Salesforce Announces New Fellowship Opportunities for Military Members and Spouses Moving into Tech Careers

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The Skillbridge and Military Spouse Career Accelerator programs support increased demand for talent with digital skills while improving military representation in the technology industry

Salesforce, in partnership with the Hiring Our Heroes program, has kicked off the second 2023 cohort of its Skillbridge Fellowship Program and a new Military Spouse Career Accelerator Pilot Program. Each program provides service members and military spouses hands-on experience to prepare for a transition into Salesforce careers at no cost.

Why it’s important: The need for digitally skilled talent is growing while the technology sector, including Salesforce, works to diversify its ranks. The military ecosystem, including active duty, veterans, and military spouses, offers a broad hiring base of diverse talent well-suited to the industry. However, this talent pool is historically underrepresented in the workplace. 

How it works: The two programs help transitioning service members and military spouses gain valuable industry experience through classes, certifications, and support they need for successful tech careers within the Salesforce ecosystem, which includes customers, partners, and now, internally at Salesforce.  

Through a comprehensive interview process, fellows are carefully matched with participating host companies based on the candidate’s skills and the preferences of both parties. This includes their job function, like engineering or sales, stage in military process, and more. 

• Once matched with a host company, candidates undergo a 12-week program with exclusive on-the-job training at their host company, gaining firsthand experience in the private sector. 
• Fellows will learn hard skills, such as coding, project management, and sales, and soft skills, such as networking, leadership, and critical thinking.
• Fellows can earn certifications in Salesforce skills and become top applicants for jobs within their host companies. 

This year, Salesforce Skillbridge and Military Spouse Career Accelerator fellows will work across all of Salesforce’s business units, including sales, technology, business operations, human resources, marketing, and legal. 

The Salesforce perspective: “Service members and military spouses have the kind of skills we need in tech and I’m proud that we’re continuing to grow military representation at Salesforce and in our broader ecosystem through the Skillbridge Fellowship Program,” said Mike Nolan, Head of Military Recruiting and Global President of Vetforce. “This work is critical in providing military personnel and military spouses the opportunity to build their careers with invaluable, transferable knowledge.”

Service members and military spouses have the kind of skills we need in tech.

Mike Nolan, Head of Military Recruiting and Global President of Vetforce

What they’re saying: 

• “The Skillbridge Fellowship was a valuable experience and the perfect bridge to my post-military career. Tableau’s Federal Customer Success Group was incredibly supportive of my goals, and after three months with the team, I secured a contracting role as a Global Enablement Operations Tableau subject matter expert.” – Kim Sebrano, Former Fellow, Data Analyst 
• “My Department of Defense Fellowship with Salesforce and Tableau has granted me more real-world corporate experience than I could have imagined, along with unfettered access and mentoring from veterans, and veteran allies alike, all the way up to the C-suite level.” – Eric Quarles, Former Fellow, Enterprise Account Executive, Slack PubSec
• “Working with and mentoring Department of Defense Skillbridge fellows has been one of the most fun and rewarding things I’ve done while at Salesforce. All the fellows I have hosted have meaningfully contributed to our team, and it’s great having the opportunity to give back and help begin their transition.” –  Brian Harris, Fellow Host

Zoom out: Salesforce is committed to supporting and investing in the military community in a number of ways: 

• Salesforce Military offers guided learning paths to learn Salesforce skills, exam vouchers, expert-led Trailhead Academy classes, fellowships, and interviews for free to active duty, reserve, guard, veterans, and current military spouses in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
• The Salesforce Talent Alliance is a pipeline to help veterans and spouses with Salesforce certifications get hired by Salesforce partners.
• Vetforce is Salesforce’s Equality Group made up of veterans, families of service members, and allies passionate about supporting military members.
• Salesforce’s five-pronged approach to mental health supports employees with therapy and coaching, personalized care, substance abuse support, time off, and stress management. Additionally, to deepen support for working parents, the company has expanded family care leave, childcare stipends, and other resources to help working parents.
• Free training on Trailhead provides companies with guidance on how to interview, hire, and support military talent.
• Salesforce also provides the military community access to mentorship conversations with Salesforce employees through Veterati.

Explore further: Learn more about Salesforce Military here and at World Tour D.C. on April 19, 2023. Apply to be a fellow in the upcoming September cohort here.