Salesforce – Silicon Valley’s world leading CRM service provider – is collaborating with boutique Auckland-based
technology career development agency, Mission Ready, to create 300 skilled entry-level developers over the next 12
months.
The collaboration – a 21 week/ 5 month Accelerator course - gets underway next month and will go some way towards
combating the technology industry’s current chronic skills shortage.
Mission Ready recognised it could be a part of the solution to combat the tech skills shortage - that is being
experienced by fast-growth organisations like Salesforce - by tailoring the use of its signature accelerator course to
help candidates career-transition into tech careers.
The collaboration represents a win for candidates looking for tech-industry employment, a win for employers looking for
new talent and a win for Salesforce to scale a high growth organisation.
Mission Ready’s model appealed with its short turn-around time as well as access to candidates motivated to change
careers into the technology sector. The agency has trained more than 200 candidates in the last two and a half years
with a large percentage transitioning from careers and backgrounds in teaching, business operations, performing arts,
nursing and Covid-impacted industries like hospitality and tourism.
The programme also appeals to organisations as a targeted way to fulfil their diversity and inclusion goals. Mission
Ready’s networks tap into candidate talent pools, especially Maori and Pasifika, who have not been exposed to
traditional pathways into the technology industry. In 2020 Mission Ready set up more than 30 tech scholarships for Māori
and Pasifika candidates that lead to long-term employment opportunities.
In this partnership with Salesforce, candidates will be trained on in-demand professional skills including agile and
design thinking and will gain three industry recognised certifications as well as industry experience on live projects
enabling them to hit the ground running with medium and large businesses that are using Salesforce technology.
Mission Ready has a placement rate of 85% with all its accelerator programme candidates. It is expecting a similar, if
not better result, with this specific Salesforce cohort. Salesforce and its ecosystem of partners anticipates creating
26,000 new jobs in New Zealand by 2026.