After the huge success of the first-ever cohort of LDN Salesforce Apprentices to complete their Salesforce Apprenticeship, we thought we’d catch up with some of the current cohorts of LDN Trailblazers following in their footsteps.

Blazing a trail is previous LDN Talentpath graduate and current level 4 Salesforce Business Analyst apprentice, Emmanuel Bass!

Celebrating his one-year anniversary at London-based Salesforce Consultancy Futureform, Emmanuel spoke to us about his recent trailblazer journey both as an apprentice and former Talentpath grad.

Having been on programme for over 12 months, Emmanuel has conjured up some tips and advice for future Salesforce apprentices but what drove him to apply for an apprenticeship in the first place?

“I took interest in Salesforce when I was in search of a career in tech, at first it was just curiosity that led me to explore the platform, but the more I had looked into Salesforce the more interested I became.” said Emmanuel.

“Salesforce was a platform, where I could use and develop my technical skills, and with an inclusive community and excellent resources to expand my knowledge. Additionally, Salesforce has always been a cloud-based company, which allows for flexible working, so you will potentially see a lot of remote roles.” he added.

In a recent interview with Trailhead as part of their #AskATrailblazer series, Emmanuel shared how thanks to the skills and experience he gained on our free Salesforce training programme - Talentpath, he was able to secure his role at Futureform.

Listen to Emmanuel as he speaks about all things Salesforce Bootcamp in the video interview above!

We also had the chance to talk to Emmanuel’s line manager and Head of Delivery – Tom Mitchell, who played a crucial role in recruiting Emmanuel. Tom was able to give us an overview of the development and growth of Emmanuel’s role since joining the team at Futureform.

With this in mind, we asked Tom why he decided to hire Salesforce Apprentices into his team instead of traditional post-grad recruitment. Here’s what he had to say…

“We wanted to support and foster the development of new talent into our business and the Salesforce ecosystem.

We felt that as a small consultancy the additional support available to the apprentices via LDN, would enhance what we are able to provide to them and provide them with a larger support network as they start their Salesforce career.”

Since joining the team, how has Tom and the rest of the Futureform team supported Emmanuel's development into the role when he first started as a Salesforce Consultant Apprentice?

“Emmanuel brings a fresh perspective to the team and is always open to learning new Salesforce skills and furthering his development.

We ran internal training that had Emmanuel on a number of internal projects and case studies to support the development of both consultancy soft skills, analysis, and configurations skills.

Topped up with lots of trailhead modules and buddying with a colleague to learn on the job in a client-facing environment that continues during the course of his apprenticeship.” explained Tom.

Emmanuel added “whether it's a smaller or larger scale project, there's always something for me to learn, a new experience, or a way to develop both my practical and soft skills. Futureform is always providing a route for me to improve myself.”

As part of Emmanuel’s continued career development, it came as no surprise that he also successfully passed his Salesforce Administration Cert!

In achieving this personal milestone, Emmanuel outlined how Futureform, combined with the certification, has helped him to progress throughout the apprenticeship.

“The exam was difficult but through the help of Futureform, they were able to point me in the right direction.

Through gaining the admin cert, I found myself more confident in taking up and completing tasks, also making me more proactive.”

With the Salesforce Admin Cert under his belt, what advice would Emmanuel give to other people looking to start a career with a Salesforce Apprenticeship?

“There are multiple career paths within Salesforce, do some research to see where you think you would fit or give it a try, there's a lot of flexibility and upcoming opportunities, so you will have the chance to move around.

There's no harm in building up your knowledge of Salesforce, try out some trailheads, they are free and generally very useful also outlining career paths.”

But what advice does Tom have for other employers thinking about taking on Salesforce Apprentices in their team?

“The support required initially is quite an investment, so make sure the effort is split over a number of people. It's also a great opportunity to get existing team members parting knowledge on individual focus areas and which supports wider team development.

It's massively important that as a business and as Salesforce partners we invest in future talent to support our growth and apprentices are a fantastic way to go about this.”

It’s been excellent to work with Tom and the team at Futureform to create opportunities for diverse talent to start a rewarding & successful career in the Salesforce ecosystem.