The Joys of the PSL

Perfect Candidate – Perfect role – but you can’t get them in because you are not on the PSL. How easy is it to get onto a PSL? What selection processes are in place for the consultancy and what information do you have to give up, to be included? Ever felt like they know your inside leg measurement, your favourite restaurant and how often your partner buys you flowers ( pigs….flying….), after you have completed the PSL application?

There are of course great advantages to being part of a PSL and in order to make the most of those advantages you have to be prepared to do the work to get onto the list. For most consultancies that is a case of proving your credentials, your ability to both source and present good credible candidates, and ultimately fill roles – that’s your bread and butter and most of the time presents only opportunities – not hurdles.

But what if your client’s HR team ( who seem to invariably be given the job of setting up the PSL) start to probe some quite deep and commercial sensitive questions – your turnover, your profit, your client list, your knowledge of competitors, your market information – do you have to give them everything they are asking for? Well the short answer is no – but of course bear in mind the consequences. If there is a legitimate interest to protect – like your client list, your candidates details – and this often involves data protection issues to boot –  then you might have to draw a polite but firm line and say no. When the interview or application form seems to have moved from ensuring you can do the job, to just picking your consultancy’s brain about the market and its place in it, then maybe its time to point to other sources in the public domain – companies house records for example – and say a polite no. Of course it depends on the reply your competitors for the list have given too and how much you want it ( to coin an X Factor-ism) but don’t be drawn into giving all your secrets away to the HR panel. 

For more information on this subject, please contact dispute resolution specialist Heather Stanford or join the debate on in our eForum on Linkedin