Job Search in Israel

Is Your Job Search Routine?

2012-01-15T10:08:00.000+02:00

Most people got up today thinking that it is just a normal day. Not me, though. I stayed awake until 3am watching my San Francisco 49ers beat the New Orleans Saints in a playoff game (American football for those who don’t know). What an awesome finish, the Niners got a touchdown with nine seconds left to win! So, I am especially tired, but today is a great day, not merely regular.

As a sports fan, I am by definition filled with routines; some call them superstitions. When something works previously, I stick with it. About one year and a half ago, the San Francisco Giants (baseball) were two (series) wins away from winning a championship, something that hadn’t occurred in my lifetime (and I am almost 50), so I incorporated them into my Employment in Israel article: Loyalty at Work. They ended up surprising everyone, especially San Francisco fans, by winning the World Series. So, now that the 49ers are two wins away, and I feel that their fate somehow rests within my fingertips, I have the responsibility to help push them over the top.

If you are not a sports fan, you might want to skip the next paragraph.

Actually, I am somehow feeling less nostalgic writing this article than the previous one in this series. One year and a half ago, there had been no championship for any of the Big Three of San Francisco sports in more than 30 years, and the Giants themselves hadn’t won since 1954, before I was born and before they were even playing in San Francisco. Even more importantly, after being removed from US sports since the time I made aliyah in the 1994, I reconnected to something that was almost a matter of life and death for me when I was younger. So, it was a kind of coming out party for me – I was confident enough being an Israeli to become overtly American again (not that my accent when I speak Hebrew fools anyone). Some of those components are missing this time. However, there is a big positive now. Previously I had no way to watch the games; last night I used a free website that shows the games live. Lack of sleep is a small price to pay for being able to see the action rather than just reading about it. The next improvement will be to find other San Francisco sports fans in Israel and watch together in a place where I can yell when they score, rather than restrain myself so that I don’t wake up my wife and kids.

Routines like this are building blocks in the construction of our everyday lives. In this particular case, the events themselves that make up my routine are spread apart by many months, so it is difficult to see the pattern without me hitting you over the head with it. However, the big and little things we do automatically each day without thinking about them comprise a large portion in all of our daily activities.

This seems to be especially true for those searching for work. The question is, does your routine make sense – is it the correct way to go about securing your next employment? Well, of course that depends upon what your objective is, and what you are doing to realize it. However, all job seekers should be “routinely” asking themselves these questions:

Is your routine in tune with the realities of the 2012, or are you using what worked for you previously, before social media became so prominent in the majority of effective job searches, or before you moved to Israel?
Are you using resources (websites/placement companies) that someone recommended to you, even though their career objectives and yours are very different?
Are you focusing most of your time using job websites for your next opportunity? From what I understand after speaking with numerous job seekers, this is the routine for many people. In my opinion, this is THE number one reason why people become frustrated with job searches. Certainly people do get jobs they apply to from websites, but the majority of people working today did NOT find their job from a website. Two-thirds of all jobs are never publicly advertised, so spending so much time on job sites guarantees that you will never even be aware of the majority of available jobs. Networking is the single best investment of your time when seeking work: Employment Networking - Getting to the Other Two Thirds of the Jobs.

So, we will all know soon if my routine that began with the SF Giants will carry over to celebrating a Super Bowl victory for the 49ers. For job seekers, results of your routine usually cannot be discerned so quickly and clearly, but nonetheless, they are much more tangible to achieving your objectives than mine are.

Or maybe not…

Go Niners!

And yes, if things go according to plan, in the very near future I will be writing my third installment in the San Francisco Sports trilogy, Ode to the (Golden State) Warriors. Maybe if they sign Omri Caspi, everything will turn out good!

Israel Places Highly in Economic World Rankings - and this is not necessarily good news...

2011-12-13T12:20:00.001+02:00

I don’t know how it can be possible!

Sure, many people have noted that Israel seems to receive a disproportionate amount of news coverage throughout the world. I grew up in America and was used to seeing Israel on the news, even though most people in the rural county where I lived would have little chance to find it on the map, let alone understand what the relevance of the situation in Israel is to them. Then, when I began to travel to different regions, including Europe, Asia, and Africa, I also found that on newscasts Israel is mentioned possibly more than any other country in the world.

Today, I read two reports ranking countries for quite different economic characteristics, and again Israel appears in both of them as one of the top ranked countries, once negatively and once positively.

Take a look for yourself:

• Countries with the Widest Gap Between Rich and Poor - Israel ranks number 5
• The Happiest Countries in the World - Israel ranks number 9

According to my quick research, there are anywhere from 189 to 196 countries in the world, depending upon how a country is defined. This confirmed my suspicion that Israel is not the only country in the world. So, what is going on here? How can it be that whatever the question, the answer includes Israel?

Maybe because in Israel we live such vibrant lives, more on the edge, this translates into extreme readings, no matter what is being measured. I remember some years ago that the Israeli stock market was the number 1 performing stock market in the world, and the following year was the worst performing stock market in the world. Economists may not find this odd, since a country with small companies and inherent security risk is by definition going to have great volatility, both positive and negative. Maybe this logic carries over into other arenas.

The report about happiness is interesting in that for many of the factors under consideration in the study, Israel ranks poorly, yet for some reason, Israelis are still inexplicitly happy. This is not strictly economic, but of course a large portion of people’s happiness is related to their current economic situation and future outlook. Without economic security, other issues seem less important.

Israel’s gap between rich and poor is worrying, as even with low unemployment, the average income of the poorest 10% of the country actually decreased, while the richest 10% income increased, thereby widening an already bad ratio. There is no way to interpret this except extremely negatively, with the trend going in the wrong direction. The richest 10% will pay a high price for this situation sooner or later if it is not rectified.

So, who are these happy people in Israel, and why are they happier than people in other countries? What do they have to be happy about? Is simply having a job enough? Or are there factors more critical than economic/employment that engender a happy person? And, if so, what could they possibly be that would cause Israel to rank highly, with just a quick look at the local news (or remembering the most recent of the many missile sirens we have heard on my moshav) being a daily reality check?

I don’t know the answers to any of these questions, but I'm sure there will be a new study soon, and that Israel will rank highly in the results.

Discrimination in Israeli Employment

2011-12-06T15:45:00.001+02:00

Two issues have come to my attention in recent days related to discrimination in the workplace, so I thought others might benefit from considering them as well.

First is an article recently from the Jerusalem Post: http://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Judaism/Article.aspx?id=247862. The issue here is whether it is acceptable, legally, morally or otherwise, for companies to discriminate against job candidates because of race (in this case, Arabic).

The second time was a question raised by a reader to a job that appeared on our website, Israemploy. The job was for a religious organization, and specified that the employee must be male.

What is allowed?

In Israel, we have the Employment (Equal Opportunities) Law, 1988. This law forms the main legal basis for prohibiting discrimination in the workplace, both in the public and private spheres:

Section 2.(a)

Employers shall not discriminate between their employees or between candidates for employment because of their sexual orientation, because they are parents, because of their age, gender, race, religion, nationality, land of origin, opinion or party, in any of the following:

- hiring;
- working conditions;
- promotion;
- professional training or studies;
- discharge or severance pay;
- benefits and payments provided for employees in connection with their retirement from employment.

Yet, there may be certain exceptions in which discrimination of a sort may be permitted:

a) In relation to women, the most important of these are 'genuine' occupational qualifications, which include:

- Reasons of physiology (not enough physical strength)
- Reasons of decency or privacy
- The provision of personal services promoting welfare or education; and jobs affected by legal/religious restrictions, where customs are such that the duties could not, or could not effectively, be performed by a woman (actually, this can be relevant for men as well – for instance, mikva attendant role)

b) In the case of ethnic minorities the exceptions are:

- Dramatic performances, where the dramatis personae requires a person of a particular racial group.
- Artists or models for advertising purposes, for reasons of authenticity
- Where services are rendered for the welfare of the particular group

So, what does this all mean?

Certainly, in the case of a religious organization where the requirements of the job are such that only one particular gender can fulfill it, this type of limitation is allowed.

And what about the newspaper article example, restricting a race from jobs for non-employment specific reasons (rather nationalistic objectives)? Well, I am not a lawyer, but it seems to me that the equal opportunities law was created in part to specifically restrict such instances.

Is Your CV Perfect?

2011-11-02T11:40:00.000+02:00

Job seekers focus their precious time resources way too much on re-working their CVs/resumes.

I have a theory about why this is true.

In the recruitment process, many elements are beyond the control of the job seeker. You send your CV in response to a job listing and then must wait to hear back for an interview request from the employer that in many cases never arrives. You identify and reach out to professionals as a part of your networking efforts, and hope some of them will agree to begin meaningful conversations with you. You go to an interview, and then wait to hear back from the company whether a job offer is on the way.

Sure, you do decide some things, such as which jobs to apply for, which companies/people to target for networking, whether to accept a job offer… , but when you think of your day-to-day job search elements, it is normal for everyone to periodically feel a lack of progress, that your efforts don’t seem to be paying off in the short-run. This missing control and constant waiting on others is something that can be difficult to live with.

So, to solve this problem, job seekers invariably concentrate on an obvious thing that seems to return control of the process to them, a component of the initial stages of the recruitment process with employers, and oftentimes something that is sent at the early stages once a networking conversation is begun: the CV/resume.

Other reasons for the never-ending focus on the CV:

• Job Application Average Response Rate – The average response rate for applications to jobs from Internet sites is 5-10%, meaning that between one out of every 10-20 CVs you send out will generate contact back from the employer. So, the fact is that on average 90-95% of your CVs sent in answer to employment advertisements will enter into the dreaded job seekers’ black hole, never to be heard from again. With such a high rate of “failure”, it is natural to investigate where you can improve, and invariably the focus falls on the CV.

• Job Search Professional Marketing Efforts – Professional CV/resume writers are plentiful, taking advantage of the above conditions to send the message that by following their advice for CV creation, your response rate will markedly improve. Or, take a look at the cover of this book:

or of many others you can find in the career section of bookstores. In my opinion, to turn around the book title above, you would be a complete idiot to think there is such a thing as a perfect CV. :>) If you ask 10 experts for their opinion of your CV, you will receive 10 very different responses, so the concept of perfect and or even correct has no place in your thinking.

Am I saying that all CVs will serve the same purpose for you? Certainly not! There are many things you need to take into consideration when creating your CV. My point though, is that the goal should not be to create the “perfect” CV, but rather to create a CV which serves your objectives and gives you a proper chance to get to the next stage in the recruitment process. Sure, this is less sexy and will never be the title of a book, but it is a more effective strategy nonetheless. And once you have done this, you can confidently move on to other aspects of your job search.

Remember these quick facts of CVs, illustrated by various studies:

• Average Amount of Time CV is Read: 20-30 Seconds
• First Place the Eye Falls on the CV: Top of the First Page

You must keep these factors in mind when building your CV, together with Israel-specific characteristics:

• Israeli CVs are short – one page is great; two pages is maximum
• Israeli CVs are focused/narrow – if you are targeting different professions, you will need to create different versions of your CV

To summarize my outlook in one sentence, much more important than the contents of your CV is whose hands you put it into.

For those of you that want to learn more about how to create a CV for Israel, you are welcome to read the following articles:

• A CV/Resume is not an Obituary
• CV/Resume – Chronological or Skills Based?
• Will Including “Good Team Player” on a CV Help Get You Invited to an Interview?
• Women Should Not Include Their Picture on their CV/Resume!
• CV/Resume File Type – Is it Important?

Job Seekers in Israel – Favorable Conditions Abound

2011-10-23T09:51:00.000+02:00

The holidays are over, so employees are back from their holidays, and companies are operating full steam ahead, including recruitment departments.

The Israel unemployment rates are at historical lows (5.4% as of July 2011). Compare this with the US (9.1%), UK (8.1%), and France (9.3%). And, the average gross national salary is NIS 8,900 as of July 2011, never higher.

This is a wonderful combination for jobs seekers in Israel, whether you are unemployed or looking to change jobs.

I have updated the Job Search in Israel site to make older articles more accessible. You are welcome to visit the new pages, which contain articles for the most popular job search topics:

• CV/Resumes & Cover Letters
• Networking
• Recruitment Process
• Sectors/Professions
• Complete Job Seeking in Israel Archive

Best of Success!

Translation Profession in Israel

2011-09-19T07:27:00.000+03:00

In the on-going attempt to highlight professions that are most suitable for immigrants in Israel, I am delighted to introduce an article describing the translation sector written by Micaela Ziv, former chairperson of the Israel Translators Association.

Several good things about the field of translation in Israel

• The need for translation in a variety of language pairs is ever-growing in the global marketplace and is thriving in Israel
• Translation is easier than ever before – it can be done anytime, anywhere, and now with a wealth of information and linguistic resources at your fingertips
• The Israel Translators Association welcomes newcomers and veterans in the field alike, offering professional development, mentoring and networking opportunities throughout the year

Who should consider the field of translation in Israel?

• Anyone with prior experience in translation from abroad
• Anyone who:

o writes well
o has fluent knowledge of two languages (Hebrew does not have to be one of them) and a very good grasp of their respective cultures
o is ready to keep on learning
o enjoys the idea of translating!

Remember – all your education and work experience can contribute greatly to your value in the field. A useful rule of thumb: focus on the areas you really know about – being a ‘jack-of-all-trades’ is not an advantage here.

• Fields in demand include marketing, finance, legal, academic, technical, scientific, localization and literature

Employment opportunities

There are virtually no in-house salaried positions for translations (other than a few positions with governmental bodies, such as the Bank of Israel or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and at newspaper desks). Most of us are independently self-employed, working either directly with our own clients or through translation agencies, or both. Obviously, pay rates from agencies are lower, but then they are the ones who find the clients and deal with the problems of following up on payments, advertising, and so on! Many newer translators start off working for agencies while developing their own clientele through personal contacts, networking, advertising and so forth.

Payment is usually calculated on a per page basis, with a page defined as 250 words.

It is a free market with quite a wide price range (and prices differ for different language pairs), but the ITA does have information on rates that can provide a guide.

Does knowing two languages automatically make you a potential translator?

In a word – NO!

Translation lies somewhere between a profession and an art, so a good translator should have a certain natural aptitude that can then be greatly enhanced by attending training courses. Israel offers many opportunities – academic and other – to do this. These include courses at Bar-Ilan University, Tel Aviv University, Beit Berl College, Oranim College, and programs offered by companies like WritePoint. It should be said that the commercial courses are probably less detailed (and less theory-oriented) than the academic courses.

What’s the difference between a translator and an interpreter?

A translator works with the written word and provides a written product. Interpreters work with the spoken word. Interpreting may be either simultaneous (while the person is speaking) or consecutive (speaker says a few sentences, you interpret, speaker talks some more, you interpret, and so on). This is a skill that requires prior training, which can be obtained at some of the institutions mentioned above. Payment is usually on an hourly or per-diem basis.

What other skills and equipment do you need to get started?

It’s an online profession. So you should start off with a good computer, printer, fax and scanner. You should be familiar with Word, Excel and PowerPoint (or similar programs), know how to use search engines well, use general and field specific online and printed dictionaries, and be easily reachable by email.

As for any freelance work, you should find a good accountant who can handle your questions and show you the required bookkeeping procedures. For those of you who read Hebrew there is also a software program called Avodat Milim designed specifically to make the translator’s bookkeeping easier. You will also need to be registered with the tax authorities (VAT, Income Tax and National Insurance).

If you are planning to work in areas with a lot of repetitive text (for example, legal, financial, technical) you might consider investing in a Translation Memory program. “What’s that?” you say. Don’t worry – your colleagues at the ITA will be happy to explain all this and a good many other concepts, which is another way of saying that the smart move is to become a member as soon as you have decided that translation and interpreting is going to be your field! Membership in the ITA indicates a seriousness of intention that enhances your CV and is a marketing booster, especially for beginners.

The Israel Translators Association

The ITA is the home base for the translation profession, and welcomes both self-employed and salaried translators (as well as editors, localizers, and other language-related professionals). With an informative website in both Hebrew and English, monthly lecture evenings, and an international three-day conference in February, the ITA’s mission is to help its members develop professionally as well as to upgrade the status of the profession in Israel.

To help new members of the profession hone both their translation and business skills (avoiding pitfalls, handling clients), the ITA has set up a flexible mentoring program, which also helps people gain the experience they need to be eligible for the Certificate of Recognition – the first phase of its accreditation program. The ITA is often able to offer its members discounts on certain field-related publications and software. Membership forms are available on the website. If you have questions, write to info@ita.org.il and a member of the committee will get back to you within a reasonable time (remember – they are all volunteers!).

In addition, the ITA is itself a member in LAHAV, an umbrella organization that lobbies for the rights of the self-employed and small businesses.

Job Seekers – Don’t Like What You See in the Mirror?

2011-09-14T10:42:00.000+03:00

I heard of a study done some years ago that stuck with me. Most people, when they look in the mirror, are not happy with their appearance. According to this research, a person has a much lower evaluation of their looks than someone else does. What was the explanation for this phenomenon? Well, it seems that every person has something(s) about their face that they wish was different - for instance the color of their hair, the shape of their nose, or the size of their ears. This one aspect of their face that they don’t like is the exact area that they hone in on when looking in the mirror. However, when someone else looks at that same face, they are looking at the entire package, and most everyone seems to be put together nicely (after all, we were created in God’s image).

Job seekers can get stuck focusing on a small detail that causes them to forget the overall value that they offer.

Many people intuitively and automatically identify one or more factors that they feel are causing them to not get hired. Recently I heard the following explanations:

• Don’t have a university degree
• Live in Jerusalem (too far from the center)
• Over 50
• Don’t speak Hebrew well enough
• Don’t have work experience in the sector

Any of these issues can certainly increase the difficulty in landing work. But keeping in mind that you as a job seeker are a combination of many elements, only one of which it seems is causing you problems, may help in putting things in their proper perspective.

When an employer is seeking to fill a role, they generally have a conception of the candidate that can meet the requirements. Oftentimes it is difficult for the job seeker to infer this vision from the advertised description, but that doesn’t change the fact that it exists in the mind of the employees responsible for the hiring process.

When an employer creates their job listing, some of these profile characteristics are included and other are omitted, purposely or not. They can ultimately be divided into two categories: required and nice to have. In a perfect world, all of this would be clear to the applicant from reading the job posting. However, as we all know, we are living in a world far from ideal. For instance, sometimes in the job requirements section there is an entry for a university degree, even including the additional request “from a known university”. It is impossible to understand if this is an absolute requirement or a nice to have; being listed in the requirements section is not always an accurate indication. And whether my university is considered “known” in Israel, especially when I graduated from a university in the US, is totally unknown to me. Another possibility is a requirement for fluent Hebrew – who can accurately define what the employer considers fluent? Other examples can include a listing that previous work experience in the Internet sector is nice to have; I know some of these companies and a candidate that doesn’t possess work experience in the internet sector won’t receive even the slightest consideration, independent of the job listing wording implying it is not a requirement. The unwritten absolute job requirements are silent killers – candidates that are sure they are perfect for the job may not hear back because they don’t live in the right part of the country, are deemed overqualified and/or fall outside the age range.

Let us take a more in-depth look at a situation where the company has a candidate profile requirement that the applicant must have a university degree. You meet all of the job requirements, except this one. You have two options:

1) Don’t apply for the job
2) Apply for the job

Probably readers this far into the article can guess that I believe this job should be applied for, because nobody can know if it really is an absolute requirement, and even if it is, if it may be overcome anyway.

OK, so if you apply for the job, how should you go about it? Alternatives:

Include on your CV a fake university and degree that fulfill this requirement
- Never do this! No additional explanation required…
Send your CV without any indication of university/education
- This is not the best of all worlds, but if you have absolutely no post-high school education, you may be forced to use this approach.
Include on your CV that education which you do have, including university courses even if you didn’t graduate.
- Most people that I come across without university degrees do have some post-high school education credits, whether they be professional classes, junior college, or university courses without obtaining a degree. Listing these may get you to the next round.

I am sure some people may find the reasoning above faulty. Why waste time applying for a job if you don’t meet the requirements? In fact, as a recruiter, I generally agree with this, as many of the CVs I receive are from applicants that don’t approach the published requirements – something tremendously useless! However, if you are close, then I certainly don’t hold it against anyone for trying, and there are times when I have the ability to present a candidate that does match in all ways except for one, and help them to get invited for an interview.

And let’s remember, what is the objective of a CV? The correct answer is to get yourself called for an interview. And for any of the issues that are sensitive for you, including certainly job requirements which you don’t match, it is much better for you to be able to address them in a face-to-face (or at least telephone) interview, rather than when you are a one dimensional CV piece of paper. Keep in mind that according to studies of how CVs are processed, a CV that arrives is checked for 20-30 seconds on average. Therefore, there is no chance that the entire CV is being read in that short period of time; it is simply scanned, possibly electronically. So, if including truthful information in an education section, even if it doesn’t fully meet the requirements, is enough to get you to the next stage, then this approach makes sense.

If we return to the initial concept of thinking about the big picture rather than focusing on a single (negative) item:

• The initial objective in submitting your candidacy is to get to the next stage, giving you the ability to speak with the employer directly. Creating a CV that increases your ability to reach this goal is the only objective when considering what to include. Approaching the company in the correct manner is equally critical. In conjunction with sending your CV in response to job posting that you find on Internet, if you can develop a contact within the company (using LinkedIn or some other manner) to also submit your CV can do wonders for your response rate. An advocate inside the company oftentimes can mitigate the fact that you don’t meet all of the job requirements. I have seen many cases in which applicants arrive to the HR group via an internal company contact and go to the head of the list compared to others whose CVs arrive in response to a public job announcement. Networking is the most effective way to have the employer consider you by looking at the big picture, rather than the small individual details.
• Once you get to the interview, you now have your best chance to make a big picture impression. Yes, it may be true that you don’t have the required university degree; however you have the opportunity to show all of the value that you can deliver to the employer, which sometimes can cause them to reconsider whether the university degree is really so significant for candidates. Or, it may allow them to consider you for another position where you are appropriate.

All job seekers are made up of a variety of skills, aptitudes, and personality. Different subsets of these characteristics are relevant for each individual job, and when going through the recruitment process, if you remember to focus on the attractive overall “package” that you create, you will find that you will move from appearing defensive about particular items you perceive as negative to portraying a more rounded and positive image of yourself as a future employee to the company.

Don’t be afraid to look in the mirror – most people will find you attractive if you give them a chance, so why can’t you?

Little Things Matter

2011-09-08T09:46:00.000+03:00

The summer is over, the kids are back in school, and in the Machol household, it is now time to clear our heads of the tremendous amount of noise the children made over the past couple of months, and to begin to move out of survival mode and think of the future. And for some, having the luxury to consider the future may contain some element of a job search.

OK, so first I have to confess, the summer was not only a matter of trying to discipline our children at home – no, this year we got adventurous and took a trip to France, where we had the opportunity to yell at them in a totally different country! This is of course a slight exaggeration, since as tourists we had plenty of distractions and a lot of baguettes to keep them busy, making a parent’s job much easier.

It wasn’t a full holiday though, as I had to do some work on the computer while we were in France. Have any of you tried to use a computer keyboard in France? Yes, the letters are the same as in English, but they are not located in the same place on the keyboard. Actually, to be accurate, most of them are in the same position, but there are a few notable differences: the “Z” “Q” “W” “M” and “A” are not where an Israeli/American would expect them, along with numbers and assorted punctuation. What this meant to me as a touch typist is that I needed to think each time before I pressed a key. Ultimately I learned how to compensate relatively well, although my fingers didn't seem to trust my brain, and this caused slow progress. And strangely enough, when I returned to Israel, I had to go through the same process of re-learning the Israeli keyboard.

Life’s small details can make a big difference. This is true for job seekers as well. I receive many applications with no indication whatsoever of the position of interest. And you can’t imagine how many job applications arrive with spelling and grammatical mistakes. I happen to be particularly sensitive to such errors, but still, I don’t see any excuse for not taking the time to make sure the job application is presented correctly. I as a recruiter am not looking for problems, but if I open up a document in Word and the misspelled words are highlighted there automatically, I immediately wonder why the applicant didn’t take the initiative to find and correct them before pressing the send button.

