blog.devongroup.com

We’re finally coming up for air after having moved our New Jersey offices a mere 10 miles north of our previous location. The world of commercial real estate is one that consistently boggles my imagination; however, with this - our fourth move in almost 15 years - we finally got it right by working with top-notch professionals who guided the entire process flawlessly. 

New address:  1715 Highway 35 North, Suite 106, Middletown, NJ  07748.  The name of the building is One Arin Park, made somewhat famous by its tenants, which include several prominent politicians. The divided highway - complete with New Jersey’s famous jug handle turns - takes some getting used to but we’re settling in.

New phone and fax:  732-706-0123 and 732-706-0199, respectively.  Our old numbers do forward so no need to memorize the new ones.

Now, back to business!

 -Industry Thought Leaders Collaborate to Help Organizations Understand Business Benefits of Better Recruitment -

WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 4, 2008) - The RPO Alliance, a Special Interest Group of the Human Resources Outsourcing Association (HROA), has published the first edition of its Recruitment Assessment Guide. A member-driven organization, HROA’s RPO Alliance promotes the advancement of recruitment process outsourcing through better business tools and practices, research and peer-to-peer connections. The Guide was developed through the collaborative efforts of the alliance and reflects the best practices of industry thought leaders such as EquaTerra, Headway, Kelly Outsourcing and Consulting Group, People Science, PeopleScout, Pinstripe, Spherion, TalentRetriever and TPI.

Doctor, Doctor, will I be able to play the violin after the operation?  “Yes, of course” goes the old joke.  “Great, because I never could before!”

Will adding a public relations program to your marketing mix mean that you’ll have a totally different business because of it?  If you didn’t have a good business before, public relations isn’t going to make it better. To build a good business, you need to focus on the fundamentals, walking before you run. If you did have a good business before, then public relations is the right tool to significantly escalate its awareness, creating demand for your products and services and making you a “player” in the eyes of your served market.

Bear in mind that public relations is part of the marketing toolkit.  While many studies argue that PR is the most cost effective and credible of the marketing programs, we don’t recommend relying exclusively on PR or – for that matter - any one aspect of marketing to build your brand.  Integrating PR into the marketing mix is the more effective formula, as it will enable you to deliver consistent messaging to your constituents using a “surround-sound” approach that results in comments such as “I hear about you everywhere I go!”

Companies are sometimes frustrated by the length of time it takes to make media placements, especially if they enter into the PR relationship with a pent up news pipeline and already overdue business objectives. While we’re always excited to meet companies that have a steady stream of positive news to share with the market, we blanch at the thought that we’re expected to throw news over the transom to unsuspecting press that have no idea why it’s meaningful to them.  After all, the media tells us they receive an average of 500 – 600 emails, phone calls, Federal Express packages, fruit baskets and other communiqués per day. Yes, that’s per day!  That doesn’t even count the endless number of #10 business envelopes that languish in mailrooms because the respective journalist can’t possibly open and read all of them.  After all, journalists aren’t corporate types with administrative assistants who are opening and date stamping their mail!  They’re on tight deadlines and required to deliver brilliant and totally accurate copy, day in and day out.

In PR quality, not quantity counts. One placement – yes, even just one – can make a huge difference to your business.  In our 14 years, we’ve seen it evidenced over and over again.  The one placement in a relevant trade journal that resulted in the RFP that turned into a multi-million dollar deal.  The mere mention of a company’s name in a Wall Street Journal cover story that enabled it to break into the ranks of its highly competitive category’s inner sanctum.  The A-level job candidates and top executives that take your calls because they’ve already read about you.  The list is endless.

Is PR the same as spin doctoring?  No.  Spin doctoring suggests a breach of ethics, as in putting lipstick on a pig in hopes that no one will notice its muddy feet and mauvaise odeur.  But to make a good business great, PR is integral to your success.
 

-HR Outsourcing Industry’s Best and Brightest Honor 2008 Recipients of Coveted Recognition-
  WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 18, 2008) – This week’s Fourth Annual HROA Awards Gala celebrated the winners of the 2008 HROA Awards™.  Held on April 16, 2008 at the New York Hilton in conjunction with the annual NY HR Week Conference and Exposition, this year’s event attracted over 300 HROA members, industry leaders, press and analysts who convened to applaud the award recipients.The 2008 HROA Awards recognized the ingenuity, industriousness and industrial-strength dedication required to succeed in HRO.  New contracts, relationships, and projects with start dates in the award year and existing contracts, relationships or projects with start dates prior to the award year (January to December 2007) are eligible for the awards.  Consistent with the theme of this year’s awards “Be Ingenious”, nominees needed to demonstrate their insight, vision, service and other ingenious attributes.  The HROA Awards Committee established 13 separate award categories with detailed qualifying criteria focused on effective relationships and demonstrable results.  Anyone may submit a nomination.  The Committee carefully reviews all nominations to ensure the nominees meet the criteria in each category and rejects any that do not.  The full membership of the HROA is eligible to vote on the nominations. The categories included: Person of the Year; Thought Leader of the Year; Buyer Executive of the Year – Middle Market; Buyer Executive of the Year – Large Market; Provider Executive of the Year; Customer Relationship of the Year – Large Market; Customer Relationship of the Year – Middle Market; Technology Relationship of the Year; Sourcing Relationship of the Year; Payroll Relationship of the Year; the highly competitive RPO Relationship of the Year; Relocation Relationship of the Year; and Benefits Relationship of the Year.
 

The Devon Group’s stocking included a great gift this holiday season - a prestigious Magellan award for best media relations…press release to follow!

Devon won a Davey! ”The Davey Awards exclusively honor the “Davids” of creativity, the finest small firms, agencies and companies in the world.  David defeated the giant Goliath with a big idea and a little rock - the sort of thing small firms do each year. The annual International Davey Awards honors the achievements of the “Creative Davids” who derive their strength from big ideas, rather than big budgets.  The Davey Awards is the leading awards competition specifically for smaller firms, where firms compete with their peers to win the recognition they deserve.”

OK, not exactly related to our core business but it’s a mention for The Devon Group in WSJ nonetheless!