Former staff at the News of the World are understood to be underwhelmed by efforts by News International to find them work after they were handed a list of potential jobs which included posts in Russia and Dubai.

Some former News of the World journalists said that former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks' promise that as many staff as possible would be redeployed is proving an empty gesture as the vast majority of the alternative jobs being discussed are either non-editorial or entail a move abroad.

A job list given to ex-NoW staff include exotic positions such as oil reporter or "symbology analyst – Russian language" for parent company News Corporation's Dow Jones wire service and "materials manager" for Fox in Siberia.

"The idea that you would go from the News of the World to becoming an oil reporter for Dow Jones, a high end financial wire service, is laughable," said one former employee.

The list issued to staff in a series of one-to-one meetings and are largely at Dow Jones or are non-editorial jobs in IT, back office and commercial departments and involve other divisions including book publisher HarperCollins and Fox in the US. Of the 283 staff let go, some 150 are journalists.

Only six of the jobs on the list are directly comparable to what journalists were doing at the Sunday tabloid – three of them on the Sun and three of them on the News of the World's Fabulous magazine, which is now being published with the Saturday edition of the Sun.

A News International spokeswoman said the jobs were merely a list of global opportunities available across the group and the list was not the end of the matter.

"Everybody is being spoken to individually as part of a 90-day consultation and we are exploring every opportunity to find employment for those affected by the closure of the News of the World."

"I don't think people hold out much hope of an offer of a like-for-like job," said one ex staff member.

Another added: "They clearly don't have jobs for everyone. And even if they did, they couldn't really parachute people into the Sun. It's a very competitive newsroom and it would create all sorts of resentment and conflict if suddenly ex News of the World staff were given preferential treatment."

"It was an empty promise. Rebekah said it twice – at a meeting to staff that was taped and again in front of the world at the select committee last Tuesday. She wasn't even working for the company at the time," another ex staffer said.

Another protested it would have been better if Brooks, who angered staff by resisting calls for her to resign while staff lost their jobs, was still at News International.

"At least she would have looked after us. The best thing for us would have been if they kept the paper and she had resigned; we would still have jobs," the former staffer said.

At the culture, media and sport select committee hearing earlier in July, Brooks told MPs the company would try and find everyone a new job.

"We have endeavoured to find them jobs – every single one of them will be offered a job," she said.

MP Jim Sheridan responded: "But it wasn't just journalists, was it? It was secretaries, engineers, drivers or whoever they may be. Are they all expected to find jobs as well?

Brooks replied: "Everybody. Not just in News International, but across News Corporation."

Meanwhile, the law firm hoping to launch a class action against the News of the World has had more than 40 former senior executives and journalists contact it amid fears they have been "stigmatised" and will be unable to get new employment.

Chris Sherliker, of City firm Silverman Sherliker, is hoping to use a case brought against former bank BCCI as precedent to prove reputational damage can be caused by working for an organisation even when an individual is not guilty of wrong-doing.

"Rupert Murdoch has admitted that things went very wrong at the News of the World. I think we have a very strong case," said Sherliker, a partner in the firm.

• This article was amended on 29 July 2011 to remove some references to Siberia.