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Are you hiring for "culture fit" or for outcomes? In 2026, that distinction will determine if your Salesforce team sinks or swims.

Most hiring managers are falling into the "Mirror-tocracy" trap—hiring people just like them instead of the talent they actually need. In Part 2 of our ecosystem outlook, Josh Matthews and Scott Stafford reveal why "gut feel" is a career-killer and how the hiring landscape has shifted.

If you want to build a high-performing team that can actually orchestrate AI, you have to change how you interview.

In this episode:

• The 20% Rule: Why paying more for "Orchestrators" saves you $100k in the long run.
• The Live Prompt Test: A simple, 2-minute tactical test to see if a candidate is faking their AI skills.
• Data Literacy vs. AI: Why your AI will break if your new hire doesn't understand data relevance.
• The Tom Graber Story: How a "weird" first impression led to one of the best hires in Josh’s 35-year career.
• Merit vs. Familiarity: Practical steps to override your brain's hiring bias.

Featured Opportunity: We are currently hiring for a Salesforce Marketing/Data Cloud Pro (Chicago/Hybrid). View details at thesalesforcerecruiter.com.

Connect with the Show:

• YouTube: Joshforce Channel
• Web: thesalesforcerecruiter.com

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Salesforce demand dropped 37% in 2024, but the 2026 recovery is already leaving "average" Admins behind. Are you catching the wave, or getting crushed by the coral?

In this episode of The Hiring Edge, host Josh Matthews and 27x Certified Architect Scott Stafford break down the "75% Delta of Pain" currently hitting the ecosystem. We move past the Reddit rants and look at the actual data: who is getting hired, who is getting $25k premiums, and why "manual configuration" is a career dead-end.

Key Insights for your 2026 Career Plan:

• The Surfing Strategy: Why you must match the speed of the AI wave before it hits you.
• The "Jimmy" Trap: How a negative mindset is costing professionals more opportunities than the economy is.
• The Premium Pivot: Why RevCloud, CPQ, and MuleSoft are the "safe havens" for $150k+ roles right now.
• AI Orchestration: Moving from "builder" to "architect" in the age of Agentforce.

Featured Guest: Scott Stafford, 27x Certified Salesforce Architect.

Stop guessing about your career. Listen now to get the 2026 Talent Roadmap.

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Cold calls, cold emails, cold everything — they’re dead.
In this episode, Josh Matthews sits down with Drew Sechrist, one of the earliest Salesforce builders and now the founder of Connect The Dots, to break down how authentic relationships drive sales, recruiting, and growth in 2025.

They unpack:

• The story behind Salesforce’s first culture of connection — and how it changed everything
• How to find warm paths into any account or candidate using relationship intelligence
• Why transparency and alignment (Mark Benioff’s V2MOM model) still win decades later
• The role of AI in building trust, not replacing it
• And how small dinners and meaningful introductions beat mass outreach every time

If you lead sales, recruiting, or you’re a founder trying to stand out in a noisy world — this one’s for you.