Finally, applicants in some cases don't make the small effort to focus the employer on their suitability for the job. For instance, numerous candidates send cover letters that are obviously generic, without any relation to the job they are applying for. Some people do have the skills required for the job, but their specific relevant skills are not included in their generic CV, and they don’t think to update their CV to provide evidence that they do meet the requirements. These are examples of shooting yourself in the foot, bypassing an easy opportunity to impress and stand out.

I am going to stop here, as I see that I haven’t fully extracted the summer preaching from my attitude. I apologize for this, and will take it upon myself to improve. You see, we all have small details that we can improve.

Age Discrimination – Stanley Fisher, et al

2011-06-21T14:19:00.000+03:00

Stanley Fisher is the president of the Bank of Israel. He has held this position for 6 years, encompassing a very difficult global financial period. Israel has a small domestic economy, and is heavily dependent upon exports as well as tourism – so when the world economy tanks, Israel is very directly impacted. Most Israeli experts seem to agree (and it is very rare to find economists that agree, let alone Jewish economists ;>) that Israel has weathered this economic period quite well, and the international community seems to concur in general. Although Stanley Fisher is not solely responsible, clearly he has a strong impact on Israel’s current enviable economic situation.

Recently the position of Head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) became available, and Stanley Fisher, with his impeccable credentials, was interested in being considered for this post. Very early in the process, he was dismissed as a candidate because he was too old (the maximum age is 65 and he is 67).

I have a friend who is a doctor in Israel. At the hospital where he works, he will have to retire well before the age of 70. His father is a doctor in the US and is still working each day at a hospital – he is 85 years old!

At least in the case of Stanley Fisher, we can assume that not being allowed to head the IMF will not cause him financial hardship (after all, he continues to hold an excellent job), something not true for everyone that approaches retirement age. As baby boomers advance in age, with looming high health costs and less than expected savings, the question of when to stop working becomes more difficult. At least in Israel, with basic universal health coverage, these costs are less of a factor in this decision.

For most people seeking work though, official retirement age is not the main roadblock, rather the difficulties in getting a job while still at pre-retirement age. Employers have a profile of their ideal employee, and age range is often (sometimes unconsciously) part of this vision. If the job seeker falls outside that range, the person reviewing the CVs may well stop reading when they get to the birthdate entry.

From the legal perspective, things in Israel are clear. It is not allowed to make a negative hiring decision based upon age. However, as with all things in Israel, there is the law and there is the way that it is implemented. For instance, I was living in Israel for many years before I understood that the traffic laws in Israel and the US are very similar – the difference is only in the enforcement. However, this enforcement difference, meaning that the traffic laws in Israel are enforced much less than they are in the US, leads to an outcome where drivers in Israel don’t fear penalties and drive recklessly. Most drivers simply don’t appear to take the law into account when driving.

Age and job seeking is quite similar. It is standard for a job seeker to include their age/birthdate on their CV in Israel. If age is not supposed to be a factor, why would a job seeker do this? The answer is clear - because potential employers expect it. The fear, and justifiably so, is that if a person submits a CV without their age listed, this raises red flags to those reading it – essentially inducing the question “what is this candidate hiding?”. If the person is particularly relevant, the company may contact them and ask them some questions, including age, but in many other cases the job seeker will simply be eliminated from contention. Of course, not all companies operate this way, but it is a calculated risk to take such a chance. Most people that are “young” simply put their age, as it would generally be considered a positive to perspective employers; job seekers that are in their 60s (or 50s [or 40s]) must constantly decide what to do.

In my work at Israemploy, I am in touch with many companies in Israel seeking employees. I always try to understand what the profile is of the candidates they seek, and age often plays a role. Although companies are never going to make a straight statement that violates the law, it is possible to learn a lot from what they do say.

Each company and hiring manager’s philosophy is different. Some will state that age is not relevant, a factor absolutely unrelated to the recruitment decision (from my experience, this is a rare statement to hear, and even more rare when it is true).

Generally most job seekers assume they come across age limitations only at the higher end of the working-age spectrum, but in fact there can be lower age limits as well. Some companies have had bad experiences with young employees, those that may lack responsibility/stability. In this case, they prefer workers above a certain arbitrary age, for instance 25 or even 30. Other companies have a work-force with an average age of 20s, and have found that introducing someone significantly older than this is a mismatch.

Nothing is absolute, age preferences are flexible, and can become relaxed based upon the urgency of filling an opening and/or the expected difficulty of identifying a candidate that meets the requirements. If a company needs to find an employee quickly, then their optimum age profile becomes elastic. And for a company that is seeking a hard-to-find person, such as a Swedish speaker, age issues become less critical by necessity.

It would be wonderful if it was possible to educate employers to eliminate or at least reduce their false prejudices, whether they are related to age, gender, race, religious affiliation… Especially in the case of not considering “older” employers, it is not difficult to create a list of the advantages for an employer of hiring a mature worker, including:

• No young children at home that require attention, meaning availability for longer work hours
• No military obligations for men, no pregnancy leaves for women, translating to more days available to work
• More experience, higher capability to do the job [this I have found to be a two-edged sword in the eyes of employers, as often they tell me that they prefer a person without too much experience, as those with long work histories are many times set in their ways, and not open to learning/considering a new way of doing things]

The truth is, though, that attempting to have a rational discussion about such issues typically doesn’t help if the preconceived notion itself is not based in logic. Job seekers tell me that there should be more efforts made by the government at enforcing the law, but it is unclear whether this would lead to an improvement “on the ground”.

In the short-term, I tend to believe that job seekers that are outside the typical employer ideal profile range would be better off investing their resources in identifying and pursuing opportunities that are more suitable. Of course this is easier said than done, but focusing on smaller companies that don’t have an existing large workforce of young employees, or speaking with others to find companies that already do employ “older” workers, or looking for companies that market their product/services to the greying population – all of these may help you uncover new possibilities.

And please remember, as you do integrate into the Israeli work force and arrive to a position where you impact hiring decisions, remember when you were looking for a job and the difficulties that you encountered, something that is bound to make a cumulative positive impact on the overall Israeli recruitment process.

Salary Expectations - Be Prepared

2011-06-15T07:45:00.000+03:00

I grew up in America, and made aliyah when I was 31. I have a technical background, not sales/marketing. I don’t remember engaging in many financial negotiations before I arrived in Israel. Things were simpler – there was a price tag in the store – you paid this amount if you wanted the product. A newspaper subscription, telephone service… there was a listed price and you only had to decide if this was acceptable for you. In fact, the only negotiation I remember was the time I purchased a new car; this is the one situation I encountered in the US where haggling is expected, and as a novice I left that encounter with the car, but also with a very bad feeling that I performed poorly and got taken advantage of (both were true).

Now, after living in Israel for more than 10 years, negotiation has become second-hand. Not that I claim to be an expert or even good, but at least I am aware of it and am not intimidated to start the process/game. Strangely enough, when I arrived in Israel and decided to buy a new car, I found that this is about the only instance here when negotiation is NOT generally possible. On one hand, it was a relief (as I couldn’t be taken advantage of compared to others), but when the price of a car in Israel is approximately twice the price of a car in the US, this feeling is a mixed blessing.

Each employer has their own philosophy regarding when to check candidate salary expectations. Sometimes this query will arrive as a request in the job listing itself when you are submitting your application, other times it will be raised in an initial telephone interview, and it may also appear much later in the interviewing process. There are also employers that don't raise this issue directly at all, they simply make a job offer and wait for the reaction.

I have heard many people complain because companies don’t list the salary for the position in the job listing itself. From one perspective, this would save the job seeker and the employer a lot of time, as it is more likely that unqualified people would not apply. Typically companies in Israel will not publicly announce their salary structure, but if they ask in the job advertisement or in an initial phone interview for the candidate’s salary expectations, then they are trying to accomplish this initial screening.

What is the best approach for the job seeker to take when the questions is posed to them in one form or another?

There are three (3) possibilities in how your response will be processed:

• You come in lower than their salary range – in this case they may either consider you under-qualified OR see that they have an opportunity to get a good person lower than the range they had in mind OR they will understand that you would certainly be open to the range they have in mind
• You come in within their salary range – good match
• You come in above their salary range – they may consider you overqualified/mismatched OR they may try to see if you would be open to work in their salary range OR they may say for someone this good they are willing to consider raising their range

All of this is generally academic, since you as the candidate cannot have confidence that you know their range. However, if you do know the actual salary range within the market in Israel in general, then this is an excellent starting point. It is absolutely critical for the job candidate to try to determine the average salary range for their target job. If you don’t know this already, then speaking with people that work in the same profession is a good way to get to this information. Sometimes you can find salary surveys online (most are in Hebrew), but is not clear to me how accurate they are.

Giving a range rather than a flat figure is usually a good idea, as it gives you a better chance to overlap into the range of the employer.

Many people are flexible in their salary expectations, especially people new to the Israeli employment market. So for instance, in order to guard against coming in too high, you can add to your salary expectations response that you are flexible and open to discussion.

Other companies take the approach that they want to get to know the candidate and understand their capabilities, and only then to raise the issue of salary. The idea here is that if the company decides that they want the candidate, they can oftentimes find a way to make the compensation work. In this case, your response will typically be the beginning of the compensation negotiation.

At some point or another you can expect that if the employer is interested in you, they will ask for your salary expectations. You as the job candidate should do your homework beforehand and not be caught unprepared.

Headhunter’s Lament: Why Don’t Job Seekers Use LinkedIn Correctly???

2011-05-08T08:02:00.000+03:00

Maybe you've heard before that employment recruiters use LinkedIn in the same way that web surfers use Google: to search for the information they need. In the case of recruiters, what is needed are candidates that match the profile being sought. I am one such recruiter.

Sounds simple, right? Well in reality this is fraught with problems, most of which could be solved to the benefit of the job seeker and recruiter at the same time in a simple way. You see, if I can’t find you, then you have no visibility for the job that I know about.

First, let’s take a step back. LinkedIn is a large (more than 100 million members worldwide) professional networking site. It is free to use, and for anyone seeking work now, or expecting to do so in the future, this resource is simply gold! I won’t recount the features here; anyone that wants more detail is welcome to read this article: http://jobsearchinisrael.blogspot.com/2009/12/linkedin-tying-it-all-together.html.

People use LinkedIn for a variety of reasons. I am addressing now those of you who consider job search one of the objectives for maintaining a LinkedIn presence.

Recruiters use LinkedIn in two general instances:

A candidate sends a CV, and the recruiter would like to check for even more detail about them than can be found in the confines of a short document. In this case, the recruiter will do a LinkedIn people search on the specific person of interest, and view their profile. If you don’t have a LinkedIn presence, or your profile is weak (no detail, recommendations, achievements…), then this is a lost opportunity for you the candidate to impress the recruiter.
The recruiter has the job requirements for a specific role, and is searching for qualified candidates. Again, if you don’t have a LinkedIn presence or it is weak OR you haven’t included your contact details, then you are missing an opportunity to be available/reachable to the recruiter.

This is a case where recruiters and job seekers have identical objectives, to be known to each other. I, as a recruiter, am ready to do my part, but if you the job seeker don’t do yours, then you will remain invisible or undervalued by me, which doesn’t serve your purpose. We would all be better served if LinkedIn morphed into an international comprehensive CV/resume bank, up-to-date and in real-time. It has the potential, but job seekers can use it much better than they do today.

If you are searching for work and are not on LinkedIn (and you reading this sentence), I cannot understand your logic. LinkedIn is free! Maintaining a LinkedIn profile does NOT indicate to your current employer that you are seeking employment (in fact, your boss/colleagues are probably already using LinkedIn) – there is no risk! I can’t find you if you’re not there! You can’t use the power of networking if you don’t have access to others on LinkedIn. For all of you that may know job seekers that don’t have a LinkedIn profile, please send them a link to this article!

If I find you on LinkedIn, and you match my requirements, but I have no way to reach you, then the opportunity is once again lost. In LinkedIn as it exists today, if two people are connected directly, then it is possible to send a message within LinkedIn to the other person. Also, if two people are in the same LinkedIn group, then it is possible to send them a message within LinkedIn (although this became more difficult on LinkedIn recently, and requires inconvenient steps). However, many of the people that I find interesting are not connected to me nor do we share a group. You as the job seeker don’t want to leave this to chance. In your profile, include your contact details (email, telephone, whatever you want) in the summary and/or personal information area. If you don’t make it easy for me, then I am going to go on to other candidates.

Let me give some recent examples that I encountered of candidates being poorly served because of lack of effective use of LinkedIn. These are the results of various searches I did on LinkedIn for candidates based in Israel that meet different professional criteria:

The huge majority of these candidates of interest that I found that match my profiles did not have contact details in their LinkedIn profile, and I had no way to contact them. What a shame!
The person was not connected to me closely on LinkedIn, so I didn't find them in my searches. The results of searches default to being sorted by relevance, which is some combination of search criteria match and closeness of LinkedIn connection to you. If everything else is equal, the closer connections appear first, then people that share groups, and finally everyone else. So, if there are many people that match my criteria, and we are not closely related nor do we share a group, then probably I won't find you. Think of this as LinkedIn candidate SEO.
For people that I can contact directly via a LinkedIn message, either because we are connected or share a group, or because contact details are contained in their profile, oftentimes this email address is one that is not checked often by the person, a special-purpose LinkedIn email account. If you don't use an account that you check every day or two, in many cases the opportunity will no longer exist.
I found candidates on LinkedIn that might have met my search criteria, but the information that they provided in their profile was so scant that I couldn’t understand much about them.
I do candidate searches outside of LinkedIn as well because of the lack of universal accessibility. I found a number of prospects in this way. I then looked for them on LinkedIn, to try to understand why I wasn’t able to identify them directly. The results:

A number of candidates had no LinkedIn profile at all.
Some candidates gave their location as USA/Switzerland… on LinkedIn, so I had no way of knowing they were located in Israel.
Candidate's LinkedIn profiles were out of date, not including new skills they had acquired nor new jobs that they had held.
People did not have the critical keywords in their LinkedIn profile. For instance, I found German speakers in Israel that didn’t include the word German in their profile. I found web analysts that didn’t include the technical terms SPSS and SQL in their profiles. In the same way that you should be thinking when creating your CV/resume, if a term, skill, achievement is important, whether it be language, technical or anything else, then you MUST include this in your profile. And as you add new skills to your portfolio, update LinkedIn. This is the way that recruiters search for candidates in LinkedIn, using keywords, and if you don’t include the relevant ones for your employment objectives, then you are invisible.

From the results of this exercise, I recommend the following to job seekers wishing to optimize their LinkedIn use for access to recruiters:

Obviously, the first step is to register for LinkedIn.
Ensure that your LinkedIn profile is up-to-date and detailed. Make sure you include all of the relevant keywords in your profile. And don't forget to include your contact details.
Make as many connections as you can, and join as many groups as are relevant.
It is not enough to create a profile on LinkedIn, no matter how good, then forget about it. Every time something major changes, such as moving to a new job or acquiring a new relevant skill, your profile should be updated.

LinkedIn is a job seeker’s dream come true, and if you use it wisely, you significantly increase your chances of getting access to opportunities that you couldn’t find otherwise.

Surefire Way to Get a Raise

2011-05-01T12:52:00.006+03:00

A programmer friend in Israel has found a way to get a raise that never fails (yet!).

All you have to do is follow these simple steps:

1. Decide you want to leave the job
2. Find another job at a better salary
3. Tell your current (and soon-to-be previous) employer that you are leaving and what your new financial conditions are
4. A raise (matching the new offer) will follow almost on-the-spot

This has happened to him twice in recent years, and I know others that have had identical experiences.

I am not sure if this is something specific to Israel. Something similar happened to me in Israel totally outside the realm of employment. There is competition for local residential telephone/DSL service between the telephone and cable companies. Previously I used the telephone company service, but then I heard of an offer from the cable company that was much better. I called the telephone company to see if they would match/beat the offer of the cable company (since living in Israel I find myself doing this, something unheard of in the US), as I preferred not to go through the hassle of changing. The phone company did not agree. So, I switched my telephone/DSL service to the cable company. Afterwards, when I called up the telephone company to cancel my service, they immediately did offer me a deal that was even better than what I got with the cable company – however at this point it was too late.

I understand from these situations that companies are playing the odds, basically assuming that the majority of people, whether customers or employees, based upon inertia and other factors, will not look around for a better deal. Sure, companies will lose some individuals because of this attitude, but in the global long run they believe it is the most effective way to operate. Maybe they are even right…

What can the individual employee learn from this mode of operation in Israel?

For some people, your first inclination may be to skip step 2 (and possibly step 1) above, and have the threatening salary conversation with your boss, even though you don’t have another job offer. Unless you are a pretty good poker player though and are certain that you a valuable and difficult-to-replace role employee, this type of bluff is obviously risky, as your employer may not agree with your analysis of your worth and help you out the door. Of course, it is possible to tone down the initial conversation without mentioning a phantom job offer, a more traditional “I deserve a raise” discussion.

Whatever way you decide is best in your specific situation, being prepared for this conversation with a reminder of your value to the company and accomplishments provides you with the best opportunity to sell your worth to your boss. Inherent in any such discussion is the unsaid threat of looking for another job that does meet your needs, and sometimes that is enough. If you don’t initiate the meeting though, you will often find that it doesn’t ever occur.

Israel Good Deeds Day – April 5, 2011

2011-04-05T13:01:00.015+03:00

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:

aby@def.com

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.

Want to Get a Job – Maybe You Should do Something about Your Hair

2011-04-03T08:56:00.014+03:00

Songs from the musical Hair have been going through my mind recently. Yes, it’s an oldie, and not even one of my favorites, but it is unavoidable. I try to keep current on job search literature, and for some reason, the topic of hair has come up a few times lately.

So, what does hair have to do with finding a job?

In terms of your CV, a big debate exists regarding whether it is a good idea to include your picture: http://jobsearchinisrael.blogspot.com/2010/11/women-should-not-include-their-picture.html.

Clearly, in the context of an interview, the job candidate needs to present a clean and professional image, and your hair is part of the picture that you create. An interview is generally not the time to make a fashion statement about uniqueness – except for in the rare instance, your objective must be to portray a person that will fit in – and unkempt hair, wrinkled clothes, or an overabundance of rings hanging from various parts of your face generates a less than desirable impression.

Regarding hair specifically, what’s better though, curly or straight, up or down, long or short, facial hair or clean shaven? Search the web, and you can read for hours on this subject.

For people that fit into the “elderly” end of the job seeking crowd, removing the gray from your hair and/or updating the style is one of the suggested ways to come across stronger, or at least younger and more vital. I am probably less style conscious than the average person walking down the street, but for the life of me I can’t imagine how one style of hair can make a more positive impression than another (assuming the length is within the norm and it is evenly cut), but apparently there may be something to this. I spoke to my three sons, ages 15, 13, and 10 about hair styles, and I was subjected to long explanations about “moikan”, “spitzim”, and “modregote “ – it seems their strategy is to get the strangest haircuts that they can without crossing the line and getting kicked out of their religious schools. Needless to say, if you want to try to understand this subject better, I suggest that you should look for assistance outside the Machol family males.

Now I come to the part of this article that is not for the squeamish: woman’s hair styles. For some time now at Israemploy, I have a part in translating some job listings from Hebrew to English. I am not sure how many men are aware of what seems to occur in a woman’s beauty parlor, but if the job descriptions are anything to go by, there is a lot of waxing, pulling, and twisting going on. As a small example, you can read this article which discusses a new beauty procedure and its relation to employment: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704461304576216470789970688.html?mod=dist_smartbrief. I turned to my wife for this part of my research to try to get a better understanding. She is someone that makes me skip over the violent parts of movies. Yet, after hearing less than a minute of her describing what she has paid people to do to her in such a salon, the music from Hair is immediately replaced in my head by the much more appropriate sounds from Little House of Horrors!

I heard an interesting story recently which describes a particular hair and job interview combination which must be unique to Israel. Someone told me that a young religious friend of hers went on a number of interviews with a head covering, and she was consistently asked how many children she intended to have (nor was she getting called back for a second interview). So, this friend decided for her next interview to wear a wig instead, and voilà, no question about the number of planned offspring and ultimately a job offer was extended to her.

I guess that hair can have a real impact in the recruitment process in some cases. I now consider myself lucky that I was born with curly hair that looks the same before and after combing. For those of you not so fortunate, maybe applying some Grease will solve the problem – as long as it doesn’t make you look like a throwback from another age.

Technical Writing

2011-03-23T08:27:00.007+02:00

Most of the technical writers in Israel have a mother tongue of English. So, this is clearly a profession of significance to immigrants. I am pleased to introduce this article describing the technical writing profession in Israel, contributed by Lynn Kolber.

Immigrants to Israel have to deal with a multitude of cultural shocks and adjustments, not least of which is finding work in an unfamiliar job market, in a foreign language. Many immigrants struggle to find work in their original professions, and even when they find jobs these are often at a significantly lower level, or very different from the same position abroad. Professionals struggle to adapt to local work conditions. This results in frustration and may lead to the person returning to their country of origin. The technical writing profession offers a unique opportunity to help prevent this potential loss.

Technical writing involves preparing a broad range of documents for companies in the hi-tech, telecom, military, security and bio-tech fields. This means that a candidate’s background in their first career can be an advantage when they are preparing technical documentation. We have employed and placed writers from almost every profession including rabbis, lawyers, engineers, doctors, dentists, plumbers, pilots, cabin crew, psychologists, scientists, social science graduates, linguistic majors, software developers and engineers, teachers, mathematicians, court stenographers, reporters, accountants, and more.

Technical writers convey factual information and prepare a broad range of documents including User Guides, Installation Guides, Maintenance Guides, Administration Guides, APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), SDKs (Software Development Kits), Product Descriptions, Technical Datasheets, Product Specifications, Release Notes, and Online Helps. Additional career options in writing include working as a marketing writer or a proposal writer. Technical writing involves documenting facts and does not require much imagination, although there is a creative component including writing introductions, UX/UI reviews, white papers, and so on. If you can make something boring sound interesting, you should perhaps consider a career in marketing writing.

Reva Dykan, Documentation Manager at NICE Systems, when asked about the core key skills that she looks for when recruiting a technical writer, noted: “I think that the best way to learn technical writing is via an internship. I look for someone with strong writing ability and an interest in lifelong learning”. Other skills that are important are organizational and project management skills, knowledge of technology, strong detective skills, assertiveness, people skills, flexibility and the ability to cope with change. An analysis of why 20 writers were fired (not laid off) showed that 19 were fired due to lack of interpersonal skills. Only one was fired because of the quality of their work. The opening line from many recruiting managers and HR staff is “Please find me someone with good interpersonal skills”. About 5% of the technical writing jobs have specific technical requirements, such as a background in engineering, IT support, finance, and so on.

There are several ways to enter the profession. Although some candidates are fortunate enough to be offered a job without any formal training, it is beneficial to take a course or an internship. On an internship, candidates not only undertake theory and tools training, but gain the critical practical experience required in order to seek employment. Several of the hosting companies use the internship as a way to assess the intern as a potential employee.

A question often asked is whether candidates need to speak Hebrew. Conversational Hebrew is a requirement in about 15% of the technical writing jobs. Whereas engineers and developers are usually willing to speak English, lack of fluent Hebrew is often an obstacle when interviewing with the HR person at a prospective employer. An internship provides candidates with the opportunity to work in a company and prove themselves without having to first pass an HR interview or psychometric exam. This also increases their chances of employment.

Salaries for technical writers are competitive. Career path opportunities include developing specialized writing skills in a particular technology or working as a team leader or documentation manager. Technical writing offers immigrants an important opportunity to embark on an interesting career that pays well.

About the Author

This article was written by Lynn Kolber, General Manager, OnTarget Communications, http://www.ontargetcommunication.com/. OnTarget specializes in training and placing technical writers in projects, contracts and fulltime positions. The OTC internship creates “can do” writers who are employable. Graduates of the program are employed at a multitude of hi-tech companies including HP, NICE Systems, Verint Systems, RSA, EMC, RAD, Radvision, Comverse, Amdocs, Precise, RoboGroup, NiceVision, Actimize, NTrig, BMC, StarHome, Logic, dbMotion, Gilat Satellites, Mobixcell, Visonic, SafeNet, and many more.

