Introducing IOM’s Pathways Pool

Over the past 10 years IOM has seen remarkable growth in terms of membership, presence around the world, staff and budget. After joining the UN System in 2016, new responsibilities have been added and the Global Compact and the Migration Network are just some of the major new assignments.

IOM’s new Administration is determined to strengthen the organization and improve its capacity to provide responses in changing operational and political environments, particularly at country mission level.

The two roles that arguably define country office success, namely Chief of Mission (CoM) and Resource Management Officer (RMO) will be even more central to IOM’s work and will face new challenges, heightened responsibilities and wider accountabilities. All this happens at a moment, when also the UN is looking at revising its leadership  ^[1] capability, especially under the umbrella of UN reform.

The selection of qualified, diverse candidates for these two types of positions has been a challenge in the past years and the organization has had problems in finding qualified candidates to meet its rapidly growing needs, including working in non-family and hazardous duty stations.

To address the challenge of identifying quality candidates, who are able to transform, inspire and deliver high-impact and sustained results and for the organization to deploy quicker for these key positions, IOM is introducing the Pathways Pool Initiative which will establish a roster of pre-assessed candidates in different job groups, which will be used to fill vacant posts either as part of the annual rotation exercise or when vacancies arise.

The Pathways Pool Initiative is a strategic mechanism to identify the skills, competencies, aptitudes and values required for optimal organizational effectiveness. The Pool will be forward looking, seeking to determine the profiles required for staff members to perform successfully.

While IOM has many qualified and talented staff members, the initiative will also be used to attract and hire external candidates. 

Further details on the Pathways Pool Initiative, including the application, assessment, selection process and positions are outlined below.

For additional information, please see these Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

Please address any queries about the Initiative to Don Scott at PathwaysPool@iom.int.

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^[1] The United Nations System Leadership Framework (CEB April 2017)