Build Your Admin Skills: Learner’s Mindset and Designer’s Mindset

Prefer to read instead of watch? Here’s a breakdown of the episode.

Learner's Mindset

Learner's Mindset is about continually staying up to date with new Salesforce technology and inspiring our stakeholders to do the same. By continuously looking for ways to increase knowledge for yourself (and others), you're helping to ensure everyone is successful. You can lead by example by quickly learning business needs, designing practical Salesforce solutions, and communicating these clearly to stakeholders. And when you apply for jobs in the Salesforce ecosystem, you'll want to demonstrate a passion for learning and staying up to date with technology, and give examples of how you inspire others to do the same.

Amit Arya, a real-life #AwesomeAdmin, shares his top three Learner’s Mindset tips.

1. Learning is key to your success. I truly believe that in order to be successful in any career, you need to continually learn and develop new skills to better yourself. Trailhead is a great resource to help you gain confidence and better understand the Salesforce Platform.
2. Hands-on experience is a must. Companies looking to hire admins often favor candidates who have it. To gain hands-on experience with Salesforce, you can complete superbadges on Trailhead. Another good way to gain experience is through a volunteer job at an organization where you have an opportunity to solve real-world problems.
3. Connecting with others is essential. Reach out to fellow Trailblazers and expand your network. You can do this by joining Trailblazer Community Group meetings, utilizing Facebook groups and LinkedIn, and exploring the Trailblazer Mentorship Program.

Designer's Mindset

Designer's Mindset is all about creating human-centered user experiences in Salesforce. You know, really understanding the declarative features of the Salesforce Platform and how to use them to design a human-centered user experience (UX) to solve problems. It's essential for admins to have a baseline knowledge of how to do this, because UX design directly impacts users on a day-to-day basis when it comes to being able to do their jobs. Employers are starting to take note of the importance of this skill, so representing this on your resume and in interviews will set you up for success.

Melissa Hill Dees knows how candidates can showcase Designer’s Mindset skills on their resume.

1. A great place to start is on Trailhead! Complete the badges in the UX Design certification prep trailmix to improve your skills and learn how to use some incredibly helpful tools to take your human-centered design (HCD) above and beyond, like Consequence Scanning. Having the UX Design certification on your resume also helps potential employers see that you’re dedicated to the success of the entire team.
2. HCD is a creative approach to solving people’s problems that begins with identifying their needs and ends with creating solutions—products, experiences, and services—that meet those needs. Have you conducted a workshop with your team to align goals? Have you identified specific challenges your users have and then worked to improve the situation? These are great examples of HCD. Someone is doing the design work and it's probably you, whether you realize it or not. Be sure to highlight your creative problem-solving approaches and the results.
3. Show you’re being proactive when it comes to designing an optimal UX. How have you done this in previous roles? Which steps did you take? For example, you might say, “In my previous role as an admin, I proactively planned and facilitated design testing and validation to ensure the optimal user experience.”

To learn more about these skills, check out the Salesforce Admin Skills Kit.

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