Fundraising as a Source of Employment in Israel

2011-03-18T08:21:00.007+02:00

Although the not-for-profit sector took a strong hit during the global financial meltdown, many people continue work in this industry in Israel and it seems to be making a comeback. One critical job function is fund raising, the lifeblood of any such organization. I am pleased to introduce David Maier-Epstein, an expert in the field of fund-raising, who has written the following article to introduce this subject.

Fundraising in Israel is developing at an impressive pace. There are close to 30,000 registered non-profits already operating and 150 new ones registering every month. Notwithstanding the economic downturn which has significantly impacted upon Israel's nonprofits, the demand for good resource development professionals at all levels has grown, particularly at the entry and junior levels. The jobs that are available range from part time and freelance grant writing to full time directors of resource development which would include foundation grants, personal soliciting, fundraising events, corporate partnerships, telephone solicitation and internet & social media fundraising.

The profiles of suitable fundraisers are far more varied now than they were in the past. People in the profession come from a variety of educational and vocational backgrounds, not only social work and community organization but also nonprofit management, business, law, sales, marketing and finance. In addition to writing, the skills needed include verbalization, articulateness and an outgoing personality among other traits. Most positions will pay an hourly rate which can vary from 35 – 100’s of shekels depending on experience. There are a small number of companies which provide a variety of services to nonprofit organizations on a contractual basis or external services who hire people to provide the services listed above.

Some of the smaller organizations and particular religious organizations will be interested in offering percentage based compensations which is contrary to the code of ethics of the profession. It is my strong recommendation not to enter into such an arrangement – in the long run it is against the best interests of the organization, the donors and the professional.

Although Hebrew fluency is a must to become a complete fundraising professional in Israel, English as a mother tongue, computer literacy, writing and articulation skills give Anglos a huge advantage in gaining employment and succeeding in the field. Even without fluent Hebrew, one can learn to write foundation grant proposals as long as the information can be transmitted by an English speaker within the organization; one can target fellow Israeli English speakers for involvement and support and one can communicate and concretize support from overseas Friends from English speaking countries.

While one can enroll in Masters level academic programs, there are shorter term courses that can provide a basic background needed to enter the profession. In addition to those that are seeking to break into this industry, many explain that their reason for taking a course is that they have been given the responsibility for fundraising for their organization, but they never had the opportunity to actually learn the theory, skills and practice.

Up until now there has not been a parallel version of the American and European Associations of Professional Fundraisers in Israel. On May 18th 2011 at K’far Maccabiah, the founding conference of professional fundraisers will commence. Membership is open to anyone who sees himself as a member of the profession and who will accept and agree to work under the code of ethics that will be adopted at the conference. Please click here for more information and to register.

Many people shy away from this occupation because they feel uncomfortable asking others for money. It is possible to find work as a grant writer which essentially focuses on writing as opposed to interaction with people. However, this severely limits the number of job opportunities and remuneration levels. The alternative is to realize that the good done by professional fundraisers is well worth the personal discomfort one may feel from asking for money.

About the Author

David Maeir-Epstein, M.S.S.A., is the CEO of David Maeir-Epstein, Resource Development Consultants for Nonprofits in Israel. He also serves as the Israel representative of the Shirley and William R. Fleischer Family Foundation, Inc. David has a distinguished record of service in executive positions in planning, leadership development and fundraising in the Jewish Federations in Boston, St. Louis, and Louisville, Ky. He served as Israel Desk Director at the Joint Distribution Committee's Headquarters in New York and as the Israeli community representative of the Jewish Federations of Baltimore, Los Angeles, Houston, and Central New Jersey for Project Renewal. David is a founding member of the Israel Association of Professional Fundraisers (IAPF). He has taught resource development at the Baerwald School of Social Work of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and has authored a book chapter on resource development in a textbook that is used by the community work tracks of social work schools in Israel. He can be reached at dave@israelgrants.com.

Whether you are currently responsible for fundraising in your organization, on a lay or professional level; or you are a new immigrant looking to enter the nonprofit field; or you are looking to making a career change; or you have recently retired and now want to make your contribution to society, may I suggest that you consider joining one of our short term training courses in Fundraising, Grantwriting and Work with Foundations. Courses are starting March 23rd in Efrat (English), April 3rd in In Hertziliya (English), April 12th in Jerusalem (Hebrew) and an English course in Jerusalem will begin after Pesach. Contact Bruria@israelgrants.com or visit our website http://www.israelgrants.com/en for more details.

Government Jobs in Israel

2011-03-16T10:18:00.004+02:00

I attended a seminar recently sponsored by Gvahim about government jobs in Israel. A variety of people spoke that work for the government.

Since government jobs are oftentimes one of the targets of new immigrants to Israel, I will include here some of the points raised at this event.

An initial observation is that many people that are immigrating to Israel from the Western world are making an “aliyah of choice”. For those that study the history of worldwide immigration, there aren’t many examples where the primary impetus for people to transplant themselves to a different country is not directly associated with improving their immediate financial and/or personal security conditions. Yet people that decide to move from the West to Israel generally do not fit this model. The driver for most such people is some combination of religion and culture. Many new immigrants have been involved in Jewish/Zionist activities for years before arriving in Israel, and wish to continue and feel that they are making a contribution to their new homeland, whether it is in the public or non-profit sector.

There are a couple of points worth considering. First, probably the most important thing that a person can do to contribute positively to Israel is to simply live here – anything else, including occupation, is secondary. All of the wonderful qualities, motivation and enthusiasm that you bring will shine through, independent of how you decide to spend time earning a salary.

Second, it is important to be aware that there are a limited number of jobs in this sector, and a good amount of competition. Also, keep in mind that the salaries are on the low side compared to the private sector. As an example, a person speaking at this event, a licensed lawyer in the initial stages of the diplomatic corps, said that her salary is 5,000 NIS/month gross! This is lower than the average Israeli salary of around 8,000/month, and although government jobs may offer additional compensation in the way of benefits, it is important to think this through and decide if it matches your requirements.

For those of you still reading, then I understand you are not to be deterred and want to move forward. One thing that all speakers mentioned is that improving your Hebrew is critical for success in this field. Concentrate as hard as you can on raising your language skills.

Many of government jobs are published on the civil servant website: http://www.civil-service.gov.il/Civil-Service, and awarded through tenders. One thing that is common between government jobs and those in the private sector is the need for networking to raise your visibility for open positions. Meeting people that can influence hiring decisions is a critical challenge, and the most beneficial activity you can engage in. Here are some tips that participants gave:

• Volunteering (internships) is one way to break in. This gives you the opportunity to get some practical experience and impress relevant people with your abilities.
• Enrolling in government or complementary educational programs in Israel is another way to understand the local mentality and meet people of interest. This can also lead to internships and job possibilities.
• Joining a political party and participating in events can give you a chance to learn about the Israeli process and how you may fit in.

As with most objectives, getting a job in the Israeli government is some combination of inspiration and perspiration. For those that have the drive, a very fulfilling career can be on your horizon.

Use the Power and Simplicity of Email for Employment Networking

2011-02-14T15:21:00.005+02:00

One of the best ways to focus your job search is to target employers that are most relevant for you, and then make efforts to contact people in the companies and start conversations. Here is an article which describes this approach: http://jobsearchinisrael.blogspot.com/2010/06/employment-networking-target-companies.html.

What do you do when you have this list of 10-20 companies? A part of the action plan can be to do searches on LinkedIn for people that work at the company now (or in the past), and then introduce yourself.

I just heard of another technique that I wanted to share with you.

Create an email for the purposes of employment networking, and send it to the people that you know. The contents of the letter can contain something like this:

==================================

I’m looking to make contact with someone at one of these 15 employers:

• Teva
• Checkpoint
• Amdocs
• Strauss
• …

Do you know anyone in these companies that you could refer me to?

What would you do if you were in my shoes?

Would you mind passing this on to 10 of your friends as well?

Thanks for taking the time to consider this.

==================================

You are asking a question about specific companies, so the recipients of your email know exactly what they can do to help. In addition, you are asking them to help take ownership of the process by inquiring what they would do in your place, something that can encourage them to invest themselves. And some of them will pass your message on to others, immediately increasing your visibility outside of your own contacts.

Adding this strategy to support your efforts to target companies may be just what you need to get to new and critical people.

How Many Placement Companies Will it Take to Find Me a Job?

2011-02-03T13:21:00.003+02:00

A common question of job seekers - what is the optimum number of placement companies to use for the employment search? Placement companies (or head-hunters, recruiters, job agencies…) can absolutely play a positive part in your job search. Employers contract with such companies to assist them in the recruitment process, paying them a fee for each successful new employee they bring.

From the perspective of the job seeker, having access to placement companies is positive, since there is no cost and it gives you opportunities for jobs that you would not otherwise have. In addition, employees at placement companies usually have direct and personal access to HR people at the employers, and can thus increase the likelihood of building visibility and receiving status updates – something virtually impossible for individual job seekers to accomplish.

Yet many job seekers that are in contact with me do not feel much value from recruitment companies, instead complaining about the lack of personal contact and success they encounter when attempting to develop a relationship with these companies.

I would like to try and shed some light on this process, to make it easier for the job seeker to understand what part these companies can play in their individual job search.

First, I worded the title of this article in such a way to make the following point. Nobody and no company will find you a job. Only you can find yourself a job!!! Certainly other people, websites, services, agencies can and should play a part in your search when advantageous to you, but you as the job seeker can never hand over the responsibility of your search to anyone else, including a placement company.

The most critical thing to keep in mind when approaching job agencies is that their customer is the employer, not you the job seeker. The job seeker is a resource, a person that can be submitted to employers to fill a position, which if ultimately successful will lead to the generation of a placement fee. What this compensation structure generally leads to for the job seeker is a great difficulty in getting attention from these companies unless there is a current role to be filled that they think you are appropriate for. To be fair, the job seeker needs to keep in mind that agencies can receive hundreds of CVs a day, and it is not practical/possible for them to follow-up on each and every one. The CVs will go into their central database and be available and future job opportunities arise. You as the job seeker may be able to increase the chances of receiving favorable service by maintaining regular contact.

I should add a comment here. The above paragraph is overly simplistic and general. There are a range of different companies that offer placement services, and not all of them are the same. What I have included above is typically true of the bigger ones, and not always true of the smaller ones. There are cases where small agencies and head-hunters, oftentimes “one man (or woman) shows”, will invest time in getting to know the job seeker. In my experience though in Israel, these companies are few and far between.

So, if we go back to the original question, how many placement companies should a job seeker work with, you will usually find the answers that people provide tend to fall into one of three categories:

None – Job seekers that have bad experiences with these companies tend to stop using them. I think this is a mistake. These companies absolutely do succeed in placing new employees; this should be evident by the fact that they continue to operate almost entirely based upon success fees. Getting your CV into their databases is a good idea, as you may be a match for current and/or future job openings that come their way, opportunities that you would not have access to without the placement company. Not all agencies are the same, and it can be worthwhile to search and find those that are most appropriate for you (small or large, specialized in a particular sector or general…)
A Small Number (1-3) – This is the general response that you get from agencies themselves. Essentially, they seem to view themselves differently than I do. I have heard many of these companies say that you only need to work with them, as they are the best :>) Sometimes the argument goes that recruiters won’t invest a lot of time with you the job candidate if they know you are working with other agencies as well. Since in my experience they won’t invest much time with you in any case unless they have an appropriate role for you, I don’t find this reasoning convincing. The other argument you will hear from them is that if you are working with multiple agencies, it means you may be submitted to the same employer multiple times, which is not good for you the job seeker. At Israemploy I have been working as a recruiter for a number of months, and what I can tell you is that this is a problem for job agencies, not job seekers. What I mean is that when I submit a candidate for a job, if they are already known to the employer (either because they applied directly or they were previously submitted by another recruiter), then I don’t get credit for this candidate. However, the candidate continues in the recruitment process without any negative impact to them. So again, the logic of these responses tends to value much more the job agency’s interests than the job seekers. Unless you are working with a company that you are certain is providing you with personalized and high quality service, and requests that you work with them exclusively, I would be very wary of following such advice.
A Large Number – Maximize the number of opportunities that you have access to. Personally, I see no negatives from taking this approach. As time goes on, you will almost certainly find that some of them, usually a very small number, provide the best results, and these are the ones that you will naturally focus on most. However, since it is difficult to understand which companies will end up being the best as you begin the process, introducing yourself to as many as possible is oftentimes a good starting point.

Job agencies can be your eyes and ears in getting to employment opportunities that you don’t reach on your own. Use them wisely, and more interviews can be the result.

Will Including “Good Team Player” on a CV Help Get You Invited to an Interview?

2011-01-09T08:59:00.002+02:00

When considering what to include in CVs/resumes, a question oftentimes arises about concepts/terms such as “good team player”, “able to work independently”, “loyal”, “hard-working”, “people-person”… I am sure that you can think of many others that fall into the general category of personal attributes that are beneficial to almost all employers. In some cases, the employer will even list a number of these in the requirements section of their job listings.

Should job candidates include these on their CV?

From my experience, these are typically characteristics that are recognized and rewarded when a person begins working at the company as opposed to during the recruitment process. Furthermore, I have never spoken with anyone seeking a job that doesn’t believe that they excel at all of these. Some probably are capable of making accurate self-evaluations, while others are less so – the only chance that an employer has to truly understand what is correct in the recruitment process is during interviews or via feedback from recommendations.

All parts of a CV are critical in differentiating yourself in a positive way from other applicants and getting the employer’s attention. Especially on a one-page CV, you don’t have any room to waste – it is all valuable real estate. There are two choices; either to decide that these types of characteristics on your CV are the most important use of this space to get yourself invited to an interview, or that you can find other traits that are more important to focus on.

I think that the final decision needs to rest with what the requirements are of the job, and what your work history consists of. If the job demands many specific skills that you possess, then these should take precedence on your CV. If the job is more of an entry level role, then using characteristics as mentioned here can help you get your message across. This can also be true in a skills-based CV – for instance in a case where you applying for a job which you don’t have a lot of experience, but have the skills from other types of jobs/activities which can be applicable.

And if you do decide to convey yourself using these traits, you should consider how to do so in the most effective way. If you are simply using the generic words, you can be sure that your CV will read the same as many others that are arriving to the recruiter. Adding some detail and making yourself unique by providing examples/accomplishments from your past which illustrate these abilities will go a long ways toward distinguishing yourself positively.

Employees that possess these intangibles are usually the ones that excel at their jobs and get promotions. When you are writing your CV though, remember that you are creating a marketing document and think hard about whether these descriptions are the best way to make you the candidate that sticks out in the crowd.

Can You Sell Ice to Eskimos?

2010-12-29T11:42:00.005+02:00

I have never met a sales person that didn’t believe they could sell anything. I am sure that this confidence is one component of what makes a person good at sales in the first place. And, maybe it is even true. The question is, is it relevant in the recruitment process?

I worked for a number of years in the hi-tech sector (marketing/technical, not sales roles), both in the US and Israel. There is a profound difference between how technology companies in the US and Israel view the ideal profile for a sales candidate. When I worked in the US, the sales people were excellent at sales, yet were not technical at all. Their job was to close sales, and this they did well or they disappeared. If they needed technical assistance, they would call me or a room full of other people to deal with these details. For them, it was a waste of time to get involved in the intricate technical aspects of the product/service, which took away from their valuable time available to complete deals and earn commissions. Here in Israel, the huge majority of sales people at hi-tech companies are engineers that (hopefully) have the aptitude to sell as well. They are expected to understand the technical aspects of the product relatively well, and generally use the technical staff of the company much less frequently in the sales process than someone from the US.

There are many levels of international sales jobs in Israel. One type is telephone sales. In these jobs, sales is done exclusively on the phone, or combined with email. Often these jobs do not require fluency in Hebrew – native English or some other language is enough. In many of these roles, the company will provide initial training, and does not expect expertise in their particular product/service as a pre-requisite for consideration. If the candidate has a sales background, or sometimes it is even enough that they can convey sales aptitude, then this type of job can be a good match. There are a large variety of online companies and call centers which operate in this way – sometimes during the day and other times in shift work in the evenings/nights. Most jobs are not work-at-home, and require the employee to work from the office. This can be the right target for someone that wants to break into sales. However, candidates should be aware that employers are selective in whom they hire – when I send people to interview for these jobs without telephone sales experience, the majority do not make it through the recruitment process. And on the other hand, very experienced sales people that apply for such roles are often labeled “over-qualified”; employers in many cases do not find this profile to be a good match because of concerns that the person will not stay long.

The other type of sales role is the more traditional full-service model, working from a sales plan with budget and quotas to sell the employer’s products/services. For employers that are targeting the international market, English and/or other languages at mother tongue level is a tremendous asset for their sales people, and international travel is oftentimes required, sometimes very frequently. The compensation and expectations are certainly much higher on average in these types of roles than in the telephone sales sector. Keep in mind that mother tongue level of English is important, but certainly it is not enough to ensure you are hired for this type of job, and everyone should be aware that there are plenty of native Israelis with a high enough level of English that are also competing for these roles.

Without doubt, this is a very quick and dirty description of the sales role within Israel, and there are many positions that fall between the two jobs that I have described above, or differ in other ways. Still, for someone seeking work in sales, it is important to understand the way the market works in Israel, so that you invest your time in the correct direction. For instance, someone that does not have a hi-tech/telecom background, and especially if in addition to this has no experience doing sales in this industry, will have an extremely difficult time attracting the attention of Israeli hi-tech/telecom companies, no matter how many languages they speak and how much professional success they have previously enjoyed. Highly experienced sales people outside the telephone sales sector will find it difficult to convince a telemarketing company that they will be a long-term solution.

What generally makes sense is to identify those sectors which you have special knowledge as well as those areas in which you have good connections in a particular market. Then work backwards to find companies that target as closely as possible the regions/industries which match your expertise. Networking, including using LinkedIn, is the best way to progress. Sometimes for those that are specialists in a particular country/region, contacting the relevant embassy and/or chamber of commerce for that area can also prove useful.

Sales is a “who you know” type of business, and identifying the correct target employers and then inserting yourself into the relevant networks will serve you well in learning about opportunities and creating a positive impression.

Guerrilla Job Search Tactics

2010-12-22T08:46:00.003+02:00

I, and many others in the employment search assistance business, tend to provide common sense type of advice. Others might use a different word for it: BORING. How many times can you read about CVs, interviews, networking…?

Some of the best job seeker success stories are those told by people that used creativity to make themselves stand out from the competition. For instance, I know someone that decided to send his application to two particularly suitable job openings via Federal Express. Yes, it cost him a little more, but he got invited to an interview by both of them, a very impressive feat.

Want some other ideas of unique approaches that can succeed – click here.

Is it Really So Hard to Say Thank You?

2010-12-12T10:23:00.001+02:00

Here in Israel we’ve said a couple of big thanks over the past week, both present day and biblical. The terrible recent fire in the northern part of the country overwhelmed the local fire departments and many countries from near and far came and provided tremendous assistance. The fire caused a lot of damages (estimated at one-third of the forest areas of the Carmel region), but I understand that without this international help the damage might well have been double this. After the fire was contained, our Prime Minister Bibi publicly and graciously thanked the governments that were available in our time of need as well as the firefighters themselves that traveled here and risked their lives to put out the flames. A totally different thank you technique was displayed by the Israeli foreign ministry, whose representative spent the majority of the time reminding listeners how good Israel has been in the past to help others in crisis (which is certainly true), and then sequenced into a thanks that other countries came to our aid as well; in my opinion a less self-serving message would have been more appropriate and effective. In the synagogue last Shabbat, Jacob thanked/blessed Pharaoh for allowing the Jews to live in Egypt during the famine. I certainly hope that the thanks that the modern day Israel gave to Egypt this week for assisting to put out the fires will lead to a better relationship than our forefathers encountered in Ancient Egypt those many years ago!

Now, I hope my transition to employment will be less painful here than listening to a foreign ministry expression of gratitude…

In the US, it is quite common that after an interview, a job candidate will send a thank you note to the person that conducted the interview. Certainly this is not an altruistic act entirely – on the one hand it can make sense to show appreciation for the person that invested time and efforts in interviewing you, but usually the motivation is more “me-based” – raising your visibility in the recruitment process and distinguishing yourself from other candidates. What I have noticed in Israel is that the simple thank you note is almost totally ignored by job seekers. I am not quite sure why this is true, and I certainly wouldn’t associate this with a cultural trait of the local population. Anyway, the more interesting point is not the why, but whether it is useful for a job candidate in Israel to send such a note. In Israel, they may have an even more positive impact than in the US, as the local interviewer may well be getting such a note from you and no one else. I certainly can’t see the harm in it and there is definitely a potential up-side, and if nothing else, it will force you to make an effort to get the interviewer’s name and contact details (something which never ceases to amaze me many people leave an interview without).

So, what should be in this thank you noted, generally delivered by email? The combination of expressing gratitude for the interviewer’s time and the opportunity to better discuss the position and your suitability together with a reminder of what a good fit you are and strong interest you have is ideal. Of course, thinking about the best language to compose such a message is also relevant, depending upon who the interviewer was. It shouldn’t be long, and certainly not a recap of your CV or the interview in its entirety, just a few short sentences that get your point across.

Wishing you great success in your job seeking efforts and heartfelt thanks for taking the time to read this article.

Women Should Not Include Their Picture on their CV/Resume!

2010-11-30T16:33:00.002+02:00

According to a study conducted in Israel, the decision of whether to include your photo in your CV depends upon if you are a woman or a man – and how attractive you are! Don’t believe me - take a look at this article: http://www.jpost.com/LifeStyle/Article.aspx?id=197151.

I have always been of the opinion that photos can play a positive role, personalizing a paper CV and helping to bring out the applicant’s three-dimensional reality. Of course, the picture should be appropriate and professional, traditionally a head-shot with a pleasant expression. I have seen CV photos that include half of another person, or where the candidate looks so downcast that it seems someone is forcing them to sit in front of the camera; in these cases the photo does more harm than good. Also, if you are applying for a job and are concerned that your age or religious clothing might make the company less likely to invite you to an interview, then going without a picture may well be the correct decision. I know, some people are probably thinking that if the employer doesn’t want someone 50+ years old, and the candidate is above 50, then they should understand this immediately from the CV and not waste anyone's time. Sometimes though it is possible to overcome such employer restrictions - if you have the opportunity to meet with them, they see that you are composite of many characteristics, only one of which is something that is not to their liking. Therefore, saving this sensitive discussion for a personal interview rather than when you are simply evaluated based upon your CV is always preferable.

The above article introduces a new twist. Stated simply, women’s chances of being invited to an interview based upon their CV goes down when they include their photo, and this reduction is in direct relationship to their attractiveness. Yes, according to this study, the more attractive a woman is that puts her picture on her CV, the LESS likely she is to be called by the employer. For men, interestingly enough, the results are the opposite: including a picture increases the likelihood of being contacted by the employer, and more attractive men have a better chance to get called.

The researchers for the report were very surprised by these results, and did further investigation to try to understand the reason for this situation. The results indicated to them that typically the people that initially review incoming CVs are women (mostly young and single), and that these gate-keepers were negatively influenced by an attractive female candidate. The article says it clearly: the researchers believe that the CV reviewers were jealous of women candidates that were “good looking”. By the way, this reaction only occurred when job seekers were applying directly to the employer; when applying to a placement company where the CV reviewer does not end up working with the candidates that are ultimately hired, there was no penalty for a woman with a picture on her CV being attractive.

So, what are job seekers supposed to make of such statistics? At a minimum, if I were a woman, I would think twice about including a photo in your CV. And can you carry this concept over to LinkedIn? If the conclusions of the researchers are accurate, then before making a decision about including your picture in LinkedIn (which almost everyone does), you need to first consider who your target audience is, not generally, but actually which organizations will be reading your LinkedIn profile, and who individually is the most likely viewer going to be. Only then can you make the final decision.

All the new technologies and options we have available are truly amazing, and absolutely make a job seeker’s efforts much more effective. However, these modern conveniences come with potential draw-backs, and the first step in dealing with them is to recognize they exist. I wonder how universally we can apply these soap opera conclusions, but it is certainly interesting to consider.

Job Search - Who to Network With?

2010-11-21T09:18:00.004+02:00

Networking is a numbers game. The more people you speak with, the better your chances to get to a great new employment opportunity, usually one that the entire job seeking world doesn’t know about. More information about networking can be found here: http://jobsearchinisrael.blogspot.com/2009/11/employment-networking-getting-to-other.html.

