John Sumser’s fine daily ruminations on all things recruiting was particularly interesting thi morning. Seems that ICANN has approved the “.jobs” extension for websites. As a recruiter, I’m excited about top-level exposure. It’s like “one-click” for the profession. However…
While John is peeved that this is nothing more than “a tax on companies that creates the opportunity to move employment sections to a domain level” he questions that “the biggest single gotcha that we can see is the requirement that .jobs domains may only be purchased by a ‘Qualified Applicant’ “
According to the application by Employ Media LLC (a MUST read for all us technology wonks), it seems as professionalism is be a key component that determines whether one will qualify for such a domain extension (great call John). Here it is from the application:
A key component to the Community is identification of the members of the Community who are qualified to apply for a registration of a .jobs sTLD. As detailed further in the Charter, a .jobs sTLD registration will only be issued in response to an application which is submitted by a qualified applicant (there are other restrictions to registration, but these restrictions are discussed elsewhere in this application). A qualified applicant (“Qualified Applicant”) is a person who is (a) a member of SHRM; or (b) engaged in human resource management practices that meet any of the following criteria: (i) possess salaried-level human resource management experience; (ii) are certified by the Human Resource Certification Institute; or (iii) are supportive of the SHRM Code of Ethical and Professional Standards in Human Resource Management, as amended from time to time (the “Code”). A copy of the Code is attached to the Employ Media/SHRM agreement and is available at the SHRM website. The core provisions of the Code include: (1) professional responsibility (add value to the organizations they serve and contribute to the ethical success, credibility and value of those organizations); (2) professional development (strive to meet the highest standards of competence); (3) ethical leadership (exhibit individual leadership as a role model for maintaining the highest standards of ethical conduct); (4) fairness and justice (promote and foster fairness and justice for all employees in their organizations); (5) conflicts of interest (protect the interests of their stakeholders as well as their professional integrity and not engage in activities that create actual, apparent, or potential conflicts of interest); and (6) use of information (protect the rights of individuals, especially in the acquisition and dissemination of information while ensuring truthful communications).
So I’ll echo what John wrote – since it seems as if SHRM is going to be the ethics police as it relates to the dissemination of the domains, does this mean that they’re interested in policing the ethics of recruiters in general? Hmmm – is this their version of a coup d’etat?
Or does this mean more EMA chapters and a political focus that will engender SHRM to also include recruiting issues?
Either way, I really beleive it’s time for a revolution. There are several national groups that should seriously consider working together to create a national focus on issues – the ERE, EMA, and AESC – if they’ll have us ;), as well as regional organizations like NEAPS, and lobby for our collective benefit. Yes, it’s time – unless SHRM is really interested in recruiting…
The Recruiting Inferno 