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 dot-jobs effort, which officially launched this week, is a project of the DirectEmployers Association.

      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 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.

      "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.

      "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.

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