I have discovered that a useful way to begin the networking process conceptually is to divide the human population into two groups:

• Those You Know
• Those You Don’t Know

Let’s start with the first group: those you already know. This is a wonderful set of people to begin with, as they are presumably ready to help you if they can. Many times a job search starts off as market research. For those that are in professions/sectors of interest, you should be prepared with questions to assist you in learning the necessary information that will make you more effective in your job search, including details like what are the trends in the industry, where are the opportunities, and specifics related to job search within the sector (is there a special placement company, website, industry association). For those that you know which do not work in your profession/sector, which is oftentimes the majority of your friends/family/acquaintances, think of these people as potential facilitators, waiting to introduce you to their networks. Sometimes you need to help them help you, maybe by phrasing the request: “Who do you know that is working in sector X?” When considering who should be on your list, don’t forget those that you know outside of Israel that may be able to lead to you back to relevant people here.

No matter who you are, including the most well-connected person in the world, the number of people you can get to through the people you know pales in size to the remaining population of those that could be useful for you to communicate with in this phase of your job search. The concept “Seven Degrees of Separation” is used to describe the phenomenon that any person can get to any other person in the world through no more than seven links starting with someone that they actually know who then introduces them to someone else closer to the target. I am sure that in the Israel/Jewish world, this number is closer to three or four. The way you can lower this number for yourself is via the quantity and quality of the people in your own personal network. The more people you know and the more people that your contacts know, the greater your ability to reach people of professional interest via networking.

What is the best way to add to your own network of contacts? Certainly as the people you know introduce you to other people, you can make efforts to build a strong relationship with some of these new people, turning them into your own networking contacts.

What is also critical to be aware of though, is that there are resources available to assist you in meeting new and relevant professionals that does not make you dependent upon others. For instance, you can turn any event you attend into a networking opportunity by mingling and meeting new people. An organization’s seminar, parties, volunteering, taking a class, industry events – all of these can be turned into networking venues. And virtual networking opportunities abound and absolutely can be used to forge real-world job networking contacts. Mailing lists, networking sites (LinkedIn, Facebook), internet searches/research – any and all of these will lead to new people that can make a positive influence in your employment search. As many of you can guess from reading my previous articles, I happen to be a big fan of LinkedIn (http://jobsearchinisrael.blogspot.com/2009/12/linkedin-tying-it-all-together.html), and have used it myself as well as heard from many others attesting to the positive results achieved using this site to search and introduce yourself to targeted professionals.

Using a combination of above methods is a good way to begin, measuring the results and focusing your time on whatever leads to the best results. Remember always, two-thirds of the job opportunities available now are not publicly advertised, and only via networking intelligently can you hope to get to them.

LinkedIn - How to Connect with Executives and HR Professionals

2010-11-11T22:49:00.009+02:00

Do you know how to make meaningful connections via LinkedIn to HR professionals and/or company executives? I certainly don't, and so if you can inform me, I would be happy to learn. I have heard from no small number of people that are disappointed with their LinkedIn results, and in many cases, when you delve into the problem, the cause is a mistaken focus or understanding of what is appropriate to expect from this medium.

However, and I don't want to brag, when I send out short introduction messages to people on LinkedIn that I have never met, I get more than a one-third response rate. That is phenomenal as any sales person who has ever made cold calls knows. This is just one of the many reasons that I love LinkedIn; you can easily identify and reach a wide variety of professionals that can serve as excellent resources for you whatever your objectives are. For more information about LinkedIn and networking, click on this article.

However, LinkedIn is not able to change certain laws of nature. One of these is that it is extremely difficult to start conversations with HR people and/or company executives, especially when you are unknown to them. These are by definition very busy individuals, with a large number of people asking for their time daily. Do not think that simply because you are approaching by LinkedIn, they will magically become more accessible. It doesn't happen this way.

So, if your target is HR recruiters / executives, does this mean that LinkedIn will not be useful for you? Certainly not! However, you do need to consider your options:

Is it really the recruiters/executives that are the best target for you? This of course depends upon your objective. If your employment goal is found in the HR or executive realm, then clearly the people suited to network with are those in similar roles. LinkedIn can be used to identify the relevant players, as well as their current employers, and sometimes other people that are connected to them that you also know. At this point, your HR/executive cleverness needs to be used to its fullest, finding a way to get to them by telephone via the company switchboard, or by gaining access through a mutual acquaintance. It is very rare that sending a message, via LinkedIn or otherwise, will get you a response.

Many people automatically begin their networking by targeting HR people, since they should know which jobs are available and will be a part of any recruitment process. However, getting direct access to them in quantity is virtually impossible. Still, using LinkedIn can help you get access to them indirectly through your new found networking contacts. The easiest people on LinkedIn to begin conversations with are those that work in the same type of job/sector as you. For a computer analyst, scientist, accountant…, reaching out to those that have similar background, as one professional to another, is what I have found works well on LinkedIn. Once you are able to begin such a discussion and start to develop the relationship, only good things can happen. Sometimes a networking contact may tell you to send them your resume/CV and they will get it to the appropriate HR person. Or, that they know colleagues in the company that they can speak with about you.

Networking is not only about speaking to a person about the jobs they know about at their current employer. The advantage of targeting people that work at roles similar to yours, rather than H/R and executives, is that you will have a much more likely chance to actually develop meaningful conversations with them. Oftentimes it will during these discussions that you will learn what is going on at other companies and in the sector in general which can lead to uncover new roles.

Networking is a numbers game; the more people you speak with, the better chance you have to make a meaningful connection. LinkedIn is the job networking site par excellence, and as long as you have the correct targets and put in a strong effort, you will generally find it a wonderful resource to meet professionals and learn more about job opportunities.

Not Getting Responses to E-Mail Job Applications?

2010-11-04T15:17:00.022+02:00

At Israemploy, the most common complaint that I receive is that candidates don't get responses to their email employment applications. There are two aspects to this concern:

Not sure that the email application was delivered
Can't understand why they didn't get to the next step of the recruitment process

The first point is more of a logistics issue. I used to think that it was trivial for employers to have automatic responses to email job applications acknowledging receipt. Now though, after getting this question so often from job seekers, I wish that all companies would implement some form of automatic receipt of the application, to give peace of mind to candidates (and those that work at Internet job sites). Generally though, the simple response is that if you did not get an error message in response to your application, then you can be confident that your email was delivered as intended.

The more interesting question is what becomes of your email job application once it arrives. The motivation of the second question above is: I feel that I am perfect for the job as described – why am I not getting invited for an interview? This is one of the most critical yet difficult pieces of information to ascertain.

I have been fortunate enough in my role at Israemploy to gain access to H/R decision makers at employers, giving me insights into what is going on behind the scenes, and how decisions are being made regarding whom to move forward with in the recruitment process.

Here are some things I have learned that will hopefully shed some light on this subject. Not all of this will make for pleasant reading, but understanding the reality of the situation is always critical, even if it is not how you wish it to be:

I have lost count of the amount of applications that I have received with no indication of which job is being applied for. I, and most other employers/placement companies, have many job openings at the same time, and if it is not immediately evident which job you are suited for, then usually I will lose interest and move on to the next application.

If there is no cover letter, or it doesn't do a good job of introducing your CV, and I have plenty of other candidates, then there is a good chance that I will invest my time in reading someone else's CV. Use your cover letter to convince the employer that it is worth their while to read your CV.

A corollary to the cover letter explanation is that I am not in favor of including important points in your cover letter that are NOT in your CV as well. The objective of the cover letter is to get someone to read your CV; the goal of the CV is to get called for an interview. Yet, and this may sound contradictory, you absolutely can not be sure that the person that is reading your CV has read your cover letter, or at least read it within a short enough period of time previously that they actually remember its contents. The CV must be considered a stand-alone document, and all of the points you wish to emphasize need to be contained within the confines of this document.

Sometimes, after the employer decides to advertise a position, there is a subsequent decision to stop or freeze the process. Unfortunately, this is not so rare.

Another situation that occurs is when a company belatedly decides to fill a role with an internal candidate. Again, this does regularly occur in large companies.

Do you really meet the job requirements:

I have found that many people that are shocked that they are not getting invited to interviews don't even meet the listed job requirements as published by the employer. Now, there is nothing wrong with applying for a job if you don't meet all of the requirements, as sometimes what the company lists falls more into the category of nice-to-have rather than required. However, at a minimum, if there are one or more items in a job listing which are designated as required and you don't have them, it doesn't make a lot of sense to apply, and it certainly isn't warranted for you to feel slighted afterwards when not hearing from the company.

If a company receives a large quantity of applications from qualified candidates, then meeting the listed job requirements may not be enough. At this point, since the employer needs to reduce the field to a manageable amount of people to invite to interview, they will eliminate from consideration those that meet the requirements, but are still perceived as less capable than others that also applied.

Sometimes there are unwritten job requirements, including age limits or maximum distance from the employer. I have heard some companies say that they won't hire anyone older than 40, and others that won't take someone younger than 30. From the strict sense, this is illegal, but this is not particularly relevant. Companies are cognizant of their current workforce make-up, and one of the factors when choosing a new employee is how that person will fit in. A related point is that businesses that have had poor previous experience hiring a person that lives 50+ kilometers away may well not consider new applicants that live far from them, independent of what the average commute time is for people that live outside of Israel

The candidate arrives late in the recruitment process. Employers oftentimes do not remove their job listings even when they have a short-list of candidates for interview. The faster you can get your application in, the better your chances to receive serious consideration.

For a person applying to jobs they find on Internet sites, a 5-10% response rate (a response for every 10-20 applications) is considered good. Using Internet job sites to apply for jobs is a must in the 21st century, as it is easy and people absolutely do get interviews and jobs that originate from such services. However, for those that are serious about getting access to a larger amount of job opportunities and increasing their success rate (and getting more clarity of their status), combining Internet sites with other job search techniques, especially including networking, is the single most effective step a job seeker can take to improve their interview hit rate.

Is your Hebrew and Foreign Language Personality Identical?

2010-10-27T19:04:00.005+02:00

I have lived in Israel for about 15 years. Granted, my language aptitude is somewhat below average, and I certainly speak Hebrew at a level lower than the average immigrant who has been so many years in the country. However, one thing that I have noticed about myself is that I have a very different personality when interacting in Hebrew than when I am conversing in English. I am more tentative in Hebrew than in English, and because my Hebrew vocabulary is not large, I end up not always being able to give the impression that I have knowledge and ability to get the job done.

On the face of it, it is not strange to recognize that people have various personalities depending upon the situation. We all behave differently when acting in the different “roles” that make up our normal everyday life. For instance, a person has a variety of personas, depending upon whether they are serving as parent, employee, or friend. This is natural and automatic, and it may or may not be important to consciously recognize this fact.

On the other hand, if you are not fully confident in Hebrew (or even if you are), and the impression you make on others when speaking a language other than your mother tongue is not identical to the impact you make in your first language, then at a minimum you should be aware of this, and even try to alter the situation if necessary. Of course it is always difficult to gauge the impression you are making on others, and many times our initial assumptions are not necessarily correct. Sometimes it is worthwhile to ask colleagues or other acquaintances for their honest feedback.

Let’s examine a common example. How can a job candidate come across as confident and knowledgeable in a job interview conducted in Hebrew when they do not feel that they have the comfort level in the language to succeed? Clearly, raising your Hebrew level generally is always a good idea, and the more you can put yourself in situations in which you must communicate in Hebrew, the quicker your abilities will improve. Practicing job interviews with native level Hebrew speakers is also a good idea. You can anticipate some of the questions that will be thrown at you in an interview, and combining this with knowledge about interviews (for instance, see: http://jobsearchinisrael.blogspot.com/2010/03/interviews-what-is-employer-really.html) will allow you to practice in Hebrew the answers you will supply and raise both your ability to respond to these questions as well as your confidence level. Of course, you can always try to cheat by asking the interviewer if it is acceptable to conduct the interview in English (or some other language), but there are risks with this approach, including the negative impression you might make by avoiding Hebrew combined with the possibility that the interviewer will not be capable of making the switch.

The implications are equally important when you pass the interview stage and are working. In my first main job in Israel, working in technical support at a hi-tech company, I was always afraid that my co-workers thought I was an idiot. Between the combination of learning a new technology and having poor Hebrew language skills that minimized my ability to understand and express myself, I generated many strange looks from the company’s engineers. Thank goodness I passed that stage successfully, but the memory of that experience has not totally disappeared. Working hard to learn the material and doing my best to improve my language skills (and relying on the fact that most people in hi-tech companies have a good level of Hebrew :>) were the basis of my coping strategy, and this allowed me to ultimately become a strong contributor to the company; however it certainly required awareness and effort on my part.

Everyone, including me, advises immigrants that concentrating on improving their Hebrew language skills is one of the most important things they can do increase their attractiveness in the Israeli employment market. As you go through the stages of improvement, being aware of the perceptions that others have of you when you express yourself in Hebrew can be used to even further improve your successes in the Israeli workplace.

Loyalty at Work

2010-10-19T11:41:00.002+02:00

The baseball playoffs are going strong in the US. For the first time in some years, my favorite team is actually still alive, the San Francisco Giants. I have lived in Israel for 16 of the past 18 years, had no contact whatsoever with baseball fans here (except for a couple indecent comments from New Yorkers), and haven’t followed the sport or my team at all for almost 20 years. Yet even with all this, when I read on the news that the Giants had advanced to the final four teams, somewhere hidden away in my body, excitement started to rise, and now I find myself checking the US sports section each day on the Internet. How did I initially become a Giants fan? I grew up about one hour away from the San Francisco Bay Area, roughly equal distances to the Giants and the Oakland A’s. When I was young, my grandfather liked the Giants, so I inherited this from him. Looking back on it, I would have experienced a lot more success over the years if he had been a fan of the A’s rather than the Giants, but it was not to be. Mostly the team has caused me aggravation over the years, although to be honest they have filled many hours of my youth as a cause to be followed. I am not sure if this is the recipe for loyalty, but at least in my case, it seems to have worked.

Should companies have the ability to inspire the same amount of loyalty in a person? What does loyalty even mean in the workplace?

There was a time when people generally worked at one company, in one or more professions, for their entire working careers. Presumably employees felt a great deal of loyalty to their employers. Nowadays though, it is very rare to find a person that works for their entire career at one company. I come from the world of hi-tech, where the average amount of time at a company is probably under five years. I am sure this is less stability than in other industries, but if you do a quick look in LinkedIn you will find that the majority of people work at a number of different companies over the years.

What is the reason for the change in employment longevity at a company? In poor economic times, the employer is usually more to blame, as oftentimes layoffs abound. In better economic periods, employees many times choose to leave their companies for greener pastures, to advance their careers or at least their bank accounts.

So, what is the obligation of employees towards employers in terms of loyalty? I guess you will find a variety of different responses to this question, depending upon who you ask. In my opinion, it is certainly true that as long as you are working for a company and receiving compensation, you need to be loyal in working the hours you are required to, doing the job to the best of your ability, and not compromising your employer by relating to others information that is confidential.

I assume most people would agree with the above sentiments. There are other issues though that are much more difficult to formulate a clear opinion. For instance, once you have accepted a new position, but have not started to work, is it acceptable to notify the employer that you changed your mind? Or, how long after you have worked for an employer is it ok for you to resign? When you move to a new company, is it ok to call colleagues at your previous company to try and recruit them? After you leave a company and a previous customer/supplier contacts you without knowing you left, should you make an effort to ensure they get good service?

As you can see, I have questions, but I don’t have answers. For each of the above questions, the devil is in the detail and trying to formulate a generic loyalty pledge is problematic. Back to baseball, when the Giants made a trade with the hated Los Angeles Dodgers, I had a difficult time suddenly supporting a player that the day before I had wished a (non-painful) season/career ending injury. Or, if in the future there is an Israeli baseball team that makes it to a championship game against the San Francisco Giants (see how much creative license it is possible to take on a blog :>), I am not sure who I would root for.

Loyalty is tough in the workplace today, when you hear all of the stories of companies behaving poorly with their employees. My approach at work has been to be loyal to people rather than companies, which sometimes does lead to the same conclusion. Typically a previous company is made up of many people that I maintain a good relationship and warm feelings for, so naturally I want their company to succeed. Whatever you decide is proper for you, keep in mind that loyalty is generally a two-way street, and people will behave with you in the way you treat them.

Go Giants!

Part-Time Jobs in Israel - Join the Club

2010-10-12T17:55:00.008+02:00

I came across this New York Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/business/global/07iht-jobs.html about the new phenomenon of Japanese workers taking second and even third jobs to make ends meet.

For those in the Israeli employment market, this is a very common and long established practice here, either juggling multiple part-time jobs instead of holding a full-time role or taking on a part-time position to supplement the full-time income. Sometimes this part-time decision is forced upon the job seeker until a suitable full-time job can be secured, while at other times this option is chosen for lifestyle or income reasons.

The reason this issue is critical to raise is that I have spoken to many immigrants to Israel from North America, Europe and other countries that seem to feel that accepting a part-time job implies a failure on their part. This is mostly due to the fact that in their pre-aliyah country, part-time work is less common, at least for “white-collar” professionals. As with many things that are involved in relocating to a new country, it is critical to understand and adapt to your new environment, and in terms of employment this means being open to less-than-fulltime job opportunities. Sometimes, instead of a part-time job, freelance work is found; for more information on this subject, see: http://jobsearchinisrael.blogspot.com/2010/03/freelancer-in-israel-what-does-it-mean.html.

In fact, the related topic of dual wage earners is also useful to consider. 61% of Israeli Jewish couples have two breadwinners, 28% have one person making an income, and 6% have none. This percentage of two-wage earners is not dissimilar to the figure for the US (57%). However, what it seems to me is that of the people that decide to emigrate from Western countries, the percentage of families in which both husband and wife work before aliyah is much lower than this average. So when the new realities of life in Israel kick in, it can be difficult for some to change their mind-set and come to grips with the typical situation of both members of the family working, full or part time. Changing to the two-income model is not a failure, but rather an intelligent adaptation to the life in Israel.

Setting realistic expectations for employment objectives as an immigrant to Israel can go a long way towards enabling a successful transition.

Job Seeker Time Management

2010-10-05T11:34:00.003+02:00

Time management is a critical issue for job seekers. For those currently employed and seeking work, often it feels that there is not enough time in the day to devote to an employment search. For job seekers that have more time available, the concern is more on how to spend time wisely when there are so many possibilities, or conversely for long-time job seekers to find the motivation to continue to allocate time doing activities which theoretically seem like the right thing to do, but haven’t yet produced tangible results.

If we stop and take a look at some environments that are anti-time management, we might learn what not to do. For instance, I have spent some time in casinos in Las Vegas over the years. From what I remember, you will not find one clock in the tens of casinos in this city. This is certainly not by chance, as casino management does not want to encourage gamblers to make time commitments. The focus is meant to be on continued betting, and the lack of clocks is one component of this strategy (free alcohol doesn’t hurt either).

Coincidently (or not), the synagogue where I attended High Holiday services this year also was without a clock. Now, I am not accusing the gabbaim or anyone else of doubting the ability of congregants to keep their minds and souls concentrated on the prayers for a sustained period of time, but it could be that the lack of a clock does play its part as one less distraction.

Job seekers have very different interests regarding time management. For those between jobs, the lack of structure itself can be problematic by definition. There is no external pressure to get out of bed, wear proper clothes (pajamas don’t count!), and get to work searching for your next job. Even though there are things to be done to move forward, it is easy to procrastinate.

Here are some points to consider:

§ Create daily objectives, manageable activities that are productive. For instance, you will contact three new people each day, send out five CVs, research three companies, follow-up after one week on previously sent CVs or interviews you went on.
§ If two-thirds of all jobs are not publicly advertised, it doesn’t make sense to spend 90% of your job search time on Internet sites and newspapers. Although it is simple to spend hours on the Internet applying for jobs, an activity which can also give you the feeling of accomplishing something, don’t substitute this for networking by telephone or in person with professionals of interest. Spend time on job-search activities in proportion to how productive they are.
§ Make sure your workspace and work hours are suitable, maximizing your ability to focus and minimizing interruptions. Build a system using Excel or whatever works for you to keep track of your activities.
§ Everyone has probably heard the saying that looking for a job is a full-time job. However, it is very difficult to concentrate on a job search 8+ hours/day. Limit your job search to a manageable amount of time each day, and don’t exceed this target. When you have reached your allotment, find fun/relaxing things to do. You can now do this worry-free, as you already spent a productive day seeking employment opportunities.

Using your valuable job search time wisely and balancing this activity with the other significant things in your life is an excellent way to enable a sustainable effort towards your employment goal.

Israeli Phrases and Job Search Don't Always Mix

2010-09-13T14:58:00.005+02:00

Anyone that moves from one country to another has many things to learn, including a whole new set of idioms. For instance, Yihiyeh B’Seder (יהיה בסדר), which means “it will be okay”, but oftentimes is used to justify doing nothing and hoping for the best, something which should be the antithesis of a job seeker’s creed.

I would like to concentrate on another very common phrase: haval al hazman
(חבל על הזמן). A rough English translation is: “waste of time”. You will hear this often when someone is describing something good. Essentially the meaning is that the thing being mentioned is so great that it is a waste of time to even try to describe it adequately in words. Of course in Israel, typically after a person invokes this phrase, they will immediately launch into a long explanation attempting to disprove the impossibility of the task, but that is another story.

I have found that when people are presenting themselves for employment opportunities, they sometimes misuse the haval al hazman concept, conserving words and sacrificing effectiveness. Here are a couple of examples:

Cover Letters/CVs – I can’t count how many times I have received job applications with cover letters which introduce critical details that are not contained in the CV. A job seeker can’t assume that a person reading a CV will have previously read the cover letter; the CV must be a stand-alone targeted document. If you have specific experience/knowledge/interests that are relevant for the job and they are not contained in the standard version of your CV, then personalize your CV to incorporate the additional detail. This is not a waste of time, and in fact is quite the opposite.
Networking – When you finally are able to get a good networking professional on the telephone, or even better in person, don’t waste the opportunity. Sometimes people make a tremendous effort to identify the right person and find a way to get to them, and then somehow become shy. It is not a waste of time as part of the discussion to emphasize your unique characteristics, yet often job seekers will simply hand out their CV and hope for the best.

Don’t fall into the haval al hazman attitude. Deliver the message that is best for you, without forcing the receiver to make inferences that may not do you justice.

The Challenges of the Marcom Profession

2010-09-06T12:50:00.012+03:00

The Marketing Communications profession is one that employs a good quantity of people in Israel, with the huge majority of these roles requiring a high level of English. A large variety of tasks are grouped together to create the Marcom position. I am pleased to introduce Ofra Kleinberger, who will help us sort out the details.

Abstract

Marketing Communications (short: Marcom) is a profession that is still being formed. The responsibilities that Marcom personnel have differ and depend on the specific requirements of their employers. As the Marcom person is a Jack (or rather a Jill) of all trades, this person is often faced with new challenges and new tasks. The rule of thumb is that the Marcom person is in charge of all the English content the company requires for its marketing efforts. This content can be used in many forms. This article will review these responsibilities, dividing them into the more traditional formats-old school, and the developing Marcom areas – new school.

Introduction

Marketing communication is a title for the person who is in charge of all the English language content a business requires for marketing. In Israel this content must be especially generated by translating original ideas formed in Hebrew to English. The requirement of good English content has created a special niche in marketing that is usually filled by an immigrant from an English speaking country (there are many such expats in Israel). Whereas local marketing efforts are outsourced and performed by professionals from the advertising and public relations branches, marketing for international purposes in English is conducted by the Marcom person. Companies can outsource these Marcom services or employ a staff member to coordinate them and write the relevant English content.

Old School Marcom – Traditional Marketing Tools

The more traditional formats of marketing such as brochures, presentations and advertising, as well as the public relations related activity, such as press releases and articles all fall under the Marcom umbrella. Thus the Marcom person is not only challenged with creating good content, but also with distributing it. This means a Marcom person must learn a little about many professions. The Marcom person must not only speak and write excellent English, but also learn special formats for writing press releases and professional expert articles. Then one must also learn how contacts with magazines and websites are generated to have the materials published. Adverts need to be designed and created and then placed in relevant magazines. The Marcom people must continuously research new publications that can be relevant to their employer.

