JUNE 23, 2005

New Web dimension coming for job seekers

Henry J. Gomez
Plain Dealer Reporter

The online job fair is a little more crowded now that local entrepreneur Tom Embrescia has launched .jobs, an Internet domain specifically for companies to post openings on an easily accessible Web site.

Think of it as a dot-com, dot- gov or dot-edu for human re sources.

Rather than force prospects to prowl through every nook and cranny of the company site, employers can place their openings page at a .jobs address. Authorized retail agents, known as registrars, are selling the domains for $150 to $175 a year.

"The problem with dot-com is that everyone uses that address," said Embrescia, chairman and chief executive of .jobs' Cleveland-based parent company, Employ Media LLC.

"It's like a traffic jam. It's multiple clicks, and it's confusing."

In April, the Internet Corp. for Assigning Names and Numbers, an international nonprofit that serves as a domain-name registry, approved .jobs and .travel from a pool of 10 candidates. Both were responsible for secur ing their own third-party retailers.

Tralliance Corp., the New York-based company that owns the rights to .travel, will begin selling the domain shortly, according to the Tralliance Web site.

Employ, with 11 authorized resellers in the fold, officially launched .jobs Sunday at the Society for Human Resource Man agement's annual conference in San Diego. Susan Meisinger, president and CEO of the Virginiabased trade group, introduced .jobs as a tool that would cut the cost of filling jobs by reducing the amount of time they remain open.

So, what does that mean for Monster.com and other sites that feature job advertisements?

" I don't see any impact other than a positive one," said Patrick Perry, president of the Employers Resource Council of Mayfield. "Those organizations will all benefit."