Since 2001 DirectEmployers Association’s mission has been to create a more effective and efficient labor market for employers and job seekers to connect easier, faster and freely. This article on Investors.com highlights how The .jobs Universe launch is building on this mission to revolutionize online recruiting for employers and job seekers.

Some big companies are trying a new avenue to find job candidates — listing openings on thousands of Web addresses that end in .jobs.

Job seekers can, for example, type nursing.jobs or atlanta.jobs in their Web browsers.

The 9-year-old human resources consortium, whose members number about 530 Fortune 1000 companies, is focused on recruiting. It started an employment search engine in 2002 and launched JobCentral.com in 2005.

The dot-jobs effort is its latest project competing with job sites such as Monster.com (MWW) and CareerBuilder.

The 9-year-old human resources consortium, whose members number about 530 Fortune 1000 companies, is focused on recruiting. It started an employment search engine in 2002 and launched JobCentral.com in 2005.

The trade group has been bulk-registering addresses in the dot-jobs domain, which opened up in 2005.

“The primary thing we’re providing is the buildout of the whole top-level domain .jobs,” said Bill Warren, DirectEmployers’ executive director and a former president at Monster.com. “We came out with 40,000 URLs or domains. We have 126 countries and every major metro area and occupation.

“So right from a browser, job seekers can go exactly where they want.”

He says users can go to mechanic.jobs and do a combination search such as clicking on mechanic.tacoma.jobs.

Warren says the effort will end up with more than 100,000 dot-job domains online, acquired via Cleveland-based Employ Media, the registry operator for the .jobs domain. The domain is sponsored by the Society for Human Resource Management. DirectEmployers got a bulk rate for the domains, Warren says.

Warren says the effort will end up with more than 100,000 dot-job domains online, acquired via Cleveland-based Employ Media, the registry operator for the .jobs domain. The domain is sponsored by the Society for Human Resource Management. DirectEmployers got a bulk rate for the domains, Warren says.

“Our mission is to provide employers with a cost-effective nationwide and now worldwide employment system that reflects diversity and so forth,” he said. “Compared to commercial job boards, it’s very, very inexpensive. To place a 30-day single ad on some of the major job boards costs up to $400.”

Listings on the dot-jobs sites are free. The association expects many employers will also buy display ads.

Randy Goldberg, North American vice president of recruiting for Hyatt Hotels (H), says the hotelier is putting several thousand dollars toward display ads on key .jobs sites. It also spends about $15,000 a year to be a member of DirectEmployers.

Goldberg says employers like that the listings link back directly to their recruiting sites and don’t go through any third party. It makes it easier for employers to track new hires and unfilled job openings, he says.

DirectEmployers says listings at its dot-jobs domains are automatically updated daily and distributed to sites such as newyork.jobs and engineering.jobs.

Goldberg says if the response is good, Hyatt could curb some job-board advertising and try more .jobs ads, such as at restaurant.jobs.

“We’re very interested to see how it works,” he said. “I think most employers hope it will be successful. It’s much more employer-driven

“It is kind of intriguing,” he said of the .jobs effort. “If the idea takes off, it could be something pretty big.”

Goldberg says employers like that the listings link back directly to their recruiting sites and don’t go through any third party. It makes it easier for employers to track new hires and unfilled job openings, he says.

DirectEmployers says listings at its dot-jobs domains are automatically updated daily and distributed to sites such as newyork.jobs and engineering.jobs.

Goldberg says if the response is good, Hyatt could curb some job-board advertising and try more .jobs ads, such as at restaurant.jobs.

“We’re very interested to see how it works,” he said. “I think most employers hope it will be successful. It’s much more employer-driven obviously,” than third-party job sites.

So far, 16 companies have bought ads on the .jobs domains that DirectEmployers controls, Warren says. “It’s safe to say we have the backing of all member companies,” he said. Members include IBM (IBM), Lockheed Martin (LMT), Newell Rubbermaid (NWL), Providence Health & Services and General Dynamics (GD).

Search engines will help determine how well the dot-jobs approach does, especially early on. If keywords in a job listing boost it to near the top of search results, that would boost readership.

“We feel the URLs will be highly ranked because they’re trusted-source real jobs from real employers and not scams and those sorts of things,” Warren said.

Eventually, participants hope, job seekers will catch on to how easy it is to simply type addresses like nursing.jobs into their Web browsers.

Social networking will also play a role. The job listings are “fully integrated with social media” such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube, DirectEmployers says.