Another area of activity is creating brochures and presentations for the firm. Brochures usually involve the supervision of a graphic designer to create the visual for the brochure. Here the company brand and its correct look and feel must be maintained, supporting the message of the particular brochure. The challenge of creating a good brochure is in generating focused content and arranging it in a form that makes for easy reading. Printing it is yet another task that the Marcom person must supervise and learn to understand. Digital printing may be more “brilliant” in color but is also costly. Offset print only pays off with very large quantities. Getting the exact color in repeated print is a science in itself.

Presentations pose a different challenge. The Marcom person must think about the person who will present the material. How will the presenter be best supported by the PowerPoint slides, without the slides taking the main focus off the lecturer? One must also consider where the presentation will take place. A presentation for an exhibition needs to be eye catching and might not allow for sound at all (narration) because of the noise in the halls, a demonstration or training may include a lot of interactive parts with an audience participating, a sales pitch needs to be focused towards the most important decision maker who will hear it. The main company messages must once again be delivered in all these instances, in a different and relevant format for each case.

One of the greatest challenges of the Marcom manager is to refresh the same messages again and again, innovating and creating a feeling of initiative and change while maintaining the main selling points of the company, which may not change as fast as the marketing collateral material.

Exhibitions are another area that traditionally fall into the Marcom person’s scope of responsibilities. Content required for such events may contain brochures and presentations, but also posters, conference lectures and the coordination of the entire booth. Here the Marcom person must show some skills that are required by internal designers and architects. One must plan the arrangement of the booth, see and approve drawings that include lighting details, ordering the correct furniture and planning of relevant space and placement of items in the booth. Some booths can be very complex and will usually be outsourced to a professional designing and construction firm; still the Marcom person will usually supervise the work, representing the interests of his/her employer. Through this communication maze, the Marcom person must make expectations clear and ensure the requirements are being understood and fulfilled by both sides.

All these activities cost money and the Marcom person is expected to plan an annual budget and manage its execution. The Marcom person must be a skilled organizer, as the work of various suppliers (such as printers, graphic artists, booth constructors etc.) as well as the actual content writing all needs to be fit into a tight schedule.

Marcom people have always needed the ability to learn rules of many topics related to their work. With the Internet becoming a more and more important factor in everyday life, it has also taken its place in the world of marketing. As the World Wide Web is all about communicating content and distributing information (mostly in the English language) this new field has under the Marcom umbrella. Internet Marcom is the new Marcom challenge.

New School Marcom – Internet Website Promotion

The field of Internet website promotion includes today a variety of marketing tools. At first Internet marketing simply mirrored traditional marketing tools, mainly advertising, and worked according to the traditional rules. Today this is no longer the case. The Internet enables a very exact research of surfing behavior, and specific marketing tools exist to understand patterns and act upon them. Once again the Marcom person is called upon to learn the basic principles of a new field. Understanding the statistics of surfing behavior is the basis for creating efficient Internet marketing campaigns, using the various tools available.

A good Internet marketing campaign begins with a good website. The company message must come across the screen with a modern look that is fit for the world of cyberspace. Once again the Marcom person is required to supervise the work of suppliers who will design and program the website. The site needs to look good and content needs to be placed in it according to surfing behaviors (for example, the top left corner is the most important space in a web page in English – with China becoming more connected this may no longer be as important…). The website also needs to works smoothly, so there are no problems when it is loaded on a potential customer’s computer. The code needs to be properly prepared.

The Internet itself is a great source of information on such themes. This way when the Marcom manager must choose a professional site programming provider, s/he can first get informed by reading about it online. Today there is also free open source software for building websites, so there is also the option of remaining independent, if one is willing to spend the time learning how to build a site. Time vs. money – it’s always a balance between the two.

Site content is also an important factor of Internet marketing. The content of the site must be designed to capture the attention of the reader fast! Surfing statistics show that a reader remains only a few seconds on a page. In this short time span, one must make a positive impression or lose the attention of surfer. Once the surfer has stayed to read the web page, the content must be interesting to pull him deeper into exploring the website further and in a course that will generate a “conversion” – i.e. the activity that the site owner wishes to achieve from the surfer (usually an item purchase or a request for contact). The content and site structure must not only be optimized for the reader, but also for the search engines.

Search engines rule the web. 85%-95% (depends upon the country) of Internet users begin their Internet surf with a search engine. The most popular engine by far is Google (75%-85%). The search engine scans the Internet for content and categorizes it. The site structure must be “Google friendly” so that the crawlers/scanners of the search engine can read it well, and its content must help the search engine categorize the site according to themes the potential customer looking for it will use to try and find it. In other words, one must understand what key phrases and key words surfers use to search for the kind of business activity or product the company/website offers.

As marketer’s try to improve the search results by manipulating content, Google and other search engines try to improve their algorithms and maintain their neutrality. The field of search engine optimization (SEO) is a constant battle of wits and is ever changing. The Marcom person cannot be expected to keep up if s/he has many other “old school” Marcom activities to conduct. Yet, employers mistake Marcom personnel with Internet marketing personnel very often. Since the content of the website is part of Marcom's responsibilities, the Marcom person is expected to at least know the basics of SEO, and keep updated on them, even if not to be truly savvy in it.

Distribution of your message on the web is an important tool of website promotion. Thus the Marcom manager is not only expected to create content for their employer’s website alone, but to create content that can be used in other sites, such as professional directories and online magazines. Links from such websites are important to promoting one’s website and establishing a good and professional reputation on the web, such site inter-connections are also important for improving search engine results.

As part of the distribution efforts, the Internet marketing campaign also includes traditional-like tool such as online articles and adverts. Here the skill is to learn the visual components that will work on a screen (as opposed to a printed advert), and creating articles that present focused and interesting content. The patience to read material on screen is even lower than in print. The content needs to pull the reader to continue to surf and click on the advert or to finish reading an article that will eventually lead them to your website (with a link – another SEO important factor). Another challenge is to understand the new payment models of Internet advertising. Being able to follow surfing patterns mean that one can pay only for advertising that has been efficient. There are many measuring factors to define advertising efficiency, but “Pay Per Click” (PPC), in which one pays only if the advert has been clicked upon, is the most popular payment model today. There are many options of affiliate marketing – web models in which “bringing a friend” through your site to purchase something online (even on another site) can be profitable (Amazon has such a strong model) which also contribute to distribution and will only cost you if the link has turned out to be effective.

Google also runs paid adverts in its search results in a separate “sponsored” area. Using this advertising tool is a science in itself. One must find and promote key words that are relevant to ones activity but that are not used too heavily by competitors. One can use this tool to educate the surfers to use certain terminology. This tool does not work alone and must be supported by other efforts such as listings in relevant indexes and sponsoring relevant websites. This entire effort is usually referred to as search engine marketing, or SEM.

The cost of the various Internet marketing efforts is a fraction of traditional advertising but have the potential of exposing your message to many more users. The trick is to learn to use the various tools efficiently in order to generate high quality traffic to one’s website. Which effort to outsource and which ones to conduct independently with 100% control is a complex decision that depends very much on the combination of the employer’s requirements, the budget as well as the existing skills and learning ability of the Marcom person.

The Future

As smart cell phones and social networks emerge, new Internet marketing tools are created for these new fields. The retailers are always the first to use these new media options for marketing purposes. Creating a cellular version of your website that offers a great surfing atmosphere is becoming more and more important. Distributing your message by being present and active on social networks is becoming vital to the “cool” and “modern” image one has to generate in order to attract young customers. As potential customers become more Internet savvy, so must the companies that want to attract them; Marcom personnel usually find themselves as leaders in this innovation process. The Marcom challenges just keep on coming.

About the Author

Ofra Kleinberger is a graduate of the Shenkar Institute in textile design and after five years of making a living from designing bras and panties, she decided to look for a new professional direction. She studied for an MBA at the Technion (majored in strategics and marketing) and did a technical writing course. During this time, she discovered the market hole in the field of web content writers and started working as a freelancer writer/translator about almost everything in 2004. In 2007, she started working full time as a Marcom manager for a company that produces portable X-ray inspection systems for security and industrial NDT. She also advises people regarding styling and their wardrobe, and writes a regular advice blog about wedding preparations in Hebrew on the site http://www.smalotkala.co.il/.

Job Networking Challenge - How to find Contact Details for a Person

2010-08-29T09:51:00.002+03:00

One of the challenges that job networkers come across regularly is how to contact professional people of interest. Actually, of course the first task is to identify people of interest, and then you reach this issue of how to contact them. I found an article on this subject: http://www.thewisejobsearch.com/2010/05/i-got-contact-name-how-do-i-reach-them.html.

I would like to interject a couple of comments to the article, based upon my personal experiences:

I have found that sending messages via LinkedIn works quite well, and I get a good response. In order to be able to write to someone in LinkedIn, you either need to be directly connected to them or share a group. If you can’t write to someone directly on LinkedIn, search for them on Facebook and write to them there.
I have not had much success in finding telephone numbers and/or email address from Google searches. At one time this worked for me well, but lately it has produced poor results.

One of the things that I especially liked in this article was the link to a site that details the email format of various corporations: http://sites.google.com/site/emails4corporations/. The website objective is to help people that have a name and company of a person and want to infer their email address. The underlying principle is that companies use some sort of email naming convention. For instance, if the format that a company uses is FirstNameLastInitial@companyname.co.il, and the person you are trying to reach is Sarah Plony at the Sabra company, then you would know to send your message to SarahP@sabra.co.il. This is not an infallible system as companies have more than one convention (or even no convention at all), but it is an excellent starting point. Included on this site is also the switchboard telephone number and city.

I think this is an excellent resource, and I would love to see something similar focused on Israel (the above is targeted mostly at US companies). The question is if others out there also see value in creating such a repository of information, and are ready to help populate it. I certainly don’t want to re-create what already exists, and there are already a variety of Israeli company databases. However, these do not assist job seekers to find employee email addresses, and that is a critical piece of information.

What I am thinking as an initial effort is to create a spreadsheet which I will then make freely available to everyone. The information to be collected for each company would be:

Company Name
City
Telephone
Internet Site
E-Mail Format
Email Example

For instance, I invested a couple of minutes on Internet and created this entry:

Company Name – Better Place
City – Tel Aviv
Telephone - 073-7777222
Internet Site - http://www.betterplace.com/
E-Mail Format – FirstName.LastName
Email Example – Sarah.Plony@betterplace.com

This list will only be as useful as the comprehensiveness of its contents. The only way I can imagine to make it valuable is if this is undertaken as a collaborative effort. I believe that many people already have information saved about their current and past job searches which contain much of this information. Finding the details for companies is usually quite easy. If current, past and future job seekers can add what they know, and enough people participate, I am sure we can quickly get something excellent online quickly.

Please send details to me at ron@israemploy.net. The best format for sending the information would be Excel.

Is it Possible to Find a Job During the Summer/Holiday Season?

2010-08-12T12:14:00.004+03:00

I remember some years ago when my soon-to-be-wife and I were looking for a date for our wedding in Israel - what becomes clear quickly is that there are many dates off limits: Shabbat, Holidays, between Passover and Lag B’Omer… I forgot what the figure is, but there are a relatively large percentage of days in which a wedding simply can’t be held.

Does the same principle apply for job seekers in Israel?

You can find many people that will tell you the answer is yes. For instance, you may hear that during the summertime there are so many people on vacation that it is not worthwhile to look for work. Or that during holidays, especially the High Holiday season of Rosh HaShana, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot, business in Israel essentially closes down, and there is no one to answer your job applications or networking approaches. Everything is “aharei hahagim” (after the holidays).

I think it is important to understand that this is an oversimplification of the reality. What is true is that during summer, everything slows down (except air conditioning), including the recruitment process. The same holds true for holiday periods. However, businesses do not stop searching for employees and I can tell you from my personal experience this summer working with job seekers and employers that recruitment is alive and well, and interviews / job offers are regularly occurring. As much as company employees are more likely to take vacation during the summer and holiday season, the needs of the business are the overriding factor in determining when companies seek new workers.

Everyone, including a job seeker, is entitled to take a break when they feel the need. However, do not make the decision of putting off your search because of the mistaken impression that the Israeli recruitment period closes during certain times of the year. This is false, and in fact making an effort when other job seekers are away from their computers and telephone may be just the advantage you need to get more notice from employers.

Pictures and Telephones - Small Things Count When Seeking Work

2010-08-08T10:13:00.002+03:00

I would like to touch on three (3) independent issues, each one interacting separately yet combining to make an impression on employers.

Picture – Should You or Shouldn’t You?

This is a question that comes up all the time. Is it appropriate to include your picture on your CV and/or in your LinkedIn profile? Before you answer this in the affirmative, take a look at this article that I happened upon: http://www.careerealism.com/linkedin-profile-picture-killing-job-prospects/. I am not a particularly visual person, so my response is generally to do what makes sense to you. From my recent experience, I would say that the majority of CVs do not have photos, and the majority of LinkedIn profiles do contain a picture. If you have a nice professional looking photo, then it is not difficult to make the case that adding this picture will personalize your application, increasing the chances that the company representative will have a favorable opinion of you. A graphic designer might use the picture to present an example of their work. I have seen a number of LinkedIn profiles where the picture is of an animal (dog, chimpanzee) and I have a difficult time understanding the motivation for including such an image; it is certainly preferable to use a medium other than a business networking site to express your love for animals. An example of a picture that might produce different impressions upon different viewers is a picture of you with a baby. On the one hand, babies are simply cute and may cause the employer to have an automatic “ah gee” reaction and instinctively connect, while on the other hand, seeing you with a small child may instead initiate doubt in the mind of the employer as to whether you will be so busy with children at home that you won’t have the necessary energy to devote to work.

Phone Messages

This should be less problematic to decide upon, but still not everyone does it well. I view this as similar to how you consider a referee in a sports match; if you notice them at all then they are doing a poor job. Some variation, possibly in both Hebrew and English, of “You have reached Joe Blow, please leave a message” is to me simple yet effective. The musical/funny kind of messages, while maybe causing a smile to appear on the listener’s face, could also backfire. Many people seem to accept the default cell phone system message, which does not identify the person that is called (only the telephone number) using a robotic voice, something that always leaves me wondering why the person didn’t invest the 5-10 minutes to personalize this. And, without meaning to state the obvious, if you have voice mail on your cell phone (and all job seekers should give the caller the ability to leave a message), don’t forget to check your messages regularly and call people back promptly.

Who Answers Your Phone?

On many occasions I have called the telephone number on the CV, only to have a young child answer the phone. Using my own children as an example, I receive only a small percentage of the messages that they take, and the fact that I allowed a youngster to answer my “business” telephone leaves an unknown (and hard to believe positive) impression on the caller. As long as you have a cell phone with voice mail, I don’t see any reason to include your home telephone. And think twice before you let others answer your cell phone.

Are any of these things critical to your job search success? Maybe not, but still, each little thing you can do to make a more favorable impression towards employers of interest is worth an effort.

Where do Employers Find Job Candidates?

2010-07-28T08:00:00.006+03:00

CareerXroads (http://www.careerxroads.com/news/SourcesOfHire10.pdf) released the results of their annual study reporting employer’s sources of hire. The companies that participated in this research are large US corporations, so the data is not perfectly related to what a job seeker would expect to encounter in Israel. Nonetheless, I do think you will find value in what you discover here, which may cause you to think a little differently about your employment search.

In 2009, these large US company reported that 51% of the hirings were internal. This is much higher than the normal rate of 35% for internal hirings, but even in the usual case this is a very significant figure. Think about this for a minute; more than one third (last year one half) of open positions in corporations are filled by people already working at the company, either those receiving a promotion or making a lateral transfer. For job seekers on the outside looking in, this can be a depressing figure, but you can also use this to target companies that are interesting to you and consider accepting a position at a level lower than your main objective, knowing that once you are an employee and doing a good job, you may be much better placed to get the targeted role. Most intuitively recognize this, but at least for me, seeing such a big figure associated with this statistic adds credence to such an approach.

Now let’s take a look at the breakdown of jobs that are sourced externally. Of these (one half to two thirds of all opportunities), it is instructive to see how the times have changed. Here are the top five employer sources, then and now:

Then (1997) – Newspaper (29%), Referrals (20%), Agencies/Recruiters (19%), Job Fairs (8%), Internet (2%)
Now - Referrals (27%), Job Boards (13%), Company Career Site (22%), College (6%) and Direct Sourcing (7%)

Trends are easy to see… Internet, which was 2%, has risen to 35% (job boards + company websites) and is obviously a critical element. Agencies/recruiters and newspapers have disappeared from the list of top job sources.

Referrals remain dominant. If we break down the source of these referrals, again you may find some surprises: The main source of referral is employee, but others include: alumni, friends, vendors and customers. Most of us, when we think of seeking a referral, we focus exclusively on current employees at the company. What we need to do is broaden our approach, as past employees, as well as trusted vendors/customers can also serve as facilitators to your targeted company.

Companies have diverse ways of finding employees. Job seekers need to tap into this, and make themselves visible through all means possible.

Does Your Job Application Take Light Years to Arrive?

2010-07-21T16:44:00.002+03:00

I was a very poor student of science in high school. Thank goodness my wife has a university degree in biology; it is her task to work with our kids in these subjects. However, there is one thing that I remember from my classes in school, and I was just able to confirm it with a quick Google search: The time it takes the light from a star to arrive to earth is measured in light years, and the minimum (closest star to us other than the sun) in light years is more than four years. This means that the light that you see from the stars each evening is at least four years old, and in many cases thousands of times more than that. Stars that you see in the sky can in fact have died many years before their light reaches the earth.

So, what does this have to do with job applications? Depending upon how you are seeking job opportunities, you might be surprised to know that jobs can be filled before you even knew they were available.

Let’s take a look at a couple of examples:

On jobs internet websites, I have heard numerous times from employers that after an initial short period (sometimes 1-2 days) after their job is published, they receive a large number of responses and simply stop checking new applications.
Employers work with placement companies in a variety of ways. Some employers inform the placement companies at the same time that the job becomes available, while others try to fill the position on their own and transfer it to recruitment companies only when the job is proving difficult to fill. In the second case, this can mean that when you as a job seeker see the job advertised by a recruiter, it can have been on the market for some time already with a stream of candidates already in process.

What conclusions can we draw from this?

The faster you get your application in, the better your chances are to get considered for the position. Do not put off applying for jobs that are suitable for you!

Do what you can to hear about jobs as quickly as possible. If you are using Internet based sites, check then once a day. For companies that you are targeting, visit their website jobs page regularly.

Most importantly, get access to the jobs before they are publicly available, to reduce the competition. And how is it possible to do this – by networking! Not only are many jobs not publicly advertised ever, but even those that are sometimes only see the light of day after the company has engaged in more discreet methods of recruiting. For those interested in reading more about networking, you are welcome to visit the archive page of my blog, where there are a number of articles on this critical subject.

Happy job hunting, and try not to get burned by those falling stars.

The Israeli Pay Slip – An in-depth Explanation for the Perplexed

2010-07-13T09:00:00.025+03:00

For those of you that are working in Israel, or have worked in the past, trying to decipher your pay slip is one of the most complicated things you will experience in the workplace, right up there with understanding how to use the coffee machine. We are fortunate to have Moshe Egal-Tal available to provide us with a comprehensive article about the intricacies of the pay slip, so that you can better determine how you are being compensated, and confirm that there are no mistakes.

As with most things, payroll is much more complicated in Israel than in other countries. In January 2009 a new law was passed to ensure uniform mandatory information that must be specified on all pay slips.

All of the payroll programs in Israel (which generate the pay slips) must be approved by the tax authority that they meet the mandatory requirements as defined by laws and regulations. Regardless of the program your employer uses, all the programs have common attributes. The layout and placement will differ a bit from program to program, but there are basic requirements that are mandated by law. The purpose of this article is to familiarize you with the terminology and help you understand what is printed on your pay slip. For those of you working, it is highly advised to examine your pay slip each month in order to ensure that there are no mistakes. Understanding what was paid/deducted from your pay is critical and to your benefit.

There are payroll programs for the PC that are off-the-shelf software (as is) that are commonly used by small employers / CPA offices who run payroll for their clients. There are also more complex programs that use a large number of variables that are user-defined by the employer. These programs are usually used by medium-sized and large companies. The PC programs generally allow printing pay slips on plain paper or pre-printed forms, which are more costly and as a result many employers are reluctant to use them. A plain paper pay slip is legal as long as it contains all the data required by law and as long as it is signed and has the company stamp on it.

The Makeup of the Pay Slip

The Israeli pay slip is made up of several sections (see Appendix for example):

· Specific information (header)
· Payments (tashlumim)
· Mandatory deductions (nikuei chova)
· Voluntary deductions / commitments (nikuei reshut / hitcheivuyot)
· Informatory information / accumulated sums (meida klali / mitstabrim)

The Specific Information Section (or header) (see sections #1, #2, and #7 on the demo payslip below) contains the employee's name and will usually contain the name and/or number of the department/project where the employee works. Typically the employee number is also listed and the employee's teudat zehut number and home address.

The pay period is also listed, for example: March 2010. The employer's name, address and tax identification number and the employee's bank account details and start date. If you work in the public sector, you will also have your pay table and rank listed as well as your % of position (full-time [100%] or part-time). There will also be a detailed account of your vacation and sick days; balance at start of pay period, credit for the pay period, debit for the pay period (how much you utilized) and your new balance.

The Payments Section (see #3 in red on the demo pay slip below) contains an itemized breakdown of all the components paid to the employee for the pay period. For example; Base pay, travel expenses, overtime hours, etc. Also in this section will be any tax value components (Holiday gift, company car or any other benefit that isn't paid in money). The total gross pay will also be listed at the bottom of this section.

The Mandatory Deductions Section (see #8 in light blue on the demo pay slip below) contains an itemized breakdown of all deductions that are mandatory by law. For example; Income tax, Social security, Health tax and mandatory pension payments. These are the employee's part and as such are deducted from the total gross pay. The total of all the mandatory deductions will also be listed. Some programs have added underneath the itemized breakdown of mandatory deductions, the employer's part for any pension or savings funds or health insurance that the employee is entitled to. Other programs detail this in the informatory information section. The law stipulates that this must be detailed on the pay slip, but not necessarily where. It is usually categorized with an underlined or bolded headline or in a pre-printed field.

The Voluntary Deductions Section (see #10 in orange on the demo pay slip below) contains an itemized breakdown of all deductions that are voluntary. For example; advances on payroll, repayment of loans to employer, charges for purchases to employees from a company store/collective purchase, payment for subsidized vacation or any other social or cultural events sponsored by or promoted by the employer which entail a cost to the employee or money deducted from an employee for loss or damage to equipment. The total of all the voluntary deductions will also be listed. This total amount is also deducted from the total gross pay.

The Informatory Information Section (see #4 in bright green on the demo pay slip below) will contain the monthly gross pay for tax and social security purposes and the monthly gross base pay for pension. This section also will contain various informative details: total accumulative gross pay for the current tax year, number of actual days worked in the pay period, total number of potential work days in the pay period, the employer's tenure is usually listed here as well. The employee's tax credits as well as the value for each credit will be listed as well as a detailed account if there are any special tax benefits (oleh chadash, discharged soldier, national precedence area, etc) or a tax coordination was done.

The footer of the Pay Slip (see #4 in bright green on the demo pay slip below) {note: On this payslip this section is incorporated as part of the Informatory section} will contain the amount of days for tax purposes for each of the months worked. Monthly salaried employees will see 25 for each month worked, although there are payroll programs that put a check mark near each month worked. The employee's marital status and number of children under 19 years old will also show up here or in the specific information section. The employee's marginal tax percentage and the accumulative amounts for the employee's part of each of the funds/savings plans and whether the employee's spouse is employed or not is included as well. The minimum wage must also be listed (monthly and hourly rates). This section will usually have the total gross pay, total deduction, net pay, total voluntary deductions and pay in the bank listed.

Income Tax (will show up in section #8 in light blue, on the demo pay slip below)

The 2010 tax brackets are as follows:

Up to:
4,590 shekels 10%
8,160 shekels 14%
12,250 shekels 23%
17,600 shekels 30%
37,890 shekels 33%
Every additional shekel 45%

The tax is configured anew each month on an yearly-accumulative basis which takes into account all payments paid by the employer since January of the current year and after configuring the tax, the accumulative amount of tax that was paid is deducted and the remainder is the tax for the current month.

