Making life easier for whom?

Following last week’s blog I received a number of comments and a link to a vociferous debate which was taking place on another LinkedIn forum. It too was intrinsically linked to the PSL debate but had been expanded to take in CV management systems. Rather than repeat the debate chapter & verse, I’ll tell you a brief tale of our experiences of them.

Following a number of major presentations to a global infrastructure group a couple of years ago we were selected to join their PSL as the sole recruiter at senior (non Group) board level. Terms were agreed and we were set up on their CV management system and following a few minor teething problems (clerical vacancies!) we started on our first assignment for the company. When it came to presenting the shortlist reports along with the candidate’s CV’s their system wouldn’t accept/recognise anything other than the CV. Presenting that shortlist to the line managers resulted in a swift telling off by the recruitment team. The line managers selected those that they wanted to interview based upon the reports, which were then rejected by the system as the CV’s didn’t match the recruiters key criteria template for the role.

Eventually we negotiated a way around this for other future assignments but after a year working with them we decided not to renew the agreement when we were asked to. The CV system is still in place but the number of firms who have passed through the same PSL process is a worrying sign of their view on their recruitment suppliers.

Our role is to work with companies and recruitment teams to deliver a service that goes beyond CV shuffling, but when so many companies these days use comparable systems, we have to ask who they are being implemented for? At senior level they negate the value that we add by running search processes but at the high volume end of the market their value becomes apparent.

If you are interested in talking with any of the heads of our practice groups then please contact us at www.intersearchuk.com

So just what is the point of a PSL?

The Preferred Supplier List (PSL) has been around in one form or another for as long as anyone in this office can recall - and that’s actually quite a long time!

Over the years InterSearch in the UK has been on a few and come off a few, both through clients and our own choice. Interestingly there is a vast difference between those sectors where all the companies seem to have them and others where they are few and far between. The pharmaceutical sector falls very firmly in the former camp and making in-roads into these companies appears on the surface nigh on impossible,

My colleague who works in the sector has found that once you delve a little deeper invariably there is a difference of opinion between the line managers who are becoming increasingly frustrated by their roles being unfilled, whilst those charged with recruitment refuse to go outside of the PSL, which patently isn’t delivering the expected results. The subsequent request to us to “just send us some CV’s” is met with a polite decline.

So, back to the original question; What is the point of the PSL?

The simple answer in most cases seems to be cost. We were recently asked to complete a long PSL application by one of Europe’s largest distribution/logistics firms that focused solely on lowest cost without a single reference to delivery methods, quality standards or relationships between our two firms.

For many companies they are a great idea and if created and managed properly they can work to the benefit of both parties, but equally many companies have scrapped them and decided to focus on closer less formal and more successful relationships with their search firms.

If you are interested in talking with any of the heads of our practice groups then please contact us at www.intersearchuk.com