Intake displaced talent for labour mobility programs
Talent-facing organizations conduct an “intake” interview in order to collect all the data necessary to confirm a displaced person’s:
- interest in a labour mobility opportunity
- identity and personal data
- suitability for an international job opportunity, and
- eligibility for labour mobility programs and an international visa pathway
The Talent Catalog has been designed to capture all the information required to make those determinations in an easy-to-follow online form.
The intake process is also an important opportunity to provide information and answer questions that candidates may have about labour mobility, and to secure permission to share their information with other parties, including employers and governments.
Talent-facing organizations should adapt and tailor the following guidance to their own context and needs.
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The intake process
Talent-facing organizations should conduct an intake for anyone who has been identified for an international job opportunity. Intakes can be conducted by phone, video conference, or in person, depending on what is most accessible and secure for the organization and the candidate. Wherever possible, intakes should be conducted primarily in the candidate’s preferred language.
The intake process can be split into two phases:
1. Eligibility assessment
The eligibility assessment, or the mini-intake, is a brief interview designed to quickly gather information to confirm someone’s identity, interest, suitability, and eligibility for an international job and migration opportunity. It typically takes about 20 minutes to complete.
After the completion of the mini-intake, if an organization believes an individual is likely eligible for their services and for an immigration pathway, they can proceed to the next phase. If not, the organization can clarify to the candidate the reason behind their ineligibility.
2. Intake
The full intake is a more comprehensive interview designed to gather all necessary information to support someone through the international recruitment and migration process. It typically takes 40-60 minutes to complete. When interpretation is required, it might take longer.
The eligibility assessment and full intake can be completed in one session if the candidate appears eligible after the eligibility assessment.
Data collected in the intake process
The data elements collected throughout the intake process capture all the necessary information to support international recruitment and skilled migration. These data fields have been refined through several hundred international recruitment processes, with input from actors in “source” countries and “destination” countries.
Because every data element has been selected for its relevance to the recruitment and migration processes, organizations conducting intakes must collect responses to every field, including as much detail as possible.
Data collected in the intake process can include personal and sensitive information. People conducting intakes must be committed to professionalism and confidentiality. Data collected in intakes will only be visible to individuals who are employed by a managing organization and have signed a confidentiality agreement. Find more information about data access and security on the Talent Catalog.
Initiate contact with candidates
Once a talent-facing organization has identified a candidate who is of interest for a job opportunity, and has made sure that the candidate has completed and submitted their profile, they can reach out to the candidate using the contact information listed in the Talent Catalog. Organizations should use the methods (phone call, WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Viber, email, etc.) most likely to be accessible and secure.
Below are sample messages to initiate or re-establish contact with a person on the Talent Catalog:
Subject: Inquiry for Potential Candidate
Hi [candidate name]! This is [name] from [organization]. We are currently working to connect refugees with international employment opportunities. Thank you for registering a profile with us at tctalent.org. Our team would like to get in touch with you to review your profile and learn more about your professional qualifications. Could you please let us know when would be a convenient time for us to speak?
Introduce the intake
When explaining the intake process to someone for the first time, it’s important for the ‘intaker’ to give context about why they are collecting sensitive information and to manage expectations about what is likely to happen next.
Below are some sample scripts that can be used to introduce the intake.
Introduction:
Thanks so much for your time. Let’s get started. Don’t hesitate to ask questions, but we will try to explain as much as we can and then provide a time for you to ask all the remaining questions you have.
My name is [x] and my role is [x].
We are reaching out to you based on your skills and experience, and we’d like to get more information about your background, education, and work experience in case we receive a job opportunity that matches your qualifications, so we can submit your CV for the opportunity. We would like to make it clear that a job opportunity is not guaranteed, and that [organization name] does not have any decision-making authority over who is selected for an interview or who is offered a job. Employers make those decisions. We will use this information to determine your eligibility for our program, as well as your eligibility for a visa.
Brief explanation of the program:
First I will explain more about the program, and then I will ask you a series of questions.
Our goal is to help skilled refugees build a safe and secure future by making connections to international employment opportunities. Our candidates travel on skilled work visas with their immediate family members (meaning spouses and children).
If you are eligible for our program and a work opportunity comes up that matches your skills, we will inform you and ask you if you are interested in the position. Then we will work with you to improve your CV/resume, and then we will submit it to the employer. The employer will choose who they want to interview from a group of CVs (as this is a competitive process). We will offer you support in preparing for your interview. Then, the employer will decide who they want to interview for a second or third time, or who they want to make an offer to. The whole process is employer-led, meaning we don’t decide who gets an interview, or who gets hired.
Disclosure:
I would like to apologize if any of the questions I ask you are upsetting or uncomfortable. Please let me know if you do not wish to answer any of the questions at this time. However, please note that we do require this information so we can accurately determine your eligibility. All identifying information you share with us will remain confidential and may only be shared with employers and authorized third parties with your consent.
At the end of the intake, we will send you an email that includes a series of documents that we need you to sign and return. We will also request a copy of your ID, and a copy of your CV, if you have not sent us one already. (If you don’t have a CV, we will help you develop one.)
Do you have any questions at this time?
Now I will ask you a series of questions. Please be patient with me as I type the answers.
Verify Talent Catalog information
Before conducting an intake, intakers should review a candidate’s Talent Catalog profile to identify any gaps in information. In general, the more detailed and complete someone’s Talent Catalog profile, the more likely it is to find suitable job matches.
At the beginning of an intake process, talent-facing organizations should verify all the information provided in the Talent Catalog profile, paying special attention to fields that can easily change, such as:
- Personal information, such as full name and date of birth
- Current location
- Current status in source country
- Contact information
- Recent professional or educational experience
Organizations should also ask candidates to share any forms of personal identification which can be used to corroborate their personal information. This may include:
- A national ID from their country of origin (current or expired)
- A passport (current or expired)
- Proof of registration with UNHCR, UNRWA and/or the current host country.
Conduct an intake in the Talent Catalog
Before beginning an intake process, it may be helpful to preview the intakes in the Talent Catalog.
Talent-facing organizations might need to ask additional questions that are not listed in the mini-intake as needed and according to the candidate’s personal circumstances (e.g. if a candidate mentions they are divorced or widowed, you may want to ask if they have children, if they have custody over their children, and if they would like to include them in their application, etc.)
Language Assessment
As part of the intake process, a language assessment needs to be completed. This step helps determine if the candidates have the desired level of proficiency in the language required by the pathway.
For more information, see capacity-building articles to find out how to conduct assessments.
Vetting
When contact is made with a candidate, the organization making contact should conduct vetting to mitigate potential risks. This involves cross-referencing the candidate’s name against global sanction lists. By implementing this measure, the organization ensures that it is not inadvertently engaging with or collaborating with individuals who might pose a threat to national security. This process safeguards the organization’s integrity and reinforces its commitment to security and safety.
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