylan McGough O’Reilly on the UK and European Salesforce markets, plus building a purpose led recruitment business

Dylan is a UK-based Salesforce Recruiter and Recruitment business owner. We have been connected for a while and have helped each other with a few referrals over the years, so it was great to have him on the show.

We discuss the UK and European Salesforce markets, covering contract/permanent vacancy splits, in-demand skills sets, hiring hubs, team sizes and visas. We also cover Dylan's recruitment business, WeEngage Group and why they are passionate about working with certain companies and giving back.

If you aren't already following Dylan, you can connect with him on Linkedin .