Top Salesforce Interview Questions: Mastering the STAR Method 

Salesforce helps over 150,000 customers across various businesses, nonprofit organizations and institutions to connect with their customers. It’s a leading customer relationship management platform used by businesses worldwide. There’s a high demand for skilled Salesforce professionals. Having a detailed understanding of Salesforce is a valuable asset and could provide a way to improve an individual’s career path. 

This article aims to prepare candidates for Salesforce interviews, discusses common Salesforce interview questions for developers and provides tips for thorough preparation. It will also discuss the STAR methodology, an interview technique that offers candidates the opportunity to tell their story by laying out the situation, task, action and result.

Methodology

The STAR interview method is a great tool used during a Salesforce developer interview. The STAR method helps structure answers to behavioral questions and is an effective method for IT manager roles. It’s a simple format that:

• Describes the context of the situation.
• Explains the task, responsibility or challenge faced.
• Details the action and steps taken to address the task.
• Highlights the result and any lessons learned.

This approach to answering questions for a Salesforce interview can help candidates showcase their problem-solving skills and experience in challenging situations.

1. What Is Salesforce, and Why Is It Important in CRM?

Why Ask This Question? 

This question aims to determine an individual’s understanding of Salesforce, how the platform has evolved over the years and its different features. The interviewer will evaluate their familiarity with Salesforce’s core components, how it works, how it integrates with other applications and how to customize it to meet client requirements. 

How Should the Candidate Answer This Question?

The candidate should be able to clearly define Salesforce, explain its key features and articulate its importance in CRM. They should also touch on the benefits Salesforce brings to organizations. When answering this question, the candidate should mention that: 

• Salesforce is a CRM platform. It helps businesses connect with their customers.
• It’s a cloud-based platform with sales, service, marketing and analytics capabilities.
• It’s an important tool for managing customer relationships and data.
• It offers numerous benefits to businesses, including efficiency and scalability. 
• It offers extensive customization options that allow businesses to adapt features according to their needs and requirements.

2. Can You Explain the Difference Between Salesforce Classic and Lightning Experience?

Why Ask This Question?

This question tests the candidate’s knowledge of Salesforce’s evolution and current offerings. It helps assess their familiarity with different Salesforce interfaces and their understanding of the platform’s development.

How Should the Candidate Answer This Question?

The candidate should differentiate between Salesforce Classic and Lightning, highlighting the improved user interface, enhanced features and better performance of Lightning. They should also mention migration considerations and the coexistence of both interfaces in many organizations. Other key points include: 

• Clarifying that Salesforce Classic was the original interface, and Lightning is the newer, more modern version. 
• Highlighting the key differences between the two regarding user experience, features and performance. 
• Discussing migration considerations. 
• Mentioning that Lightning offers a modern, customizable user interface with easier-to-read text and high-resolution graphics and icons.
• Advising that Lightning incorporates several advanced features such as built-in components and drag-and-drop functionality. 
• Explaining that Salesforce no longer actively develops Classic, while updates continue for Lightning.  

3. What Are the Main Components of the Salesforce Architecture?

Why Ask This Question?

This question assesses the candidate’s technical understanding of Salesforce’s underlying architecture and helps the interviewer evaluate their knowledge of the platform’s core components and development model.

How Should the Candidate Answer This Question?

Candidates should demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of Salesforce’s platform. They should mention its:

• Cloud-based multi-tenant architecture.
• Metadata-driven development model.
• API-first approach.
• Artificial intelligence-driven services. 
• Apex programming language.
• Visualforce and Lightning Component frameworks.

4. What Are Objects in Salesforce, and What Are the Different Types of Objects?

Why Ask This Question?

This question tests an individual’s understanding of Salesforce data model fundamentals and helps assess their ability to work with different types of objects. 

How Should The Candidate Answer This Question?

The candidate should be able to clearly define objects in Salesforce and explain the differences between the different types. They should explain how to create custom objects that meet specific business requirements. Key concepts include: 

• Providing a clear definition of objects in Salesforce.
• Outlining the types of projects, including standard objects (e.g., Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities), custom objects and external objects.
• Conveying that they know the difference between standard and custom objects.
• Mentioning that objects in Salesforce are similar to database tables and provide a structure for storing data.
• Including that Salesforce provides standard objects as a basic CRM structure, and custom objects allow data storage specific to the organization. 
• Noting that external objects allow the mapping of data stored outside the Salesforce organization.

5. What Is the Role of a Salesforce Administrator?

Why Ask This Question?

This question helps the interviewer evaluate a candidate’s understanding of the Salesforce administrator role and its importance in an organization. 

How Should The Candidate Answer This Question?

They should outline the main responsibilities of a Salesforce administrator to enable users to get the most out of Salesforce technology. Key points to highlight include:

• Managing users and security.
• Customizing the platform (fields, page layouts, workflows, etc.).
• Data management and reporting.
• Training and supporting users.
• Staying updated with Salesforce releases.
• Problem-solving. 
• Building, configuring and automating technology solutions to deliver business value.

6. What Is the Difference Between a Role and a Profile in Salesforce?

Why Ask This Question?

This question assesses an individual’s understanding of Salesforce security and access control mechanisms. It also evaluates their ability to implement proper security measures and manage user permissions effectively.

How Should the Candidate Answer This Question?

The candidate should be able to differentiate between profiles and roles in Salesforce and demonstrate an understanding of how profiles and roles work together to create a comprehensive security model. They should mention that: 

• Profiles control object-level permissions and system permissions.
• Roles control record-level access and visibility in a hierarchical structure.
• Profiles are mandatory for all users, but roles are optional.
• Profiles and roles work together for comprehensive access control.
• Profiles control what users can do (CRED: create, read, edit, delete), while roles control what users can see (record visibility).
• Profiles are like circles grouping users with similar functions, while roles are in a hierarchy.

Conclusion

These top Salesforce interview questions and answers will help candidates prepare for their Salesforce interview. Reviewing them thoroughly will help make a good impression. Candidates can also find additional information related to top interview questions for Salesforce developers.