Salesforce to hire 2,000 for AI product sales, says CEO Marc Benioff

Salesforce is set to hire 2,000 new salespeople to focus on selling artificial intelligence (AI) products, doubling its initial hiring plans as the company prepares to launch its next-generation AI agent software in February 2025. Salesforce plans to hire 2,000 new salespeople to focus on selling artificial intelligence (AI) products as the company planning to expand its AI offerings. Salesforce to Hire 2,000 Salespeople for AI Expansion CEO Marc Benioff made this announcement during a company event in San Francisco on Tuesday, saying that the demand for AI tools is so high that the company is increasing its hiring plans. “We’re adding another couple of thousand salespeople to help sell these products,” Benioff said. “ We already had 9,000 referrals for the 2,000 positions we’ve opened. It’s amazing.” This announcement makes a big increase from the initial plan. A month ago, Benioff mentioned that Salesforce would hire 1,000 new salespeople for AI roles. The company is now doubling the count as it prepares to release its new AI agent software in February 2025. Salesforce aims to make AI a key part of its product lineup, with AI tools to help sales teams, marketers, and customer service agents do their jobs more efficiently. The new salespeople will help introduce and sell Salesforce’s latest AI technology, including the upcoming second version of its Agentforce platform. This software is designed to create AI-powered agents to handle complex tasks, like answering questions in Salesforce’s Slack app using all available data. The new AI agents will be able to respond to customer queries, making business operations smoother and faster. Benioff is very excited about Salesforce’s potential for AI. In a recent interview, he shared, “I’ve never been more excited about anything at Salesforce, maybe in my career.” He added that he expects the company to have over a billion AI agents within the next year. “This is the most exciting thing that’s happened to Salesforce,” he said. Salesforce’s AI Push Following 2022 Layoffs Salesforce’s move into AI comes after the company laid off over 7,000 employees in 2022. Cutting over 7,000 jobs to adjust to changing economic conditions. As of January 2024, Salesforce had 72,682 employees. Now, the company is focused on hiring more people to increase growth in the AI space. With its new AI agents and expanded sales team, Salesforce is aiming to become a major player in the AI industry. From Zero to Web3 Pro: Your 90-Day Career Launch Plan