This is easily explained via the following example: for the first 3 months an employee earns the same gross pay. In the 4th month he receives a 3,000 shekel bonus. Obviously this will raise his taxes for this month. Occasionally, employees receive a tax rebate on their payslip via the form of a negative sum of tax.

All employees are eligible for tax credits (each worth 205 shekels – JAN 2010). The tax credits are allotted as follows:
Every employee 2.25 points, Female employees an additional 0.50 points
Single parents who have care of children under 19 get an additional point for each child and a half of a point for children the year they were born or the year they turn 19.
There are other instances where employees may be eligible for extra tax points, but these may be given by the employer only upon written instruction by the tax authorities. Examples are: handicapped children, invalids, crippled or blind employees. Consult the Israel Tax Authority's web site for more information: http://www.finance.gov.il/taxes/
(the total # of tax points will show up in section #4 in green on the demo pay slip below)

Social Security (Bituach Leumi) (will show up in section #8 in light blue, on the demo pay slip below)
Social security is mandatory for all female employees between 18 – 62 and male employees between 18 – 65. There is an employer's portion and an employee's portion. The money insures an employee against bankruptcy of the employer, reserve army duty, unemployment, old-age stipends, work-related accidents, just to name a few. For the first 4,806 shekels the rate for the employee is 0.4%, anything over this is calculated at 7%.

Mandatory Pension (will show up in section #8 in light blue, on the demo pay slip below)
The mandatory pension law went into effect in Jan 2008. All employees who either have an existing "live" pension plan from a previous employer or anyone with tenure of 6 months are eligible for pension. In 2010, the rates are: 2.5% employee, 2.5% employer and 2.5% severance pay (employer). The employee's contribution is deducted from his payslip and must be deposited to the fund of the employee's choosing.

Appendix

Expanation of the Above Demo Pay Slip:
1. Employer's Information (name, address, tax i.d. #)
2. Employee's Name and Address
3. Payments Section (itemized and total of all gross payments)
4. Additional Information, annual accrued totals and vacation and sick pay balances
5. Space reserved for notice to all employees such as "happy Holiday" (see example above), or personalized message for specific employee(s) such as "Happy Birthday"
6. Information Regarding this Pay Slip (the pay period and date the pay slip was printed)
7. Personal Information (Israeli ID #, basis of employment (monthly/hourly), bank account details, tenure, start date, marital status, etc)
8. Mandatory Deductions (itemized and total)
9. Net pay (prior to voluntary deductions)
10. Voluntary Deductions (itemized and total)
11. Net Sum Transferred to Employee (bank account/check)

Moshe Egel-Tal is a certified senior payroll comptroller with over 20 years experience in all facets of payroll and labor laws. He has successfully setup and implemented payroll programs for Hi-tech companies and is a university lecturer on payroll and labor laws. Moshe is the owner of Israpay, dedicated to helping the English speaking community better understand payroll and know their rights. Moshe periodically runs mini-seminars on payroll related issues at AACI and other venues.
Born in Chicago, Moshe made aliya in 1978 and resides in Jerusalem.
He can be reached at moshe@israpay.com or payrollisrael@gmail.com or via Israpay's website: http://www.israpay.com/ as well as on all major social networks as "Israpay".

Can Career Personality Tests Guide You to a New Job?

2010-07-07T08:06:00.000+03:00

I envy those professionals that enjoy their sector – I was one myself once. Teachers, lawyers, doctors, Java programmers – everyone that is working in a defined role in which there is a demand and doesn’t have to invest a lot of effort considering which job to target when they are seeking work.

Alas, many job seekers do not fall into this category, either because their work history does not correspond into a specific category or because they are interested in a variety of work roles. Or, the problematic case of people looking for employment that have no idea what they want to do!

For someone that is stumped identifying which types of jobs to target, a visit with an employment advisor is certainly recommended. In addition, many job seekers turn to the Internet and search for sites that can help them identify careers that match their interests/skills. Here is an article on this subject: http://jobsearchinisrael.blogspot.com/2010/03/transferable-skills-professions.html.

One category of resources that people use is career (personality) tests. The idea is that after answering a battery of questions, you will be labeled with a profile as well as a list of jobs that can be suitable for people with that profile. Sounds great, right? Well, as with most things, it’s not so simple. I remember that when I was in high school in the US, I took the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) test. This was the test that our school counselors told us all to take in the 11th grade to understand where we should be focusing our future attentions. As with astrology newspaper predictions, you can always find something in these reports which can be used as validation for yourself; for instance in my results the lowest ranked job was to work as a ditch digger, which made sense to me. However, there were a bunch of other details, totally forgotten by me now, which my school counselors advised that I should interpret as solid facts. Unfortunately I don’t have the results now (lost together with my baseball card collection), as I am sure it would be interesting to look at now.

As time passed, I have become a firm believer that desire is a (the) critical influencer in estimating career success. Yet, as an example, one career test measures the candidate’s personality related to extroversion/introversion, sensing/intuition, thinking/feeling, judging/perceiving. All of these indicators are useful as input for a person to generalize about their personality, but they completely ignore desire, which many career experts feel trumps all else. Bruce Springsteen says that he was advised by his parents and everyone else (older than him presumably) to go to college and be practical, yet he followed his dream and has the gratitude of my generation for his decision. There are countless well-known tales of famous people, entertainers and business moguls, who suffered through years of failure before they succeeded, using their undying motivation to ultimately reach their goal.

Nonetheless, because I know it is difficult for people that are looking for work without a solid objective(s) to move forward, even with all of the pitfalls, I do think there is some value in taking a test or two and looking at the results, as long as they are reviewed with the proper perspective. So, without further ado, here is a link to some of the popular and free career tests:
http://www.positionignition.com/blog/2010/7/2/5-popular-career-personality-tests.html.

Want to Improve Your Employment Networking Success? Think Like a New Immigrant!

2010-06-30T08:38:00.003+03:00

I have worked with many new immigrants that are seeking work, including those that arrive in Israel with a very low level of Hebrew and no family/friends. This is the most problematic of situations for someone looking for a job, with the realization that two-thirds or more of all jobs are never publicly advertised, and only through networking can a candidate get access to them. What could be a worse starting point than someone that doesn’t speak the local language and does not have an established group of people to begin professional conversations with?

Yet time-after-time I have witnessed new immigrants concentrate on networking and achieve wonderful results, establishing strong contacts with people in their sector and learning about opportunities that it is not possible to hear about any other way. On the other hand, I have see many cases where native-born Israelis and veteran immigrants are much less successful at networking, even with the huge advantage of having Hebrew skills and an excellent list of professionals and friends/family to begin the effort. How can this be explained?

I think that the answer is very straight-forward, and it comes down to the mindset of the job seeker. New immigrants intuitively know that the only way they can search for a job without a local history is to pro-actively build such a network of relevant people. Using immigrant organizations, LinkedIn, professional organizations and anything/anyone else that they find, new immigrants generally decide that the investment of their job-seeking resources in developing new contacts is the most critical task they can accomplish.

Israelis and more veteran immigrants sometimes forget the axiom that the majority of all jobs are not readily accessible. Sure, they will send emails to a few of the people they know, or even make some telephone calls, but it is less work/more comfortable to rely upon the Hebrew job boards and not invest in serious networking, including reaching out to new people that are in the same profession/industry. The results of this approach are oftentimes much less than hoped for, as the two-thirds rule doesn’t change, but the lack of regular effort to introduce yourself and begin professional-to-professional conversations will almost certainly lengthen the job search.

New immigrants have a lot to learn from veteran immigrants and native-born Israelis. Don’t forget though, veterans, there are some things that we can learn from newcomers as well.

Does Your LinkedIn Presence Enhance your CV/Resume?

2010-06-23T11:15:00.002+03:00

Recruiters are using LinkedIn to research employment candidates – study after study reveals this to be true, and in constantly growing numbers. The overall percentage of employers varies according to particular research, but it is generally understood to 75%, depending upon the sector. And, almost one quarter of employers have found information about a candidate via social networking which positively influenced them to hire someone.

In such a situation, maintaining an identity on LinkedIn that supports your job search persona is an absolute requirement for a job seeker in the 21st Century. For those that are new to LinkedIn, here is a guide to get you started: LinkedIn – Tying it all Together, and for those that want to learn about maintaining their online persona, see: http://jobsearchinisrael.blogspot.com/2010/01/your-employment-search-persona.html.

I would like to discuss some finer points of the process of fine-tuning your LinkedIn profile to serve as a positive influence on employers, or conversely not to act as a negative influence.

Multiple Industries – This is a common concern for job seekers in Israel, those seeking a variety of positions. As hopefully most readers are aware, in Israel the convention in CVs is to send very role-focused documents, which means that people targeting different jobs create multiple versions of their CV. How can this be reconciled with the fact that in LinkedIn there is only the possibility to create a single profile? There is no perfect solution, but I advise people to create a more general purpose LinkedIn profile that incorporates their wide range of skills/experience/accomplishments. Employers know that your LinkedIn profile is not the same as your CV, that it enables more details and recommendations, so it is certainly acceptable to use it in this manner.
Date Cleansing (education, jobs) – I encountered a semi-embarrassing situation recently. I was lecturing about CVs, and had discussed how it was a good idea for people in their 50s+ to cleanse from their CV anything that gave the employer an indication of their age (not to re-iterate this point which I have made in other articles related to CV, but my opinion is that for sensitive issues, including “advanced” age, it is better for the job candidate to hide their age during the CV stage and deal with this in person in an interview). Since I am approaching 50 (boy, that is difficult to write), I also made efforts to remove my age from my CV. Then, I moved on in my lecture to discuss the benefits of LinkedIn, how employers will find you there, and that your LinkedIn profile must be synchronized with your CV. Lo and behold, as I was showing my LinkedIn profile to the group, we discovered together that the years I attended university were listed there, making it simple to understand my age. Since then, I have gone through my profile on LinkedIn and updated what was necessary. I write semi-embarrassing because I am now living in Israel where embarrassment essentially has no meaning – in the US I might have even turned red.
Search Targets – People that use LinkedIn best do not wait for potential employers to approach them, rather they take pro-active steps to find companies/individuals, and introduce themselves. The question is, who should be targeted in such searches to find suitable people? I have a hit rate of at least one third when I send a simple message to people that I find on LinkedIn, telling them professional-to-professional that I am researching the market and if I can ask them some questions, a pitch to start a conversation. A job seeker contacted me recently and said that he was not getting any responses when he approached people on LinkedIn. After we continued our discussion, I understood that he was targeting executives. LinkedIn is a wonderful resource to identify and reach out to relevant professionals, but it does not change certainly realities. One such reality is that when approaching executives (or recruiters), those in senior positions or those that have many people constantly approaching them, don’t expect LinkedIn to magically allow you full access to them. LinkedIn can be a wonderful resource to identify those in positions of interest to you, but if your target is to get to executives or H/R people, the path that usually produces the best results is to find someone that knows them and/or start conversations with others in the company that are more accessible and try to have these lead to your real objective.

LinkedIn is a fabulous resource; use it correctly and it can be a great asset in your job search.

A CV/Resume is not an Obituary

2010-06-16T12:57:00.005+03:00

I know it’s a provocative title, but sometimes this is justified in order bring attention to a subject that most people take for granted.

So, what is the objective of a CV? Simple, to get yourself invited to an interview.

How do you increase your chances of getting such an invitation? By using your one-dimensional CV to jump off the page, highlighting why employers will benefit from your skills, while at the same time avoiding sensitive subjects (age, political/religious persuasion…) that might cause you to be rejected on-the-spot.

When most people create their CV, they typically rely upon the only format that they are immediately familiar with, a chronological style that lists the various jobs they have done in reverse order, detailing the tasks that they performed in each position. A chronological CV is appropriate in some cases, but not universally. In many instances a skills-based CV is better for your circumstances; click here for more details.

In this article, I would like to focus on the second default CV decision: listing the tasks that you did in each job in your employment history section. Let’s go back to the title… Why compare a CV with an obituary? As anyone who reads the newspaper knows, an obituary contains the name of the person, and a brief summary of their life. Some people build their CVs in the same way, a concise overview of their history, albeit one with a focus on employment.

However, does compiling an abbreviated list of tasks you performed in the past and educational institutions you attended really enable you to make the best possible impression to a hiring manager? When I was graduating from an American university in the mid-80s and writing my first resume, one of the things that I was advised to do was start with an objective statement, in my case something like “A recent computer science graduate seeking a challenging entry-level position that utilizes my skills”. Today you will find few people that would advise including such a statement in a resume/CV; why? Take another look at that objective and notice that the focus is on what I (the job candidate) wanted. However, think about it, who is the target for your CV? It certainly is not you; if I was the hiring manager I would have hired myself in a second, with the largest compensation package in the history of college graduates. No, the audience is obviously the prospective employers that you are attempting to impress with your job candidacy.

What you should be trying to do is ensure that your application is viewed by the company as most exactly fitting the profile of the job candidate they seek and/or you are the one that best solves the problem that they have (and thereby the position that they are offering). While listing the tasks that you have performed in the past is one way to meet this objective, such a method requires the employer to make inferences – mentally translating how the things you have done previously can be applicable to them. Why leave things to chance when you can make the hiring manager’s life easier and increase your employment attractiveness at the same.

Instead of opening your CV with an objective, it is much more common nowadays to start with a summary/profile. Maybe something like this, “Computer science graduate available to assist your company meet software deadlines by writing high-quality code in C, Pascal, Assembly Language, and PL/1 – available around the clock and excited to contribute to your company”. [For those of you out there that are software people, I know that this list of languages dates me, but that is what we learned in university in the early 1980s.] Yes, it is a summary/profile of you (the job candidate), but a good summary describes how you match the employee profile that is being sought, and how the company will benefit from your skills. To some this message may be almost indistinguishable from my original objective sentence, but changing the focus from the job candidate to the employer makes a great difference in the way your message will be received and processed. Instead of focusing on what you have done until now, concentrate on what you can do for this new company, including when relevant the benefits that will accrue to the company from your employment. Your CV should focus on the future, not the past. Listing tasks, without tying them together to directly call attention to how they are useful to the company, is a wasted opportunity.

One technique to use on a CV to realize this goal is to include accomplishments in your summary/job descriptions, not just tasks. The advantage of mentioning accomplishments is that you move up a level in positioning yourself, describing not just what you have done in the past, but also how the activities that you performed benefited the company – this is the ultimate in tailoring your CV to the target audience! Sales people have a relatively easy time listing accomplishments (at least successful ones do), as the evaluation of their job is directly based upon quantifiable targets (quota, revenues…). People in other professions can have more difficultly articulating specific accomplishments that they can attribute to their work. For assistance in identifying your own accomplishments, click here.

Transitioning from a candidate-centric task CV to an employer-targeted CV introduces complexity though. When you are focused on yourself things are easy as you know everything there is to know. However, when you are concentrating on the employer/hiring manager, there are always unknowns. How can the job candidate understand what the employer really wants? In order to do this well, you have to do your homework. Research is required, using the job advertisement itself (if one exists), internal connections at the company that you have or develop, and publicly available information using Internet (such as LinkedIn and corporate websites) or other resources. Including accomplishments in your CV that are related to the organization, and indicating how what you are capable of doing ties to the activities of the prospective employer will do wonders in improving the reception that you receive.

Approaching a company with a CV that is focused on them is the best way to grab their attention and distinguish yourself from the crowd.

Can’t Convert Interviews to Job Offers - Maybe your Job References are the Problem

2010-06-10T06:28:00.011+03:00

Many candidates wonder why they’re not getting job offers, as they have excellent qualifications/CV, regularly get invited to interviews that go well, and feel positive connections with the employer manager/human resources people. Yet time after time they don’t get the hoped for call. Certainly there can be many reasons for this, and a job candidate will always have a difficult time getting at the truth. Maybe the manager found another candidate that they preferred because of some combination of experience/skills/salary, possibly the employer put the job on hold, maybe someone internal was found – the list goes on and on. However, job seekers overlook a possibility that can play a critical role: their job references.

For many job seekers, references will play a significant part in the recruitment process. When a potential employer asks you for references, this should be construed as a positive signal. It means that the company is prepared to make an investment in resources to further check your suitability for the job. At least this is usually the case, although it is not uncommon that employers will specifically ask for references and then never even bother to follow-up.

I have found that job seekers often don’t pay enough attention to who they are supplying to potential employers as job references. The objective is to have relevant individuals illustrate to the company that you have the appropriate skills and work ethic to meet their requirements. Any professional contact that you believe can convey that message and has the right type of relationship with you can serve this purpose for you successfully. But that does not mean that each person in your past is equally appropriate.

So, how should you decide who are the best references for you? Here are some things to consider:

Reference Mix - Do you have a good variety of professional relationships in your job reference list? Depending upon the position you are interviewing for and the personality of the hiring manager, their preference might be for previous managers, HR representatives, clients, subordinates or colleagues. You should try to have at least one or two from each of these categories, so that you are prepared when the request is made.
Prepare your References - Do the people you are presenting know that you are seeking work and which message you are trying to convey – in fact do they even remember you? The worst case scenario is for an employer to call your references and find someone that doesn’t immediately know who you are. Actually, I guess that is not the worst thing – having someone say things that are hurtful to your chances is probably less good – although this is a matter of degree. In courtroom trials, lawyers have a rule not to ask a question of a witness for which they don’t already know what the response will be. Before offering someone as a reference, you should contact them to ask for their permission, and at the same time describe to them which positions you are seeking and what image you are working to portray. This is something that should be done relatively close to the time in which you are supplying them as references to employers.
Are your References Relevant? - Does the person know your previous work well enough to give useful information? If the person knows you, and has the interest to positively influence your job search, do they have the knowledge of your abilities to make a valuable impact? Finding people that worked with you closely and can provide specific examples of your value to the company will serve you best.
Can’t Give Contact of Current Employer - What happens if you can’t give a reference from your current employer because you don’t want them to know you are seeking work? Even if you have not made it publicly known that you are looking for a job, you may still find appropriate people in your current company which you can discreetly inform.
Current/Previous Employer is Negative - What about the case where you can’t give references from your previous company because you left under unpleasant circumstances? In this case, you will need to prepare your explanation to new employers, describing why you can’t give such references, as this is surely a question you can anticipate will arise. Honestly is the best policy, and honestly without talking negatively about the former company/co-workers is even better, as an employer that hears you speak critically of previous employers will likely make the assumption that you can/will do the same about them.
Entry-Level / Changing Careers - What happens if you are seeking your first job, for instance someone completing school or the military? Managers are trying to find references that can help them ascertain how you will perform in their company. So, if you have previous work references in the same sector, this is the best. However, for those switching professions/sectors or applying for entry-level positions, then anyone you know that can convey that you are a stable and responsible person will be satisfactory. This can be satisfied from your educational, volunteer, military, or work history (even if it is in a different industry).
Immigrants – What is the best way to handle the situation where you are (relatively) new to Israel, and your most relevant or only work experience is outside of the country? Israeli employers have no problem adding a few digits to the telephone number and dialing internationally, although you should remind them of the time zone differences :>). You probably need to find English speakers, but other than that, the rules above apply. I do think that if everything else is equal, Israeli employers would much prefer to speak with local job references, as this will give them more comfort that the cultural/professional perspective is closer to their own. So as you progress in your career in Israel, you will improve your future employment searches by having local and Hebrew-speakers as your references
Letters of Reference - You can always ask relevant people to write letters of reference for you, which you can bring to interviews and present if requested. However, it is rare to find a company that will ask to see letters; most employers prefer the dynamics of a telephone conversation.

In most cases your job references have the intention to further your career objectives. Help them help you by making it clear to them what you are seeking and how they can move you forward in the recruitment process.

Employment Networking - Target Companies

2010-06-01T10:32:00.003+03:00

Probably you’ve heard that the majority of job opportunities are never publicly advertised. If not, then now is as good a time as any: http://jobsearchinisrael.blogspot.com/2009/11/employment-networking-getting-to-other.html.

One technique that can be used to take advantage of this situation is to target companies of interest as a complement to your profession/career networking outreach.

How does this technique fit in with networking in general? Each job seeker must decide from the multitude of people out there, which ones to (try to) network with. Targets typically include:

People you already know - For those in your profession of interest, including those you worked with previously (no matter how long ago), you have great candidates to communicate with and learn about the current status of the industry, including hearing about specific opportunities. People that you know that are not in your profession can serve as facilitators; introducing you to people they know who are relevant.
People in your profession – Identify people in your sector, and introduce yourself, professional to professional. LinkedIn is an excellent resource to aid in this effort; see http://jobsearchinisrael.blogspot.com/2009/12/linkedin-tying-it-all-together.html. Attending professional networking events and contacting immigrant organizations can also be useful.
People at a company you are applying for – When you apply for a job on an Internet site, you can improve your chances of getting attention by simultaneously beginning to develop relationships within the company. I heard the following story from a job seeker… He read a job notice that was well-suited for him, and sent in an application by email to the H/R person of the company. A week or more passed, and he didn’t hear anything. Using LinkedIn, he found someone in the company that worked in the same profession as him, and contacted her. One thing led to another, and the person inside the company asked the candidate to send his CV, which she would then deliver to the H/R person. As a result of this insider personally bringing the candidate to the attention of the H/R person, interest was raised and the candidate was invited to an interview. Notice the situation: the exact same CV was delivered to the exact same H/R person, yet when it was one of many arriving by email it did not receive the same level of interest as when it was delivered by the company employee.

All of the above are excellent ways to increase your access to employment opportunities. Targeting employers can be used to supplement this effort. As the name implies, targeting employers means to create a list of companies of interest to you, and then focus efforts on learning about them and making personal contacts internally. Don’t wait for the company to advertise for employees, be proactive and introduce yourself. The ideal time to approach a manager is when they have an unsolved problem for which you are the perfect solution. If you understand the needs of the company well enough to develop a pitch that highlights how your skills will uniquely benefit them, your position is strongly augmented.

Certainly the companies that you target should be those that have roles (and possibly products/services) that match your professional objectives. In many cases there may not be a current open position, but if the company is large enough, and/or you are a good enough fit for the corporate culture, initial informal conversations can lead to job offers, short-term or longer term. In any case, the professional contacts you develop will oftentimes prove invaluable throughout your career.

How can you create such a list of target companies? Let’s say you are a sales person with past experience in IT companies; it makes sense for you to review the list of software/hardware companies in Israel to find those that specialize in IT. If you are an accountant from a Big Four firm, identifying those companies that provide accounting consultancy is a good start. If you work in administration, you can use large company directories such as http://duns100.dundb.co.il/indexeng.asp and http://www.bdicode.co.il/DisplayListEng.aspx?List=Ranks.

For you creative types, here are a couple of ideas that can help when targeting employers:

Write articles about companies/people of interest to you. Many individuals and corporate officers monitor daily mentions of their companies (or themselves) on the Internet for a variety of purposes; Google Alerts is the simplest way to do so. What this means is that if you write an article on a blog that mentions them, they may well see it and then contact you for comment.
Or, if you are particularly creative/brave, you can take this approach even further. Watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FRwCs99DWg to see how a P/R guy generated fantastic publicity and a job offer by using Pay Per Click (PPC), costing a grand total of $6..

Living in Israel: Practicing Law

2010-05-26T09:42:00.009+03:00

I am pleased to introduce Minna Ferziger Felig, President and CEO of Minna Felig/Lawjobs (www.lawjobs.co.il). She has graciously agreed to write an article about the legal profession in Israel targeted at immigrant attorneys.

For olim, making aliyah and living the Zionist dream sometimes clouds the reality that once you land in Israel most of you will need to work. Finding a job is a necessity. The most obvious place to look for a job is in the field that you practiced abroad. If you were a lawyer before and you want to continue practicing law – you can practice here either in a law firm or as a legal advisor in a company or a government office.

Besides practicing as a lawyer, there are other jobs in the market that may touch on the law but don’t require a law license such as patent attorneys, IP management, legal secretaries and paralegals. However, for the purpose of this article I have limited myself to jobs that require a legal education and a law license.

Practicing law in Israel can be similar to your practice abroad. But depending on your area of expertise, it can also be very different. Even if you end up practicing in nearly the same field that you did abroad, however, there are many practical and cultural differences that are important to know before making the transition.

