New Beginnings with Career Connect: How A Career Pivot To Sales Created A New Opportunity

Digital labor is changing both the nature of jobs and the skills required to be successful. With HR leaders anticipating shifts to business operations and workplaces because of AI, they are looking to ensure people at their organizations are ready and well-prepared. At Salesforce, we recently conducted a study with insights from CHROs focused on how they feel about AI, their plans to reskill, redeploy their workforces and gauge their levels of AI adoption and readiness.

The study also highlighted a growing focus on AI reskilling programs. More than four in five HR chiefs are or are planning to reskill their workers to be more competitive in a market shaped by AI agents. And 77% of CHROs believe AI agents will transform their organizational structure. As businesses implement digital labor strategies, CHROs believe relationship-building roles will become more valuable and collaboration and adaptability skills will be valuable in the agentic economy.

Learn more about how CHROs are thinking about how careers will shift with digital labor

Change is always the constant

Brooke Grant’s career journey has always included change and the ability to adapt. In fact, in her undergrad years she studied Public Relations. After she started working, she accidentally stumbled upon Project Management while taking on a stretch project and learned that she loved delivering business goals. With her keen eye for catching the little details that impact people on technical projects, she was introduced to a change management role, and has spent a decade being a change manager.

To Brooke, Salesforce always felt fresh, innovative and could feel the buzz in the air. In fact during the interview process, a recruiter had said to her, “Here, you will never get bored - you will never stop learning and innovating.” From that statement about the culture, Brooke was sold on Salesforce. She joined Salesforce in Mergers and Acquisitions as a Change Manager and then went on to become a Senior Change Manager within Alliances & Channels. Now, Brooke just started her new role after applying for a role she found through Career Connect as an Enablement Business Partner in ANZ for Sales.

We spoke with Brooke about her recent pivot to Sales and advice for those applying for a new role internally and external candidates looking to land a role at the #1 AI CRM.

Locked into Career Connect

Career Connect is our AI-powered solution that helps employees identify skill gaps, receive personalized learning recommendations, and discover role opportunities aligned with their capabilities and aspirations. Brooke found the Enablement Business Partner to be the perfect pivot because she would be working with Sales Leaders and supporting Account Executives in a time of change when enablement is key.

“I received a Slack message about Career Connect the day it launched and I thought, “This is it! This is the tool I need to look at my skills and where I can lean in.” I then went to Career Connect and uploaded my resume, added my skills and polished my profile. From there, I used Career Connect to look at the “Career Navigator” and see different job families. I would have NEVER applied for a Sales Enablement role without Career Connect showing me how many skills I had that overlapped with that job family!“

Brooke also took the time to highlight her transferrable skills for the new role, prepared for the interview with the help of a supportive team. “I crafted my talking points with the hiring manager (now my amazing leader!) based on the skills shown to me in Career Connect. Rather than focusing on what I didn’t know such as Sales, I honed in on everything I excelled at including skills like Change and Stakeholder Management, Communications and Strategy, Cross Functional Team Leadership.”

“With innovation comes better opportunities to advance not only our customers, but also ourselves. I have used AI to upskill, learn, pivot and hone in on MY strengths and in turn have received this amazing opportunity within the ANZ Sales Enablement Team.”

A supportive and collaborative environment

For sales professionals, being part of a collaborative environment is essential in everyone’s ability to achieve success. Brooke said that the support of her team helped her with the transition into a sales role and because of that, she was able to fully support the Sales Enablement team.

“My team supports our sellers by listening, understanding, and ensuring we deliver on timely and valuable enablement. Through innovative learning experiences and collaborative partnerships, we equip our teams to unlock value for our customers, directly contributing to their success.” Brooke is part of every interaction with the sales team, including leadership team meetings, All-Hands meetings and she even sits in on 1:1’s with Account Executives to hear feedback and wins.

The deep dive into a sales role meant continous learning from day one. She mentioned the “Ready to Sell” enablement program for Sales roles which “has been so helpful to wrap my head around the Sales organization.”

Tips for job seekers and navigating internal moves at Salesforce

“If I had to say anything to people exploring new opportunities at Salesforce it would be “YOU GOT THIS!“ “BELIEVE in what you bring to the table - highlight your top skills and hone in and the ability to be flexible and learn. Brooke encourages people to explore new role opportunities, even if they don’t have all the skills listed in the job description.

She mentioned to not underestimate the value a candidate brings from previous roles and why that is actually a strength to share a new perspective with a team in a different business unit.

Additionally, Brooke said “beyond understanding and enjoying the culture at a company, staying internally means you take all of your insider knowledge and accelerate yourself into your next opportunity.” She noted it was a “smooth and amazing onboarding process” because she able to get up-and-running with things so much quicker because she knows Salesforce and was able to meet her team prior to being hired.

And one day, she’d love to lead a team of Enablement or Change Managers.

Why it's an exciting time to join Salesforce

The rise of Agentforce is transforming how we work, and Salesforce is committed to helping our employees thrive in this exciting new era. With plenty of opportunity for growth and internal movement, this is one of the most exciting times to be at Salesforce.

We’ve recently launched our latest iteration of our AI-powered marketplace, Career Connnect 2.0 with new features. If you are currently an employee at Salesforce, be sure to fill out your Career Connect profile to help visualize potential career paths, build skills, find new opportunities and grow your network with new connections.

Your next move

Brooke’s journey is a testament to how Salesforce is committed to being the best place for employees to grow and expand in their careers. With various opportunities for career development, a collaborative environment and a company leading the way with AI Agent innovations, there is plenty to discover at Salesforce.

If you’re ready to take your sales career to a globally renowned company that’s pioneering the agent-first future of business, apply today.