Reborn yet to offer rebirth for Droga5 staff after controversial call to redundant workers
![NoelMagnus10[3]](https://mumbrella.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/NoelMagnus103.jpg)
Sydney agency Reborn has yet to hire a single redundant Droga5 staffer despite managing director Noel Magnus posting very public job offers to them under articles about the agency’s closure.
Magnus was accused of “ambulance chasing” after he moved quickly to offer the lifeline, posting about the open roles at Reborn in the comment thread on the Mumbrella story announcing the agency closure just half an hour after it was posted.
Magnus’ original comment
He wrote:”Dear Droga 5 people, A tough day for sure guys – and I wish you all well, this is a bloody tough industry at times.
“At the risk of sounding opportunistic (if it helps good people find good jobs then I’ll cop the accusation), I am looking for excellent candidates across [then listed the job roles].”
His speed was criticised by some with one commentator saying: “20 minutes after the death notice is published and you’re asking the bereaved whether you can buy the deceased’s car and personal effects. If you don’t think that’s in poor taste, then you need to pause for some reflection.”
However, he also had a number of supporters who said the job offers would be welcome.
“Noel Magnus… How dare you advertise job vacancies. How dare you. Lol,” wrote a supporter.
Magnus has confirmed to Mumbrella that he has not hired a single staff member from Droga5 since his original call for applications on September 9.
“The blog post proved to be beneficial in many ways (despite the troll related comments), but not in the way I expected,” Magnus told Mumbrella.
“I think we have made five new hires so far, but none specifically from D5,” Magnus told Mumbrella.
He said the agency had received around 60 CVs as a result of the post, some of which had come from the agency, and that the post had results in five new business leads.
Magnus also said he had more than 250 visits to his LinkedIn profile after he posted the job vacancies.
He said even though he posted shortly after the story broke, he believed that there were very few staff still left at the agency at the time.
Magnus said he was still considering the possibility of hiring two former Droga5 employees based on current new business discussions.
Simon Canning
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Well, if it was an exercise in personal promotion and personal branding, I think the results are in.
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Does anyone think this is fair and reasonable for Mumbrella to bring this up months later? This deliberate attempt to take a negative perspective is something Mumbrella seem to specialise in (the reporting around the Leo Burnett issue is another example).
Alex Hayes and Simon Canning you are both better than this.
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Stillborn perhaps?
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after all his protestations at the time re his pure motives this is not a good look
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If you aspired to work at Droga why the f&#* would you want to work at Reborn?
The best young talent from D5 Sydney are now at D5 and Anomaly NY.
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Sorry I disagree with your suggestion Bill. Noel has been thru some highs and lows in his own career and i know that in reaching out he was motivated by only the best intentions.
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@ seriously Noel used MUmBRELLA for crass self promotion at a wholly inappropriate time. It is entirely reasonable to follow up and let us know the actions behind his words. Who knows it would have been a great story for them if he had actually hired even one person from Droga
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Back then he said he needed 25+ new people yet he has only hired 5 – what on earth has happened?
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Hi Seriously,
Thanks for the comment. To give you some background, this came about as it was a question we had been asked a few of times from people in industry, and given it got publicity at the time decided it was long enough after the fact to follow it up.
I’m sorry you think articles focussed on industry issues are negative – we prefer to see them as bringing attention to areas that need them. We would have run this article had he hired 25 people from Droga.
Cheers,
Alex – editor, Mumbrella
Congratulations, You’ve been endorsed for Publicity, Self Promotion and Personal Branding on LinkedIn.
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Fantasy: We might need 25 new people!
Reality: we have “hired” 5 people
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Ignore the trolls, Noel. It was a good initiative. Reborn got some publicity about its growth, it got free job advertising and some people at D5 got swift re-employment opportunities. And nothing but compassion for D5 and its employees. No harm has been done to anyone.
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CWB & Seriously – What planet are you from?
Noel’s original post used the words “could need 25+ new people” ‘Could’ being the operative word. It seems entirely fair that statement is followed up.
Now, it would appear the offer of 25 roles was perhaps based on an overly ambitious view of new business requirements. Given the resulting # of hires to date is far short of the 25, I’d question if that reflects particularly well ?
Noel has been held to account for his comments. Seems entirely fair & reasonable. These are careers we’re talking about.
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“some people at D5 got swift re-employment opportunities”
No they didn’t.
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‘Magnus also said he had more than 250 visits to his LinkedIn profile after he posted the job vacancies’. I was one of them. I wanted to research what sort of CEO operates this way and thinks it’s cool?!
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Trolls are abusive and unfair. Pointing out that Noel made an inelegant mistake that doesn’t reflect well on him or his agency is NOT trolling. People are allowed to disagree. He thinks it was acceptable behaviour. That’s fine – ultimately the market will decide. But please spare us the ‘poor misunderstood Noel story’ – he knew exactly what he was doing.
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Given Mumbrella ran an article on D5 recently, I think it appropriate to follow on the job offer that was made.
Don’t see it as negative, but as a quality trade publication doing what it says it intends to do: report on the industry without fear or favour.
Seems this industry has not had this type of authentic scrutiny before and so is finding it difficult to live under the microscope.
Having worked in corporate comms – this is how the media laser beam homes in on other industries.
Adjust. It’s not going away……
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Hi all
Since there are some fairly passionate responses here, I thought I would follow up on a few of your comments.
Firstly, please know that my intentions were nothing but sincere – and came from a good place although some of you continue to question this.
We did receive CV’s from Droga 5 staff, however none of them have eventuated in full time roles at REBORN yet – we are in conversations at present.
With regards to the number of people we have hired so far, it’s been done gradually and in line with the commencement of the various projects from the new client and others that we have recently brought on board – there are few more roles in play at the moment that we are hoping to fill in the coming weeks.
To those that took this the wrong way I guess I will never convince you that it was always done with the best of intentions.
Thank you to those who have posted and sent positive emails to me overnight and today.
Noel Magnus
Managing Director
REBORN GROUP
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