Israel Good Deeds Day – April 5, 2011

I read in the newspaper that today is Israel Good Deeds Day, an event promoted by Ruach Tova.

In principle I am against these “days”, which seem to be marketing events publicized by companies to encourage people to buy their products. As I remind my kids, Father’s and Mother’s Day should be celebrated every day, and rather than presents on an arbitrary day, simple appreciation at regular intervals is the ideal.

However, how can anyone be against a good deeds day - a day encouraging people to volunteer themselves for the benefit of society? As Chabbad says: One Mitzvah at a Time!

So, let’s think how we can apply this to job seekers. Actually, Jacob Share has recently written about this subject: http://jobmob.co.il/blog/job-search-kindness/.

Remember, looking for a job can be a very lonely and even demoralizing process. Searching the Internet for employment, sending CVs that don’t get responses, making calls that lead nowhere – any kindness you can offer to the job seeker is more than welcome.

This is not just an altruistic act. If you want to make two people happy when you are driving, let someone merge into the lane in front of you, or give the right of way on a turn – both you and the other person get that nice feeling of being on the sending or receiving end of a favor, and this can be contagious, even on the mean Israeli streets! Helping a job seeker is like money in the bank – and the next time you are looking for work, hopefully you will be repaid with interest.

OK, but how can you practically help a person seeking work? If you know one or more people that are looking for a job, you can ask them to send you their CV, which you can review and comment on, as well as forward to your employer's HR person and/or others in the industry as appropriate. Can you imagine how nice it feels for the person you know to have someone actually call them up and express interest and make an effort to help?

Another approach would be to go to a site with many job seekers, whether it is a group in LinkedIn or on one of the mailing lists, and write a message to members offering your assistance. For instance:

My name is Moshe and I work as an accountant at a hi-tech company in Israel. As my part in Israel Good Deeds Day, I am available to anyone seeking work in the accounting industry and would like a networking contact. Anyone is welcome to write to me at aby@def.com – I will respond as quickly as I can to all inquiries.

Please don’t wait, do it now! And may everyone receive the exact good deed that they need to put that smile on their face.