.jobs Commentary

[JOHN STEPIEN <johnstepien@xxxxxxx>]

Dear ICANN Council Members,
Having served the HR community for almost four decades as a hands-on consultant 
and most recently as the Chairman and Chief Revenue Officer for one of the 
largest Recruitment Communications and Marketing Companies in North America, 
I'm in a unique position to evaluate this offering by .jobs.
I've played a role in the evolution of almost every asset impacted by this 
decision, including job boards (mega and niche), search engines, SEO/SEM 
organizations, social networking sites, SHRM, .jobs, client companies and their 
employees - current and future. My assessment is that this proposed evolution 
of .jobs to include location, occupation and job title is timely, logical and 
necessary and will assist in making it easier for candidates to find jobs and 
companies to recruit top talent in a more cost-efficient and expedient manner.  
And, that's the most important issue.   Location, occupation and job title are 
the three criteria used in the initial stages of most job searches and 
thirty-eight years on the front line in this industry as well as all of the 
search engine analytics provided today continue to verify this axiom.  Over 
time, the strength of the .jobs TLD will grow exponentially with the potential 
of gaining the top spots in most organic searches. The timing is critical for 
this introduction as the economy crawls out of this downturn.  I can sympathize 
with those concerned about losing revenue in a period that they've had to 
scrape for every dollar.  Many have been stagnant, gone under or have been 
absorbed by their competitors. Their aggregate value to companies and 
applicants has been diminished.  The industry needs something to fill this gap. 
  I believe that the advent of this new offering by .jobs will add clarity to 
the job hunting process and gain wide acceptance in a very short timeframe.  An 
ICANN decision in favor of this opportunity is warranted and necessary and will 
add much needed value to our industry. John M. StepienRecruiting and Retention 
ConsultantPrevious Chairman and Chief Revenue OfficerNAS Recruitment 
CommunicationsAn Agency of the McCann Worldgroupjohnstepien@xxxxxxx