The Market Place:

The law market in Israel is divided into international and local practice areas, and one can practice law in either law firms or companies.

A Local Practice refers to positions that deal almost exclusively with local transactions and issues of Israeli law, regardless of where the client is based. From a law firm perspective, this includes, inter alia, Family Law, Property Law, Commercial Contracts Law, Income Tax, Labor and Civil/Commercial Litigation. Companies will also hire lawyers to deal with local issues such as Contracts, Property, Labor Law, Insurance Law, Banking and Regulatory Law in areas such as Israeli Securities, Telecom, etc.

It is important to remember that the practice may still be local even if the clients are not. So, for example, a global computer company might hire a local lawyer to advise on local issues affecting their local office and trade in Israel. They want their lawyer to handle property contracts, advise on local labor issues, negotiate insurance contracts etc. For all of these “local” practice areas, the emphasis is on Israeli law and lawyers are expected to have a high level of written and spoken Hebrew. Global companies will also expect a high level of fluency in English so that you can communicate with the managers abroad.

An International Practice refers to positions that deal with international transactions and focuses primarily on Israeli companies that export from Israel and those whose primary transactions are abroad. Such companies include technology companies as well as food and clothing manufacturers. But it also includes companies that invest abroad, such as property development companies, and public companies that are listed -– or want to be listed -- on foreign stock exchanges and thus require advice on foreign regulatory compliance. The areas of expertise that are generally sought are Capital Markets, Mergers & Acquisitions, Software Licensing and Distribution Transactions, International Property Transactions, International Tax, etc.

Many full service Israeli law firms hire foreign-licensed English speaking lawyers because of their foreign practice experience. These foreign licensed lawyers represent international clients who are investing or doing transactions in Israel, or they represent Israeli companies that are investing or doing transactions abroad. Usually, the international lawyer has a basic knowledge of the relevant Israeli laws, but in large firms s/he works together with the firm’s Israeli lawyers who are experts in the local laws, thus relieving the foreign lawyer of having to be experts on Israeli law – at least initially.

For a list of Israeli law firms, see http://www.martindale.co.il/Search.aspx?Lang=en-US.
The Israel Bar Association website can be found here: http://www.israelbar.org.il/english_index.asp.

How Important is Hebrew?

Hebrew skills are essential for those who want to practice local law, and less essential for those who practice international areas of law. Unfortunately, olim are sometimes unprepared for the fact that the laws in Israel are often completely different from their home country, and that in local practice areas there is little use for English. Lawyers who come from litigation, Labor law, Insurance, Family Law and Property Law backgrounds can have a hard time finding work in their specialty.

Someone who wants to continue practicing in local areas of expertise, such as any kind of litigation, will have to learn Hebrew at a level of fluency. For interviewing purposes this usually means being able to carry on a conversation completely in Hebrew. But from a practical level, this means forcing yourself at work to take on every project possible in Hebrew, researching the relevant laws in Hebrew and writing memos in Hebrew. Basically conducting your own private ulpan.

For international practice areas, English is usually the main language required for drafting and it is required at a native level. (Today, native Spanish is also in demand, but never at the expense of English.) The largest firms and big international companies often hire English speakers who speak little or no Hebrew, as long as they have experience in the relevant practice areas (US Securities, private equity, software licensing, etc.).

However, just having native English without specific and high level experience in an important practice area is usually not enough to impress the large firms specializing in international work. Today, many Israelis spend several years practicing law abroad, thus offering relevant international experience and excellent (although not native) English skills. From the employer's perspective, these candidates are usually preferable to a native English speaker who has no relevant corporate experience. The reason for this is that Israeli law firms and companies don’t usually like to train people (and they’re not very good at it). Also they are more comfortable working with Hebrew speakers since the default language for internal communications within a company or law firm will usually be Hebrew.

Practicing in a Law Firm

Israeli law firms have grown substantially over the last ten years and the international practice areas have grown accordingly, in both large and smaller firms. A large firm, by Israeli standards, is between 50 – 180 lawyers and mid-sized is from 15 – 50 lawyers. Firms with fewer than 15 lawyers are considered small or boutique, depending on their practice areas.

As a general rule, only the largest law firms can afford to hire lawyers who don’t write and speak fluently in Hebrew. They model themselves after the much larger US and UK firms that are compartmentalized by practice areas. Here, the international work is located in one or several international departments and thus it is easier for a pure English speaker to find enough work to keep busy. The large firms can be very good places to begin one’s career in Israel because they cater to a diverse type of clientele and can give a new oleh a good overview of the business law market in Israel. Also, since these firms have usually hired other new immigrants in the past, they will have a better idea of the learning process that olim must go through as they make the transition to becoming Israeli lawyers. It's important to remember that even a lawyer working exclusively in English in an international department of a big firm, is still practicing Israeli law, and must learn the Israeli laws relevant to his practice area.

If you are fluent in Hebrew then a medium sized or small law firm can also be an interesting option. In contrast to the large firms that delegate lawyers to specialized departments, smaller firms often train their lawyers to provide full service to clients making it essential to be able to work both in Hebrew and in English. While such firms may not have the same size or breadth of clientele, they generally have a few top tier clients who can give a new lawyer top level experience. Also, if your Hebrew is good then it is an opportunity to learn and practice Israeli law as well as international law. Finally, lawyers who distinguish themselves in medium and smaller firms may have more opportunity to bring in clients (because the rates are lower) and thus to make partner. Unfortunately, many medium sized and small law firms don’t have enough English work to keep an English speaker busy 100% of the time doing meaningful work. Thus, those that hire new olim often give them tedious translation work and other non-legal assignments to take advantage of their English skills.

Boutique law firms are an exception to the big firm/ small firm dichotomy. These firms specialize specifically in representing foreign clients, such as high tech companies, so all of the lawyers are doing work that is only in English. For these firms, like the largest full service firms, Hebrew is an asset but it is not always essential and there is no need to draft in Hebrew. Prior relevant experience, however, is always a necessity here because these firms do not have the size and funds to train.

At this time, there are no International Law Firms with branch offices in Israel. There are several options of foreign law entities that hire foreign lawyers to do outsourced foreign work. These firms don’t require Israeli law licenses, but the number of positions and the growth potential are more limited:

Outsourcing Firms – Innodata-Isogen and Citybook operate as outsourcing firms mostly for companies in the US. Innodata, the Israel branch of a leading US business process outsourcing firm, hires on a full time basis for jobs that require US legal research and writing. Citybook acts as the back office for commercial property companies. The work is document intensive, mostly doing property lease summaries and other due diligence work, and the pay is either full time or piecemeal, based on a daily or project specific fee schedule.
Outside Counsel Solutions (OCS) is a company that acts as a full service foreign law firm based in Israel. It has Corporate, Labor Law, IP, US Securities and US Litigation departments and most of the client relationship work is done by telephone and video conference calls. OCS hires full time employees and pays them full Israeli benefits.
Foreign Litigation Firms –There are currently two firms in the Jerusalem area that do foreign litigation and hire American-trained or UK-trained litigation associates to do their legal research and writing. Again, Israeli licenses are not needed here but options for growth are limited.
Some foreign firms have partners who want to live full or part time in Israel and they have agreed to maintain a presence in Israel, mostly for marketing purposes. However, these are generally one man shows on the Israeli side, with the associates work being generated in the firm’s other offices, usually in London or New York.

Practicing in a Company

The kinds of companies that are interested in English speaking lawyers are generally large, most often NASDAQ-listed companies whose business is focused out of Israel. These include technology companies that license abroad, international property investment and building companies, high tech companies, companies listed on foreign stock exchanges that report to foreign investors and submit reports to foreign stock exchanges, and the international departments of banks.

Knowing English for these jobs is essential, but not enough. Relevant candidates must be thoroughly familiar with the types of deals that the companies need to sell or license their products.

Depending on the company, the range of in-house positions for lawyers can include:

General Counsel for a legal department. This is generally not a position for which companies hire new olim since they want someone who is already licensed as an Israeli lawyer.
Legal Counsel in a company legal department. These positions are periodically available to olim. Usually they require at least five years of top level commercial contract experience. Technology companies generally insist on experience with software licensing and distribution agreements.
Solo Counsel for smaller companies. This position can be very interesting because it allows a lawyer to be involved in every aspect of the business. Usually, the lawyer must be licensed in Israel and speak a fairly high level of Hebrew. These positions sometimes include work in M&A and international securities, since the lawyer acts as a manager of outside counsel.
Contract Manager for large companies. Many of the companies that build and implement large, complex systems for overseas companies or governments hire contract managers with legal backgrounds. The Contract Manager doesn’t draft or negotiate the main framework agreements. But since there are many subcontracts involved, the Contract Manager follows the implementation of the large contract and negotiates all the smaller subcontracts. This is actually not considered a legal position and, while they hire lawyers to do this work, they don’t usually require an Israeli law license.

Government Positions

The Israeli Foreign Ministry regularly hires English speaking interns, and sometimes offers them permanent positions. Some quasi-governmental companies, such as defense-related manufacturers, hire English speaking lawyers to draft and negotiate their complex agreements for sales around the world (often in countries that no one will admit we do business with).

Salaries

Everyone knows that salaries in Israel are not what they are in America; but everyone is still surprised by how low the salaries here can be. As a general rule, a highly skilled corporate or securities international law who was trained in a top US law firm could expect to make in shekels the number that s/he made in the US in dollars if s/he works in a top Israeli law firm, i.e. about one-quarter of his US salary. However, if the experience isn’t entirely applicable, or if the lawyer is very junior, then those numbers will drop significantly.

As a rule the salaries (quoted on a monthly before-tax basis in shekels) will be:

Entry Level/ Junior : 8,000 – 12,000 shekel
Mid- level: 13,000 – 20,000 shekel
Senior level: 20,000 – 30,000 shekel

Salaries can increase significantly as a lawyer gains experience and can reach US level (smaller firm) levels once a person makes partner. In law firms, some firms will also pay lawyers who bring in new business a percentage of the revenues collected (usually between 15%-25%).

Work Hours

Most people who make aliyah figure that they’re willing to give up big firm salaries to get a better quality of life here in Israel. But that is not always the case, especially for those coming after the lean years of the recent recession when work hours were lighter.

The good news for olim who are Sabbath observant is that the work week in private industry is officially from Sunday through Thursday, and Jewish holidays are official days off with the day before the holiday as a half day. Chol Hamoed, on Sukkot and Pesach, are also officially half days at most offices, and some firms give the entire week as a paid vacation.

In large international law firms, work days begin between 9 - 9:30 am and end around 8 pm. However, many international deals – such as merger transactions, investment rounds that need to close, securities reporting by the end of the quarter or a license deal that must finish – require frequent late nights either in the office or from your home computer. Work in these firms from 9 am to 10 pm is not uncommon.

For those who work in international companies, frequent travel is a given. On complex deals with foreign clients, most deals are closed by the in-house lawyer traveling with the business manager in the company to wherever the client is based in order to close the deal.

Government companies and local Israeli companies, such as banks and insurance companies, generally work six days a week, but shorter hours, usually 8 am – 6 pm with only a half-day on Friday.

Many mothers of young children try to arrange work hours until 4 pm so that they can pick up their children from daycare (which usually closes at 5). It would be a lie to say that employers are happy about this. Some employers will accommodate mothers but require them to work two long days (when the father or a grandparent picks up the kids). Most require mothers to be willing to finish at home what they did not finish during the day at work. Also, if meetings take place after 4, many employers will want mothers to be flexible about emergency childcare.

For English speaking mothers, law firms are often a better place to work than companies because their size and depth allows them to accommodate working mothers’ hours. In either case, as a general rule I recommend trying to find a job as a full time employee and then suggesting reduced hours once you’ve gained your employer’s trust.

Finally, mothers’ “reduced” hours-- even if they end up working many hours from home and are more efficient than their male counterparts-- often are an excuse for employers to pay them significantly less than other employees and not to promote them as quickly.

Relicensing as an Israeli Lawyer

Technically, Israel recently adopted a new law that allows foreign-licensed lawyers to practice law in Israel. However, the regulations relating to that law have not come out and it is unclear whether law firms can hire foreign-licensed lawyers – and if they can what those foreign lawyers will be able to do in their practice – without those regulations being in effect. Until now, Israeli law firms have continued to prefer hiring olim who go through the process of relicensing as an Israeli lawyer.

I generally recommend going through the relicensing process, both because it allows you to learn Israeli law, and also because it gives you more mobility in the future if you want to leave your first job.

Relicensing is a four step process that includes:

A Hebrew Proficiency Exam – in order to qualify for the rest of the requalification process, foreign lawyers must take a basic Hebrew exam that tests their ability to read and write a legal document in Hebrew. Foreign-licensed lawyers with at least two years of foreign experience may begin the legal internship after passing this exam, even before they pass all the Law of Israel exams.
Law of Israel Exams – Every foreign trained lawyer must pass a battery of eight tests on a variety of subjects in Israeli law: Property, Constitutional Law, Civil Procedure, Family Law, Torts/Contracts/Labor Law, Criminal Law, Corporate, Tax + Bankruptcy Law. These exams are given twice a year and the Bar Association offers a three week preparatory course in English for a fee. All foreign-licensed Lawyers must complete these exams prior to completing their internship; those lawyers who have less than two years of foreign experience practicing law must pass these exams before they start their internship.
Complete a legal internship under the tutelage of a lawyer who has been admitted to practice in Israel for at least five years. The official internship period for Israeli is one year, but a new law was passed -- but is not yet in effect -- increasing the length of internship to two years. The Bar Association may reduce the length of the internship for very experienced foreign lawyers as it chooses, but never to less than six months.
The Israel Bar Exam is required of all Israeli law students when they finish their legal internship. The exam is in two parts. First is a multiple choice exam in Hebrew covering all aspects of Israeli law. If you pass the first exam, then there is an oral exam in Hebrew before a panel of three judges. Foreign lawyers with fewer than five years of experience must also take both these exams. Foreign lawyers who worked in the profession for at least five years after receiving their law license and before their date of aliyah are exempt from these exams.

When should you make aliyah?

Many lawyers wait until they’ve been licensed for at least five years before moving here, in order to avoid taking the Israel Bar Exam (Step IV above). This works best for those who are already practicing in an area that they can continue practicing in Israeli firms or companies. In addition to avoiding the Bar, those extra years of experience can be beneficial for making contacts that will want to send you business in Israel and saving money in order to afford the cut in salary.

For those who are not fluent in Hebrew, and especially if you aren’t going to practice the same area of law, I would recommend coming with no more than two years of experience (preferably in some kind of contract law). The reasons for this are that:

The shock of the salary cut will be easier to take when the salary you’re leaving is lower,
In order to get ahead you’re going to have to learn Hebrew so you might as well start learning it sooner rather than later,
If you need to learn a new area of practice, firms will be more willing to take on a junior lawyer than they will to take someone who has practiced for many years.

In any event, I would strongly recommend coming before the age of 45 and if possible before 40. Israeli employers are not allowed to discriminate by age, but they do.

Where should you live?

Most of the law jobs that need English speakers are located in the corridor between Tel Aviv and Haifa. Law firms are mostly in the Tel Aviv/ Ramat Gan area. International companies, and particularly technology companies, are usually outside of central Tel Aviv, but are still in the same general area.

There are also companies located in different “high tech parks” throughout the country, such as Rehovot, Jerusalem, Beersheba, etc. However, you will have the most options if you live in the Center or Sharon areas of the country. Areas like Modiin and Bet Shemesh are accessible to Tel Aviv by a convenient train, however they are more inaccessible for positions north of the Tel Aviv area. Cities that are close to the new Road #6 Cross Israel Highway (i.e. areas near Ashdod, Gedera, Kfar Saba etc.) also cut travel time significantly and are possible places to live outside of the big cities.

In Summary

Hebrew is important and in some areas essential.
Top level relevant experience is essential – just having good English skills will not be sufficient.
One can practice law in a law firm or a company –
Commercial Contract law, US Securities Law and Technology Agreements are the most useful experience.
Starting salaries are low compared to US salaries.
Relicensing as an Israeli lawyer is encouraged.
Try to come before age 40.
Most international jobs are located in the Central and Sharon areas of the country.

Minna's contact details are: LawJobs - info@lawjobs.co.il - http://www.lawjobs.co.il/ - 03-751-1915

Career Change

2010-05-20T08:04:00.006+03:00

Mid-life crises manifest themselves differently for everyone. Probably some people are able to avoid them altogether, while others have them regularly throughout their lives. The classical example is a middle-age person (whatever that means) that begins to re-evaluate their life and comes to the conclusion that one or more of their major decisions was mistaken. For one person this crisis may be related to career/employment, for another their spouse (hass v’shalom), or on the lighter side even the mode of transportation (50-year old buys Harley Davidson).

Here in this article, employment is the focus. And to further delve into the driver for this career re-evaluation, sometimes the cause is external, such as a person that is laid-off or feels lack of job security and is forced into an employment search.

Career evaluation can lead a person to consider a different career(s), examine the possibility of opening a business, or deciding to remain in the profession they have been doing until this point.

Except for the most adventurous (fool-hardy?), people have some level of trepidation when considering a career move or starting a business, no matter what their motivations. Some of these are listed here:

Risk in leaving current job - For those that are employed, leaving the stability of their company is a risk by definition, including the financial considerations that may be involved in such a move. One thing that might be possible for some is to investigate whether there is the possibility to change roles within the structure of your current employer in order to have a safe and secure starting point for a different type of job.
Doubt about finding a suitable position in new career - There is not much doubt that the role that one can make themselves most attractive for is almost always the one in which the candidate has the most recent and extensive previous work experience and/or education. Change can make the process more difficult, and this can be even truer when a person arrives to their 40s/50s/60s. Targeting a job for which you don’t have recent work experience and/or provable skills requires creativity, tenacity, and confidence. Research and networking will help you understand better your options.
Don’t like current job, but don’t know what other job to do - There are many people that are not satisfied with the work they are doing, but have no idea what they would prefer. Here is an article that addresses the issue of identifying new professions: http://jobsearchinisrael.blogspot.com/2010/03/transferable-skills-professions.html.
Financial risk with starting a business – Starting a business typically requires an initial investment/loan, sometimes substantial, as well as uncertain incoming cash flow.

On the other hand, you often hear about someone that was previously laid-off, and they say that this event was the best thing that ever happened to them, as it forced them to move out of their area of comfort and find a new and much better opportunity. And as you may have heard, our friend in the White House (and this week announced as the third most influential Jew in the world by the Jerusalem Post) Rahm Emanuel said: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” Take a look at this film trailer to see more evidence of how others used an unexpected work dismissal to their advantage:

And certainly many people are regularly evaluating, or at least considering, whether the way that they are spending their 8+ waking hours a day earning money is in sync with their current values and lifestyle. Initial career choice, oftentimes done many years prior and with a less than mature set of experience and perspective, is easy to overemphasize when moving forward in the present. Already at the tender age of 18, people typically choose a university major or trade; what are the chances that decision will match their future self, 20-30 years down the road? When a mismatch does occur, tension arises and decisions have to be made (postponing such decisions can lead to visits to the doctor for physical ailments).

Many times people seeking to change careers have told me that the main way they decided upon their new target career was based upon what they preceived were the demands of the market, taking their self-defined skills into account as a secondary measure, and finally considering their interests. Mabye not surprisingly, employment advisors can operate in the same way, which I view as being similar to the military approach. What seems to happen in the army in many cases is that the 18 year old will take a battery of apptitude tests, be asked about their interests in a variety of jobs - then the recruiter disregards all of that and assigns the inductee to the military police or infantry because that is what is needed at the time. Sometimes employment advisors are not so different, with the laudable goal of being realistic, pointing job seekers towards jobs in demand and stifling/ignoring interests or considering transferrable skills. In Israel that might mean guiding new immigrants to jobs in demand, such as an English Teacher, Telephone Sales/Support, or a hairdresser. Yet according to Figler & Bolles in the book: The Career Counselor’s Handbook, “Motivation and determination are more important indicator of success than skills”.

So, don’t be afraid to dream. Allow yourself to think about careers that are different than your previous jobs. In many cases the main limitation to achieving a new employment ideal is the freedom that you give yourself to consider new options. Certainly “reality” and financial considerations are factors in how you ultimately decide to act, but if these are the first ingredients in your analysis, then you may not be giving yourself the chance to envision a new and most suitable career.

Click here to listen to Chaim Emmett of Israemploy talking about career change.

Teaching English in the Israeli School System

2010-05-11T17:56:00.014+03:00

English teachers is the Israeli public school system are in demand. Dr. Judy Steiner, Chief Inspector for English Language Education, was kind enough to write an article which describes the profession and requirements to become a member.

English is without question a global language, used in international trade and tourism, in academia and research, and in the electronic media. Therefore, professional English teachers are in high demand in Israel and the Ministry of Education is interested in encouraging new immigrants and other qualified Israelis to teach English. The purpose of this document is to provide you with information regarding how to become an English teacher in Israel. For additional information, please contact Dr. Judy Steiner at : 02-5603587 or by email at steiner1@netvision.net.il.

Introduction to the Israeli Educational System
The Israeli educational system is divided into Jewish, Arab and Christian sectors. The Jewish sector is further divided into secular (mamlachti), religious (mamlachti dati) and independent (atzmai: Beit Yaakov and Haredi). All the schools are under the auspices and supervision of the Ministry of Education.

Elementary and junior high schools are run by the Ministry of Education. However, almost all Israeli high schools have the status of independent, recognized schools and are run by public bodies such as municipalities, national networks and local committees. Some high schools provide a general academic education while others may be vocationally oriented. Yeshiva High Schools combine general studies with Torah study.

Generally speaking, the school year for elementary schools begins on September 1st and ends on June 30th. Secondary schools also start on September 1st but end on June 20th. In some schools students study six days a week and other schools have a five-day work week. The Ministry of Education is currently undergoing educational reform that will affect the number of hours teachers are expected to teach. The numbers below reflect the current system (prior to the reform) required for a full-time position, depending on the age group of the students:

For elementary school (grades 1 to 6) a full-time position is 30 hours of frontal teaching per week.

For junior and senior high school (grades 7 to 12) a full-time position is 24 hours of frontal teaching per week.

A mother of children under the age of 14 can work fewer hours for the same pay. In elementary school, she can teach 24 hours per week and receive a 10% addition to her salary. In junior and senior high school (grades 7-12), she can teach 19 hours per week and receive a 10% addition to her salary. For example, if a mother teaches 19 hours per week in the 8th grade, she will get paid as if she teaches 21 hours per week.

Teachers are permitted to work on a part-time basis.

Salaries
As in many other countries, teachers’ salaries in Israel are not among the highest. A teacher's salary consists of a base salary plus various additives. The base salary depends on academic degree and experience. Experience abroad is recognized; if you taught in schools prior to making Aliyah, (immigration to Israel) bring documentation (a letter from the principal or from the department head) to prove your experience. If you go to reserve duty in the Israeli army each year, your service is counted as additional experience. Attending in-service courses or additional academic studies gives you increments towards your salary.

Vacation
Teachers receive approximately two months paid vacation in the summer, one week before and during Passover, a week during Sukkot, plus additional Jewish holidays and Israeli national days.

English Teaching in Israel
Learning English is compulsory from the fourth grade; however, most elementary schools start teaching English in the third grade. In addition, there are schools that begin English instruction in the first and second grades.

Requirements for Teaching English in Israel

Knowledge of Hebrew: English teachers must be able to speak, read and write in Hebrew. Participating in an ulpan (intensive Hebrew course for new immigrants) prior to teaching is strongly recommended. New immigrants are frequently required to continue their Hebrew studies in training courses organized by the Ministry of Education. Courses take place throughout the country and studies generally last for 6-9 months.

An Academic Degree: Teachers must have a degree from a recognized academic institution, which needs to be approved by the Israeli Ministry of Education. For immigrants coming from non-English speaking countries, the degree must be in English.

