When job cuts began last summer at Corning Inc., the company's recruiting staff was spared. Instead of accepting the inevitable loss of excellent recruiters—professionals who had been carefully chosen and groomed during the company's boom years—Richard Kisiel, Corning's director of global staffing, successfully proposed a plan that allowed recruiters to act as outplacement agents for laid-off employees—including scientists, chemists, and chemical engineers working in Corning's science and technology division.

"I was frustrated by the roller coaster ride found in recruiting," says Kisiel. "Recruiting has been one of the more cyclical functions in HR where employers hire like crazy and when the economy changes, the employment staff gets downsized. At Corning, we really had brought in some key talent that we didn't want to lose. And when the economy turns around, it is to our competitive advantage to have experienced recruiters available and ready to go."

As an employer, Corning prides itself in taking care of employees. In fact, the company has made Working Mother's "100 Best Companies To Work" list for 13 years. Providing downsized employees with the best outplacement and career counseling during the down times goes hand in hand with the corporate message, explains Kisiel.

Kisiel was given the opportunity to make his pitch to management alongside outplacement firms who were bidding for Corning's business. Instead of sending employees to an outside provider for job-search assistance, Kisiel knew the internal staff could offer the company much more, adding value to the business and to employees.

Besides formally presenting a historical perspective and impressive data about the company's internal recruiting/staffing performance, Kisiel made these impressive points to management:

• More targeted and quicker placements. Because Corning recruiters hired the candidates in the first place, they knew competencies and they could pull out the transferable skills that apply to other industries where ex-employees are seeking employment. "We didn't think anyone could place them better," explains Kisiel.


• Better return on investment. On average, placements cost $2,000 and up, says Kisiel. "We are coming in around half of that."


• Improved employee relations. A key company value is commitment to employees. If ex-employees are passed on to an outside vendor, these individuals may feel that Corning is "passing them off," basically putting the future of these committed laid-off employees into the hands of outplacement professionals who really don't know them.

Three days after his proposal, Kisiel and his staff started Talent2Talent, Corning's internal approach to help downsized employees with career transitions. The first Talent2Talent center opened in Corning, N.Y. Other centers are located in Rochester, Boston, Wilmington, N.C., and Concord, N.C. The centers, which are now a part of Corning's Recruiting Center for Excellence, include fully equipped offices for ex-employees to use on a daily basis. Seminars and brown-bags sessions on career-oriented topics are also part of the environment.

The centers are staffed with recruiting agents who assist ex-employees with their job search-from resume writing and interview skills to contacting employers (especially in other industries) to discuss candidates' skills.

Another tool used is the Talent2Talent Web site where employers can post jobs, and Corning can post candidate resumes. A sampling of employers who have hired former Corning employees are Merck Manufacturing, Ultralife, AP Advantage Professionals and Evergreen Solar Panel Technology (which has hired eight people via Talent2Talent to date).

Last Spring, Jerome Anderson, a former Corning recruiter with the optical fiber division joined Talent2Talent as a staffing consultant. For him, the job switch not only allowed him to learn about other industries where ex-employees would fit in, but he the relationships that develop when assisting clients.

"I'm getting to meet these people from a different perspective," says Anderson. "These are folks we worked hard to recruit. Now I get to know them in a more personal way."

A good number of people using Talent2Talent, have "the world is open to me now" attitude, explains Anderson. "I've worked with engineers and technicians who want to move into more commercial areas. I help clients pull out the skills they possess that would transfer into their new area of interest, he explains. "Recently, I worked with someone who wants to move to pharmaceutical sales after working here in supply chain management."

The most unique part about the Talent2Talent program is there is no time limit for former employees. With most outplacement benefits, ex-employees are told they have a specified amount of time in which to use the service, such as six months or one year. At Talent2Talent, former (nonunion) Corning employees can use the services until they are settled into their next job.

"Forty-four percent of former employees who are offered the service use it," Kisiel says, "and about a quarter of those participants get placed within Corning."

On average, Talent2Talent participants receive a job offer in 41 days. And people who spend 20 hours a week job hunting get a job in 34 days, according to Corning's survey of participants. "That is lightning speed," Kisiel comments.

Once users of Talent2Talent find jobs elsewhere, the relationship with Corning doesn't end. Everyone is placed on an alumni list so communication continues throughout individuals' careers. When business speeds up for Corning, the hope is that former employees will consider returning to work there.

Corning is leading the way for reverse recruiting, and because of its success, other employment professionals are looking to Kisiel for best-practice advice, and he enthusiastically takes on the challenge: "I am convinced that our function (recruiting) ought to reinvent itself and use this as a part of adding value to the business. It has been hard to build up recruiting with the changing business conditions, but by reinventing recruiting, we're at a turning point. There's a major opportunity here for the entire function."

Michelle Martinez is a writer and editor specializing in recruiting, career development, human resources, and workplace management issues.