Make Sure You Know Their Qualifications!

If you are looking for a Salesforce consultant or developer, I always recommend that you look first at your Salesforce User Group, which gives you the chance to learn about who is in your area either in person or online. (Nonprofit User Groups are linked here.)

No matter how you go about finding help, you should always verify that they actually have the certifications they claim.  Salesforce now offers an online database of certified professionals.  With  someone's first and last name or email address, you can find a list of their certifications and see if their claims are true. Be warned, spelling counts!  For the most accurate information on an individual, just ask them to send you a link to their verification page in case their name or email address may be entered in a slightly different fashion than you have for that individual.

Not all consultants are alike, verify their certifications before hiring.

For example, you can view my certifications by clicking here, or click the photo of me on the right side of the page.  Yet if you were to search for me using the more traditional spelling of my first name, "Bonnie", you would not find me at all.  Similarly, you might know him as "Mike Gerholdt", but you won't find him listed unless you search for him by his formal name, "Michael".

Verification makes finding the appropriate individual for a job even easier, but for the best accuracy, just ask for the certification.salesforce.com link.  Since the data is maintained by Salesforce, you can trust that it is up to date.