I see a new service has been launched by PreferredSupplierList.com (PSL) to "help organisations to register interest from prospective recruitment agencies via the internet. Rather than fielding dozens of phone calls a day, staff will be able to ask Recruitment suppliers to register online rather than ‘cold call’ hiring managers."
Basically a corporate firm uses PreferredSupplierList.com to add a customised PSL registration form to their website (or they can have the form site on the PSL website). The corporate chooses from one of four service levels to manage the process of registering new agencies.
The idea is to help corporates reduce the number of cold calls they receive and to help them "Source the high quality agencies and ensure they meet your key criteria, before you start investing your time in engaging them". I get the first bit – ensuring reception informs every recruiter they need to register on the website will reduce the number of calls you get. However, I think the idea is bad because:
a) you can’t chose a recruitment supplier from a form
b) sometimes recruiters have real value to share in a "sales pitch" (eg, industry/competitor information)
c) sometimes they do actually have a candidate you may want to meet (ok, 90% of the time they don’t but you have to take the calls to find out)
d) unless you have a policy of never using recruitment agencies it’s part of your job to form relationships with them.
e) higher calibre recruitment businesses may refrain from engaging in a faceless PSL online registration process. The potential lack of interaction and understanding of the client’s culture would prove impossible to sell to any potentially interested candidates. This sort of process seriously restricts access to future top talent and seriously undermines the credibility and external reputation of the company. In a tight market the candidates’ first impressions of a company are critical and many will judge these businesses on their recruitment processes.
What did make me smile about this is that it’s a service set up by a recruitment agency – Verticality (an IT, sales and marketing Recruitment Consultancy servicing a European client base). Presumably they’ll be getting all future business by completing forms on the websites of potential clients.
Hi Louise,
We want recruitment agencies to embrace our model, so I am keen to reply to your post. I would also welcome the chance to discuss this with you in person.
Just to clarify, they are two divisions within Verticality Ltd. Verticality which is the original part of the company a traditional model recruitment agency focused on the Software sector. Then there is EasyWebRecruitment.com which I head up. PSL has really been born out of our discussions with clients of EasyWebRecruitment.com, but I have recently also had lots of interesting discussions with consultants from the Verticality side of our business. Their general view being that if the form was not too long and it gave them a chance to get their key points across (why they can recruit for this client) then they would fill it out, but maybe they are just being nice to me? Time will tell.
Interestingly, when we launched on Monday we had four times the number of enquiries from agencies than we did potential clients (agencies 8 – potential clients – 2).
With this in mind we are shortly adding an agency registration page to our site, so that clients can search via our software for applications, but they can also search more generally for agencies that have registered with us.
The point I am very keen to make is that agencies are a valued commodity (especially the good ones) and are a key part of the PSL business model.
Turning to your post, taking each point in turn:
a) The form is not meant to replace the decision making process for deciding on new agencies. It is meant to collate and present information on who is interested in helping you recruit, and provide some basic pre-screening questions/answers from them.
b) Sometimes recruiters do have real value to share, I agree. Speaking as a recruiter, who worked in a tight vertical market, there were a number of clients I had a strong knowledge of and was well positioned to recruit for. However, many of those clients were not in a position to consider my proposal when I called. Perhaps they were not even recruiting, but more often than not had already received too many cold calls that day to actively listen to what I was saying. The end result was lots of wasted time for both myself and the prospects.
Our forms are bespoke for a reason. We want to encourage clients to ask the key questions that will help agencies to highlight their skills/experiences. This will also provide agencies with an insight as to what factors are important to this client when considering new suppliers.
Surely, this is a more sensible approach for those clients who acknowledge that they are not able to track this information as they get too many enquiries? Those that have the capacity to receive and correctly manage the telephone enquiries they get can carry on as normal.
c) It really depends on whether you want to do your recruitment via a PSL, be it formal or informal, or if you would prefer to hear from all recruitment agencies with a candidate to pitch. Surely, if the investment in time from taking these calls versus the results that comes from taking the calls, was positive, HR depts and line managers would be adding their direct dials to the careers pages instead of general careers@ email addresses?
d) We are in the business of helping organisations form relationships with agencies, we just chose to offer clients a different approach.
e) I think that really depends on the client who is offering the PSL form and how long it takes to fill out. At present we are setting up a trial for a large multinational company who’s initial feedback has been very positive (watch this space).
The second part of this point suggests that we are looking for clients to engage/instruct agencies via the form. This is not the case. As with all internet advancements personal relations are key, and if our clients are taking less calls then they will have more time to invest in the personal relationships of those agencies on the PSL.
Your point about Verticality is interesting. This side of our business is a very specific company servicing specific vertical markets within the software industry. The key point I would add is we don’t get to tell our clients which agencies to go with, or even tell them which questions to add to the form. So if Verticality want to apply for a PSL that we manage they are welcome to. Whether our existing relationship as a partner will effect their decision is ultimately up to the client.
Anyway, I hope you post my comments because I look forward to gauging the response from the rest of your readers and possibly talking to you in the near future.
Adrian McDonagh
Managing Director
PreferredSupplierList.com
Good find Louise, and kudos to Adrian for monitoring what people are saying about his baby and responding promptly and eloquently.
My take initially would be on the less-positive side; whilst I see the potential with a venture like this there is the problem of how it is perceived, by recruiters, employers and industry experts like Louise (flattery, I know!)
To you Adrian, my advice would be to make sure you really know how to tell your story. So many recruitment agencies hate just the idea of a PSL. Telling them that there’s a PSL in place AND they have to go fill in a form wouldn’t be my dream job! Many agents will just see this as another obstacle to work around (like the receptionist gatekeeper).
One thing I think you should definitely do is spend some time on the forums of uk:recruiter, not to sell your product but to gauge the mood of recruiters to PSLs etc(antagonistic and aggressive mainly).
Outside of that I’d have a really good marketing strategy in place. It’s good that you’re responding online, I’d also recommend blogging, twitter, facebook etc etc. Louise can help with that if you talk to her, or drop me a line and I’ll point you in the right direction.
If done well I think it’s an idea with some legs. But Louise’s points are valid, and seh will be the least confrontational of your critics. Your answers above are well thought out, but be prepared to be pushed further on them.
All the best with it!
James
@James. Thanks very the massive compliments! You are right that I would more than happy to help out with any tips (not that I’m an expert) on blogging, twitter and facebook.
@ Adrian. Thanks for taking the time to respond. I am very keen to keep in touch and hear how the site takes off.