Dow Jones & Company in Agreement With Futurestep Online Executive Search Solution; Dow Jones Installs Futurestep ASP Model For Recruiting Purposes.

Business Editors

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 26, 2000

Futurestep.com, a subsidiary of Korn/Ferry International (NYSE:KFY) and the dominant executive recruitment and career management service using the global reach of the Internet to find high-caliber middle managers, announced today that Dow Jones & Company will use Futurestep Connection, Futurestep's ASP (Application Service Provider) as a recruitment tool for its sales positions.

Dow Jones is the first publisher to utilize Futurestep's revolutionary recruitment tool and will initiate the service with Dow Jones Newswires.

Futurestep Connection is a unique desktop tool that will enable hiring managers to utilize Futurestep's proprietary methodologies to evaluate and screen internal and external job candidates. Futurestep Connection facilitates the on-line application and immediate screening of applicants. The technology will enable Dow Jones to make use of the system seamlessly from its central staffing office and standardize its recruitment process.

With this agreement, Futurestep will review Dow Jones' current hiring procedures and integrate Futurestep Connection to improve recruitment efficiency.

"The Futurestep ASP solution puts our technology and our assessment methodologies on the desktop of the hiring manager," said Man Jit Singh, Futurestep founder and CEO. "If hiring managers' own efforts have not succeeded, they can come to Futurestep and rapidly get their hiring needs met. At the same time, it creates a process of recruitment efficiency."

Singh adds that unlike job posting boards, Futurestep does not post available positions or resumes, but rather provides hiring companies with a comprehensive profile of the candidate's style, preferred corporate culture and relevant experience. Futurestep has a 30-day process to deliver companies three qualified job candidates from which to choose one quality hire.

"We are most excited about the Futurestep ASP solution, because of its value-add to our existing hiring process," said Joe Nyitray, Dow Jones Director of Staffing. "Our HR managers and line managers in our major sales divisions will have the Futurestep technology readily available as a resource to create position descriptions and facilitate changes to make the next hire in a constantly changing employment market."

About Futurestep

With headquarters in Los Angeles, Futurestep.com was created through a strategic alliance between Korn/Ferry International and The Wall Street Journal. Futurestep combines the speed and reach of the Internet with Korn/Ferry's executive search expertise to fill positions at the $75,000 to $150,000 compensation levels.

With its recent acquisition of PA Consulting Group's Executive Recruitment Practice, Futurestep now has more than 378 employees worldwide operating out of 33 offices in 22 countries, including Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

In addition, the company provides career management content on AOL, Excite@Home and the Industry Standard. Currently there are 600,000 candidates registered on the Futurestep.com database. For further information, visit www.futurestep.com.