Following a recent article in which top agency recruiters shared their tips for getting the most out of preferred supplier deals, Shortlist asked a group of corporate HR and recruitment managers to give their perspective on the most effective and productive PSAs.

Fill in the capability gaps: National Australia Bank

NAB head of recruitment Paula McMahon told Shortlist that NAB (which has had its current PSA in place for two and half years) had recently reshaped its national recruitment function into a five-pillar structure.

Essentially this involved organising recruitment into streams according to broad job functions, including specialist, services, executive and sourcing streams, all of which are underpinned by an operations stream.

McMahon said that like most organisations with a major internal component to their recruitment strategy, NAB was typically looking for agencies to join its preferred supplier panel that had specialist expertise in areas where the bank itself didn't have inherent recruiting capability.

Furthermore, recruiters who thought in terms of the bank's long-term organisational strategy over six or 12 months, rather than focusing on the "here and now placement scenario", would differentiate themselves from their competitors.

The bank was also looking for suppliers who could offer something above and beyond just tactical recruitment, she said, for instance market intelligence or best practice insights on recruitment systems or processes.

"NAB has a culture that promotes innovation and has a number of transformational projects underway, and we need our suppliers to embrace this way of thinking."

McMahon said the best agencies that NAB worked with were those whose consultants respected the boundaries, and didn't seek to access hiring managers without including the internal recruiters in the process.

"Our philosophy is that (suppliers) should have direct access to hiring managers who understand the inherent nature of the role they're recruiting.

"However, they need to understand the model we're working with, and not purposefully go outside what we've established. Fundamentally the success of an agency recruiter is in the relationship they build up with the embedded recruitment team."

Choice of account manager is critical: Unisys

Unisys Asia-Pacific recruitment manager Allegra Moore said the account manager put forward by a recruitment company played an important part in Unisys' decision to work with that company or not.

The account manager was the chief point of contact and was "responsible for building a relationship with the internal team, which has a knock-on effect to the success of the panel arrangement", Moore said.

Unisyshas an internal team but uses recruitment companies for overflow, and to fill contractor, and temp roles. Moore said the company chiefly used specialist recruiters, and allocated roles to them based on the expectation that they were a "master" of their niche and could leverage strong networks.

Moore said the biggest mistake recruitment suppliers made when working with the company was trying to circumvent her team and its processes.

"These [processes] are there for a reason, regardless of whether you agree or disagree with them. If you strongly disagree, be honest and talk it through," she said.

She added that honesty was what turned a PSA supplier into a true business partner, and it was a feature of the recruitment companies that worked most cohesively with Unisys.

"Don't be afraid to call out if there are inconsistencies with salaries in the market, what candidates are saying about the brand and overall market perception of the brand or any relevant feedback," she said.

PSAs are about mutual trust: Nokia Siemens Network

Nokia Siemens Network Asia-Pacific HR head Ciaron Murphy said making PSA relationships work involved mutual trust and respect, and one way the client could demonstrate trust was by limiting the number of recruitment companies working on the same placement.

Because Nokia Siemens used a maximum of five agencies per placement, they needed to be the best available, and it was "crucial that the recruitment agency is able to demonstrate a proven and referenced track record in the sector and market they are competing in," he said.

Murphy said recruitment agencies selected to work with the company needed to "understand the objective criteria for preferred supplier selection, commit to provide a finite number of potential candidates per position [and] agree to a 'no placement – no fee' contract".

Understand the client: Australia Post

Australia Post communications manager Mel Ward said Australia Post used a mix of specialists and generalists on its PSA, and favoured those who delivered consistently and on time, and were well-informed about the company and its particular goals.

"As with any business relationship, it’s important the client feels that the provider understands their needs and the environment they’re operating in," Ward said.

"This kind of background knowledge shows they’ve done their homework and that they can add value to the client’s business."