New .Jobs Internet Address Could Help Recruiting Budgets

An April decision by the agency that regulates Internet-address suffixes–the dot-coms, dot-orgs and other designations at the end of Web site names–could translate into millions in savings for corporate recruiters and change the sourcing landscape as profoundly as the launch of Monster did a decade ago.

The agency approved a request by the Society for Human Resource Management to create a new Internet extension for companies to use to post their jobs. The new extension would allow Internet addresses to end in the suffix “jobs”–Starbucks.jobs, Intel.jobs, Ford.jobs and so on. This would be in addition to the Web site address a company already has–Starbucks.com, Intel.com and Ford.com.

What makes this new naming much more than just a geek curiosity is its potential to reduce–or, some people say, eliminate entirely–the need to pay to post a job listing. For the time being, the fortunes of Monster and its competitors including CareerBuilder and HotJobs are unlikely to be affected. In the long run, the new extension could mean that jobs are posted only to corporate sites, with companies relying on brand advertising and search engines to drive applicant traffic.

Far-fetched? Not really. Sites like SimplyHired.com, WorkZoo.com and Indeed.com are already aggregating millions of listings from hundreds of job boards and making them accessible in a single search. This gives a free Craigslist posting the same visibility as a $300 Monster listing. As the dot-jobs designation comes into wide use, it will be easier for these sites to collect the listings: It’s less work to go to Intel.jobs than it is to comb through Intel’s main Web site trying to find the Intel job listings.

One recruiting expert predicts that the new naming system will change the recruitment landscape, giving job-seekers more control over the search and application process than they have previously had.

“This gives job-seekers their own customized, personalized job board,” says Gerry Crispin of CareerXroads. “It will give them exactly what they want. It could very easily take the (commercial) job boards out of the picture if they don’t figure out how to work with it.”

Mark Mahaney, a financial analyst with American Technology Research who follows the recruitment sector, is skeptical of the short-term impact but says that if job-seekers turn in sizable numbers to the search engines such as WorkZoo.com, it would force change upon the commercial job boards.

SHRM stands to make a good chunk of change off the project, based on fees paid by companies to reserve a dot-jobs extension. SHRM’s application–and the address agency’s endorsement–puts more restrictions on the dot-jobs name than on any of the others generally available, such as dot-com. For instance, a company can post only its own job openings on a dot-jobs Web site. At Monster.jobs, only jobs with Monster Worldwide could be listed, not listings from Monster clients. Additionally, only human resources professionals will be permitted to be issued a dot-jobs address. Requests for Internet addresses are required to have the name of a specific individual making the application.

The rules permit the designation to be issued only to a member of SHRM or to human resources professionals who either: “(i) possess salaried-level human resource management experience; (ii) are certified by the Human Resource Certification Institute; (iii) are supportive of the SHRM Code of Ethical and Professional Standards in Human Resource Management.”

While the Internet address agency–called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers–has final say over the issuance of addresses, SHRM and Employ Media, the company created to administer the granting of the designation, will handle the applications.

According to the schedule submitted by SHRM, new names will be issued starting in the fall. Companies may be able, however, to start reserving the extension as soon as May or June. The schedule is tentative and the exact start date will be announced later.

—John Zappe