JUNE 25, 2005

Follow-up File: The Internet .jobs Domain Registrars

By Steve Quinn
The Dallas Morning News

Starting in two months, Electronic Data Systems Corp. and thousands of other organizations will post openings on their dot-jobs Web site, separate from their dot-com home page.

Plano-based EDS, whose employment site probably will be www.eds.jobs, is one of hundreds of companies that have applied for a dot-jobs extension.

Once the applications are approved, the dot-jobs sites will be accessible to job seekers in late August or early September.

"We are at a point in time where electronic Internet recruiting is essentially the only path to recruiting with a large organization," said Gordon Markley, manager for EDS' global recruiting division.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers approved the domain two months ago. Cleveland-based registry operator Employ Media LLC began letting organizations reserve addresses on Monday.

The dot-jobs domain is designed to eliminate the need to navigate through a company's home page to the jobs section, said Tom Embrescia, chief executive of Employ Media.

"Most home pages are designed to sell product or are for shareholders," Mr. Embrescia said. "The human resources manager has been fighting for years for space on the home page."

Susan R. Meisinger, chief executive of the Society for Human Resource Management, said this domain will "set a new standard for recruiting."

"No matter how job seekers find a company – via referral, the Internet or classified ads – it will be the company's dot-jobs site that leads them directly to the job they are looking for," she said.

When domains come online, companies often apply just to protect themselves from unauthorized registration.

For the launch, Employ Media established a 60-day period to verify the applications and sort out any potential conflicts. For example Delta Air Lines Inc., Delta Dental and Delta Faucets all may want www.del ta.jobs, Mr. Embrescia said.

Mr. Embrescia says he does not believe the new domain will supplant online job boards such as Monster.com.

Rather, it will be integrated with the Internet, just as the FM band was added to radio in the 1970s and cable TV became an alternative to broadcast.

"It's just a new tool," he said.

EDS' Mr. Markley agrees, saying the dot-jobs domain will encourage inclusiveness among Internet sites, regardless of the home page's domain.

"Just like every university has dot-edu and every corporation has dot-com, now every organization can start using dot-jobs," he said.

E-mail squinn@dallasnews.com