A Teacher's License:

North - Oranim - http://www.oranim.ac.il/

Haifa - Gordon - http://www.gordon.ac.il/

Tel Aviv - Seminar HaKibbutzim - http://www.smkb.ac.il/

Tel Aviv - Levinsky - http://www.levinsky.ac.il/

Tel Aviv - Talpiot - www.talpiot.macam98.ac.il/english.htm

Center - Achva - http://www.achva.ac.il/

Center - Beit Berl - http://www.beitberl.ac.il/

Jerusalem - David Yellin - http://www.dyellin.ac.il/

South - Kaye - http://www.kaye.ac.il/

3. If you are interested in teaching English in areas where there is a great demand for English teachers, it is sometimes possible to be hired as an unlicensed teacher. In this case you can begin teaching, and in your second year apply to your local English inspector for an evaluation report. If the report is positive, you can then contact the Ministry of Education to inquire about further courses you are required to take in order to qualify for a teacher's license. You can attend these courses and at the same time continue teaching. The Acceptance Procedure

Contact the district inspector for the Unit for Absorption of Immigrant Teachers:

North 04-6500177

Haifa 04-8632676

Tel Aviv 03-6896389

Center 03-6896635

Jerusalem 02-5601637

South 08-6263117

Rural 03-6898757

Contact the English District Inspector

Bring the following documents with you when you meet the inspectors:

During the interview, the inspector will review your documents, background and experience. Your employment options will be explained, and the particular steps you must take in order to gain recognition will be outlined. The inspector will then organize an interview with the acceptance committee. The committee reviews your documents and determines the grades you are eligible to teach, and any further requirements you must fulfill in order to receive certification (training courses, etc.)

Note: Original documents should be used for presentation purposes only. Make sure to have plenty of photocopies of any document you need to submit. Do NOT give original documents to anyone.

Finding Employment

To find a job as an English teacher, contact the English inspector of the Ministry of Education, in the geographical area where you plan to live.

When a school wishes to hire a new immigrant who has received Israeli qualification, the Ministry of Education Unit for Absorption of Immigrant Teachers may be able to provide financial assistance toward teaching hours. The principal must submit a written request for assistance. If the school provides a minimum number of hours, it can receive a limited number of matching hours from the Unit for Absorption of Immigrant Teachers. It is necessary for the teacher to apply within the time period of eligibility for assistance, and to meet all other criteria.

On-going Professional Development

The Ministry of Education encourages teachers to study. Most teachers regularly enroll in some kind of training program or in-service courses. In many cases, the Ministry of Education will pay part or all of the tuition for academic study. Decisions regarding funding are made by a special committee, on an individual basis.

Pedagogical counseling is available to new teachers from the English Inspectorate.

Useful web sites for English teachers in Israel include:
1. The site of the English Inspectorate: www.education.gov.il/english;
2. ETNI (Israeli English Teachers Network): http://www.etni.org.il/;
3. The English Teacher's Association of Israel holds professional conferences throughout the school year: www.etni.org.il/etai/

Sabbaticals
Teachers are entitled to a sabbatical every six or seven years (your choice), on condition that they register and complete the necessary paperwork. If you take a sabbatical after six years you are eligible to receive 66% of the previous year's salary; you receive a higher salary if you take your sabbatical after seven years. You are expected to be enrolled in an approved professional development program during the sabbatical year and you are refunded for the cost of tuition. You may teach on a part-time basis throughout your sabbatical year.

Conclusion
Because of the importance of English in today's global society, it is imperative that our students meet the standards that have been set in the national English Curriculum. The English Inspectorate invites you to join the approximately 9,000 English teachers who are enabling their students to reach the level of English necessary to succeed in their education and future careers.

Teaching Profession in Israel

2010-05-11T17:30:00.012+03:00

There are three main avenues for those that want to teach in Israel. One is to work as an English (or another language) teacher (inside or outside the Israeli public school system), another is to teach a non-language subject in Hebrew, and the third is to teach subjects other than English with the language of instruction being English.

Note: For prospective teachers in Israel (although this is true of all professions), it is critical to network with others in the profession. The conditions in Israel, both in terms of actual working environment and compensation, may be significantly different than what a teacher expects coming from outside of Israel.

English Teachers

Israel needs good English teachers. While teachers of other subjects are currently finding their hours cut or their positions jeopardized, English teachers continue to be in demand. Currently in Israeli schools, from 2nd grade and above, there is a mandatory requirement for English instruction. There simply are not enough qualified teachers to meet the demand at the national level (although some regions of the country have more of a shortage than others).

Native English speakers have an advantage over their Israeli counterparts in this field, and the Ministry of Education is interested in encouraging immigrants to enter the work force as English teachers. The Ministry offers incentives such as subsidizing immigrant’s salaries through the addition of extra teaching hours and by running training programs for native English speakers without prior teaching experience.

Even if you taught English before arriving in Israel, you will be required to take some additional coursework before you can get certification to teach English in Israel. You will learn the skills associated with teaching English as a Foreign Language, and ultimately become accredited through the Ministry of Education. In some cases, the unfilled demand for English is so high that schools will make an exception (at least temporarily) to hire teachers without Israeli credentials.

People arriving in Israel from other countries that want to teach English in public schools should contact the Ministry of Education’s English Inspector in their area in order to understand what they need to do specifically to qualify for an Israeli credential. For those arriving with foreign teaching credentials, the Ministry of Education will evaluate previous education and/or work experience, which may well allow portions of the regular requirements to be waived. Nonetheless, the Israeli authorities have certain criteria for teaching English to students which is not their native language, and all certified English teachers in Israel must have the training to satisfy these requirements. For more detailed explanation on teaching English in the Israeli school system, click here.

In addition to the Israeli public school system, there is a wide variety of options for teaching English, including at private schools, adult education, pre-schools, post-secondary and after-school/tutoring programs. In most cases, a Ministry of Education credential is not required when teaching outside of the public school system.

Teaching subjects other than English in the Israeli school system

The rules for compensation and receiving a license to teach subjects other than English in the Israeli school system are quite similar to the requirements for English teachers, with the one exception that teachers of other subjects must also have an excellent level of Hebrew. As with English teachers, people from other countries should contact the Ministry of Education’s relevant inspector in order to understand what they need to do specifically to qualify for an Israeli credential, as previous education and/or work experience will allow some of the regular requirements to be waived.

Teaching other subjects in English

There are limited number of schools and educational programs in Israel which are taught in the English language. This includes primary and secondary level international private schools that offer a regular school program to students in Israel and short-term educational programs for high school students from English-speaking countries studying for a semester or more in Israel. Also included are a growing number of universities/colleges, including MBA programs, which offer some or all instruction in English.

Teaching Resources

Teaching in Elementary & Secondary Public Schools
o Ministry of Education – http://www.anglit.net/
o Israel Teachers Union – ITU – http://www.itu.org.il/
Teaching in after-school/Tutors – A number of regions have after-school programs in English. Tutoring is usually done on a one-to-one basis. It is advisable to check for such opportunities locally, speaking to people that work in schools or community centers.
Teaching in Private Schools for Adults
o Berlitz – Various Locations - http://www.berlitz.co.il/
o Wall Street Institute – Various Locations - cv@wsi.co.il - http://www.wallstreetinstitute.com/ / http://www.wall.co.il/
o SET Seminars – http://www.set.co.il/
o Open University - http://www.openu.ac.il/
o American School – American test-prep company - http://www.americanschool.com/
o GMAX – American test-prep company - http://www.gmax.co.il/
ETNI (Israeli English Teachers Network) – http://www.etni.org.il/ – A useful networking and jobs resource for perspective and experienced English teachers.
Ministry of Immigrant Absorption Teachers Booklet
Israel Teacher's Association - Hebrew
Teacher's Assocation - Hebrew

Teaching other subjects in English:

Schools with instruction in English:

Walworth Barbour American International School – Even Yehuda – Kindergarten through 12th grade - http://www.wbais.org/
Jewish American International School – Jerusalem – Pre-School through 6th grade – http://www.jerusalemais.org/
Treehouse School – Herzliya Pituach - Pre-School through 6th grade – http://www.treehouse.co.il/
The Anglican International School – Jerusalem – Elementary & Secondary School - http://www.aisj.co.il/
Tabeetha School – Jaffa – Elementary & Secondary School - http://www.tabeethaschool.com/

Educational programs for English speaking students from outside Israel:

Alexander Muss Institute for Israel Education – Hod HaSharon – High School - http://www.amiie.org/
Ramah USY, affiliated with Conservative Judaism – Jerusalem - http://www.ramah.org.il/
NFTY/EIE, affiliated with Reform Judaism - http://www.nftyisrael.org/ & http://www.nftyeie.org/

Internet-Based Businesses

2010-05-05T08:52:00.011+03:00

Online (Internet) businesses are a major employer in Israel, and have survived the global economic difficulties in a relatively strong position. These companies have a wide range of positions, and many of them require employees with a high level of foreign language skills. With this in mind, I am pleased to introduce Michael Katz, a recruiter specializing in this sector. Following is Michael's article describing in detail this industry.

Over the last 10 years, Israel has become one of the major hubs for Internet based businesses. But what defines an Internet based business? What employment opportunities are there within these businesses? What is the required experience for finding employment within these companies? What are the salary ranges within these companies?

Let’s take this one question at a time.

What defines an Internet based business?
The answer to this is simple. Any website that has a product that is either sold, played, used, downloaded or offered through the website for money. The money aspect of these transactions is known as e-commerce. There are many companies based in Israel that have this model and offer their services / products to the local and International market.

Two major industries that have been very successful are the online gaming industry and the online Forex industry. These are the fields that Netwise Personnel specializes in placing experienced and entry level candidates into.

Online gaming refers to gambling on the Internet – casino, poker, sports betting and bingo. The reputable companies based in Israel that are connected to international online gaming are operated in full accordance with Israeli and international law. There are instances however, where smaller companies are established and do not adhere to all of the required legalities. Netwise Personnel only works with legitimate and reputable online gaming companies.

Online Forex refers to online trading platforms for foreign currency trading. This enables people to trade currency over the Internet without the need for going into a bank or financial institution. Within the space between Herzliya Pituach and South Tel Aviv, there must be at least 25 – 35 of these companies. Clients of these companies can be found all over the world, ranging from the UK and Western Europe, the entire middle east, the far east, Australasia, South America and, dependent upon regulation, the USA.

What employment opportunities are there within these businesses?
Due to the fact that both of these businesses are international, there is always a requirement for local language speaker for international territories.

The roles together with a brief description include:
Online Chat Support – Entry level position, usually requiring shift work. Online chat support operators, as the name suggests, give support in real time to online users through a live chat environment. These roles are specific to international language preferences.
Sales Representative – Entry and experience level position. This requires up selling a product either by telephone or online chat. Performance bonuses are usually based on the representative reaching the required sales targets.
Account Manager – Experienced sales representative usually move on to become account managers within an online trading environment. Account managers are allocated to clients making initial deposits above a pre determined threshold.
Affiliate Manager – Entry and experienced level position. Affiliate managers find online partners to assist in the promotion of online businesses. Bonuses are usually awarded to the amount of additional revenue attributed to an affiliate manager’s successful affiliates.
Sales Manager – Experience level position that usually involves managing a team of sales representatives.
Call Center Manager – High level of experience is necessary. This position is usually awarded to people who have experience in both tele-sales and call center management.
Retention Manager – This requires experience in dealing with returning customers. It is a post sales position usually filled by people with excellent product knowledge and people skills.
Content Writer – As long as a person has a strong background in writing, the theme of the content is generally not a necessity for application. However, candidates with prior knowledge of the subject are given preference for these positions.
Marketing Writer – Experienced writer who can formulate and articulate marketing campaigns, banner slogan, press releases and ad copy.
Media Buyer – Experienced at knowing where to buy good online media for specific online businesses. The return on investment (ROI) is always judged very closely when spending money for online media.
Web Designer – Experience at designing websites. Usually needs to have knowledge of Flash, CSS and basic HTML.
Graphic Designer – Experienced at creating advertising collateral using packages such as Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash.
Web Programmer – Experienced at turning web designs into working web sites.
Product Manager – Experienced at managing the implementation of new products and feature enhancements. Needs to usually be someone who can interact at all levels with a high understanding of technical functionality and the ability to document thoroughly.
Campaign Data Analyst – Is the person who determines if the media buyer is getting it right. This is a crucial role in online businesses and is usually filled by statisticians or economists with a good knowledge of online media campaigns.
Marketing Director – the person who brings all of the above together and stays on top of everything.

What is the required experience for finding employment within these companies?
Entry level positions include online chat support and sales representatives. Although companies usually look to fill these roles with people who can work flexible shifts and weekends. Additionally, these roles are specific dependent on the need for language speakers. For sales representatives, people with prior experience of tele-sales usually have an advantage with these positions.

All of the other positions listed above require anywhere from one year to five years previous experience. Knowledge of online gaming or Forex is always preferred. In the case where two experienced media buyers or affiliate managers are applying for a position, preference will usually be given to people who have worked in the sector before.

What are the salary ranges within these companies?

Please note – the ranges shown above are just an indication and are dependent upon experience and negotiation ability.

Opportunities for New Olim
Many of these companies will employ new Olim, mainly for language skills. However, once a person has a ‘foot in the door’ or a minimum of at least 12 to 18 months experience, other positions will begin to open up.

In the first year of making Aliyah, new Olim should be aware that there is a high possibility that the salary connected to their first job in Israel, may not cover all monthly expenses. However, as stated above, following the first 12 to 18 months experience of working and living in Israel, more opportunities are likely to open up.

On a final note, the biggest piece of advice that I can offer to new Olim searching for a job is on the subject of resumes. When applying for a position, be specific about the position. If you have the experience on your resume, but not exactly in the order of the advertised job specification, re-write your resume in a way that the HR manager or recruiter does not have to second guess your experience or the position for which you are applying. Think of the advertised job specification and your resume as two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Make them seem to fit as easy as possible because if you don’t someone else will.

Netwise Personnel is a specialist recruitment and placement agency, focusing on the Forex, Gaming and Hi-Tech industries based in Israel. We specialize in finding candidates who have foreign language skills, online marketing knowledge including media, affiliate management and writing, international sales experience with a financial background and web developers, programmers and designers. For more information or free advice please contact michael@netwisepersonnel.com or visit the website http://www.netwisepersonnel.com/.

Can a Non-Hi-Tech Person Find Work in Israel?

2010-04-28T09:27:00.001+03:00

With all of the glamour of the Israeli technological industries in the media, and acronym-filled hi-tech jobs advertised everywhere, it can be daunting to seek work outside of this sector.

The hi-tech industry is one of the bright spots of the Israeli economy in terms of international prestige, exports, and high paying jobs. From a macro-economic perspective though, less than 100,000 people work in hi-tech jobs in Israel. Although the sector itself provides a disproportionate amount of revenues to the country, and many non-technology people provide services to these companies, at the end of the day, this sector does not directly employ a large percentage of the Israeli workforce.

And let’s face it, not everyone is cut out to work in this industry – most roles require strong technical aptitude and the ability to work long hours.

Yet the impression that many Israeli job seekers have is that placement companies, networking sites such as LinkedIn and online job boards/newspapers have a preponderance of hi-tech positions, and they feel left out. In truth, this feeling is not totally misplaced. It is generally correct that only well-funded companies with recruitment budgets tend to use placement agencies. For the same reason, oftentimes the companies most likely to pay money to advertise on Internet sites or in newspapers are those that have high-end or specialized jobs to fill and can justify the publicity expense; for more details see: http://jobsearchinisrael.blogspot.com/2009/10/online-job-boards.html. And as anyone that has spent some time on LinkedIn can attest to, and notwithstanding all of the excellent value that it provides, the membership is technology-heavy. Certainly finance, biotech/pharmaceutical/medical and other industries sometimes do fall into the same high skill/salary category as technology jobs, yet you are much less likely to find jobs in the education, non-profit, tourism sector using these agencies/services – it’s not that these types of opportunities are non-existent, only that they usually require the job seeker to use supplementary resources to identify a good quantity of availabilities.

So, what is a non-engineer/programmer supposed to do? First, we need to remember that the majority of all jobs (more than two-thirds) are never publicly advertised (see http://jobsearchinisrael.blogspot.com/2009/11/employment-networking-getting-to-other.html); networking is the best method for everyone, hi-tech and low-tech, to get access to such positions. However, don’t lose heart if placement companies, networking websites, and large newspapers don’t concentrate on the jobs most of interest to you. Non-hi-tech people simply have to work harder to find sources of relevance to them. For instance, there are industry specific sites that do focus on non-hi-tech, for instance Shatil for non-profits and ETNI for English teachers – each have job listings. Online job boards that don’t require employers to pay, such as my company’s site Israemploy, as well as local newspapers, are more likely to have a wider range of non-technology positions. Finally, even though LinkedIn members are heavily concentrated in technology/sales/finance/IT positions, there are so many people registered (more than 60 million worldwide) on this system that even if 10-20% of the members are non-high-tech, that is still a huge number of people you can network with in a variety of other industries. You can search in the LinkedIn Groups directory to find groups specific to your industry, and even in the large general purpose groups, such as Job Networking in Israel, there are many hundreds of people from a wide range of low-tech industries that are just waiting to be found and contacted.

Maybe then you can look at your non-technology orientation as a blessing in disguise. Hi-tech people oftentimes forget the two-thirds networking rule, focusing on internet sites and placement companies only, disregarding the value of engaging with similar-minded professionals. Those in the non-technology fields intuitively know that without concentrated efforts to reach out to others and identify industry specific groups, their search will be exceedingly difficult.

And please remember, for those of you that don’t know the difference between JAVA and a router, try to sympathize with people slaving away in hi-tech, and enjoy the finer things in life.

How can Placement Companies Help you Find a Job in Israel

2010-04-21T07:47:00.011+03:00

I am delighted to introduce a new guest article to the blog, this time contributed by Yoav Haim of Dialog - Consulting for Human Resources, an Israeli placement company. Yoav describes how placement companies fit into the Israeli recruitment process, which will help you understand better how to work with such agencies to increase your access to employment opportunities. Regular readers of this blog will discover that in certain instances there are differences of opinions over specific aspects of the job search, as here you will find comments on CVs which do match other articles in the blog. In all cases, you as the job seeker should get as much information as you can, and then decide for yourself what makes the best sense. Without further ado, Yoav's article...

The Israeli Hi-tech industry, a field Dialog – Consulting for Human Resources specializes in, is rather young. It started in the 70s and gathered momentum during the 90s. Dialag was founded in 1997 to answer the rise in the demand for quality hi-tech workers that this momentum created. Since the Israeli market, in general, is small, and the Israeli hi-tech industry in particular, is even smaller, people know each other, and much depends on personal ties and relationships. As new immigrants, many of you are devoid of acquaintances in our market and this is why a placement company can come in handy.

Ron Machol asked me to answer several questions about how a placement company such as Dialog works, and I obliged. As someone who worked with the Jewish Agency in the past, I know, in person, what hardships new immigrants go through, and to me, this opportunity to help is blessed. With Ron's permission, I will start with the most interesting question there is:

How much money do you, as a placement company (חברת השמה) charge?

From candidates – none! Our services are given to candidates pro-bono. We simply mediate between the candidate and the employer, and the minute the employer hires you, we our out of the picture. Unlike HR companies (חברות כוח אדם) you never become our workers (outsourcing), and you are not paying us commission.

Where do Israeli placement companies fit in the Israeli recruitment process?

Ever since the year 2000, the Israeli market is undergoing a process of professionalization – companies which used to do everything in-house gradually understand that in order to become more efficient and professional, they need to turn to professionals for specific tasks. This is exactly where placement companies such as Dialog fit in. With tens of thousands of professional candidates in our database, and with commercial ties with most of the hi-tech companies in Israel, we serve as an efficient and reliable mediator, both for candidates and companies. Today, most companies work with at least one (and usually with more than one) placement company.

How do placement companies operate with employers?

When employers have a vacancy, they give us a specification of this vacancy, and a general description of the candidate they require. At Dialog, every employer has a recruitment counselor who works with this company solely, knows it well, and understands its needs, so when such a vacancy opens, the counselor knows perfectly what profiles of candidates might fit this company. Candidates stored in our database, or new candidates who send their CV for this vacancy are filtered by this counselor and if they fit the requirements of the position, they are sent forward to the company.

What does a placement company do when candidates send in their CV or apply for a specific job, or new jobs come in from employers?

As mentioned earlier, we have two types of candidates – those who are already stored in our database, and new candidates whose CVs were sent to us for the position. When we receive a new vacancy requisition from an employer, we publish it on our site. CVs we receive are divided into three (3) categories:

Those which fit the position are interviewed by us
Those which do not fit the position, but fit other positions we have available are also interviewed
The third group is consisted of those who do not fit any of our open positions. Unfortunately, due to the deluge of CVs we receive, it is impossible to call every person who submitted his/her CV

We look at ALL CVs sent to us through our site, regardless of whether they fit the position or not. We also look at CVs stored in our database, to check whether they fit new positions we receive. We don't believe in FIFO (first in first out) – it is irrelevant how much time has passed since you've sent your CV. The only thing we take into consideration is whether or not you fit the requirements of the position at hand and if you are still looking for a job. That’s why we stay in touch with our candidates, and regularly update their status.

Do some employers work with more than one placement company at the same time for the same position, and if so, how does this impact the candidate?

Yes. Both the employers and the candidates work with more than one placement company, on average. We recommend to both parties not to work with more than the 2-4 leading placement companies (and to narrow it down to 1 as time progresses).

This doesn't impact the candidates, provided that they don't work with too many placement companies. In general, if your CV comes from too many sources, and if some of these sources are dubious, it might give the impression that you are somewhat desperate and unfocused.

Who should work with placement companies?

Among our clients you can find huge international companies such as HP or Microsoft, alongside small companies varying from Start-up companies with less than 20 workers, to medium-size companies with several hundreds of workers.

Candidates who work with us come from varying fields of expertise – students, graduates, professionals and seniors in the fields of hi-tech, finance, administration, and executive. In hi-tech we deal with software and hardware engineers, marketing and content writers in numerous languages, pre-post sale professionals and the likes.

How should job candidates approach placement companies?

The best way to contact us is to send your CV through our site. There are two ways to do that:

Sending your CV in regard to a certain position
Sending your CV, regardless of a certain position

We also have a profile on LinkedIn, Twitter and Café TheMarker, operated by me, where you can send your CV.

As mentioned earlier, we read every CV sent to us, and check whether we have positions the candidate might fit, even if the CV was sent for an entirely different position. That said, since our field of expertise is mainly hi-tech, only CVs that fall within this scope have the chance to yield an interview.

Should people contact placement companies even before they arrive in Israel?

You may, but bear in mind that we are efficient, and most CVs sent to us are dealt with on the same day of arrival, and that some positions are urgent, which means that the employer might require you for an interview the following day.

After contacting a placement company the first time, should there be regular follow-up by the job candidate?

Sure! If you believe you fit a position completely, and you haven't heard from us within a week, contact us. Searching for a job is a process that can take time. We usually forward our candidates to more than one company, and we let them know which companies they were introduced to. We invite candidates to call us with questions, remarks or updates. Since we update our position page daily, we also encourage candidates to look at it every few days and to re-send their CV to new positions that suit their abilities.

How to decide which specific placement companies to contact?

Candidates' decision should be based on their profession. There are 5 big placement companies in Israel which deal with hi-tech, and Dialog is one of the leaders among them. I advise you to skim through the positions offered by each placement company, and if you find jobs that relate to your profession, this company is one you should work with.

What types of jobs are typically handled (or not handled) by Israeli placement companies?

Dialog deals with everything hi-tech companies need – starting from secretaries, through engineers and marketing personnel, to financial and managerial positions. We also deal with non hi-tech workers, provided that they come from one of the following fields: finance, executive and administrative.

What should a candidate expect in terms of a response when they contact a placement company?

If the CV suits the requirements of the position, we usually contact the candidate within the same day. The candidate is interviewed by one of our recruitment counselors, entered into our database, and we start the process of forwarding his/her details to companies that might be suitable.

Since we launched our new Social Network profiles described above, candidates can approach us more easily and directly. I receive some questions from candidates who sent their CV for a position they don't fit, and never got a reply, and as someone who searched for a job in the past, I know uncertainty is worse than hearing a "no". I always welcome people to contact me through one of the social networks I am present at, and will do my best to find out what happened to their application. In most cases, candidates who didn't receive an answer didn't fit any of our positions, and are candidates Dialog can't immediately help.

Unfortunately, due to the huge quantity of CVs we receive, it is impossible to call every person who submitted his/her CV, and only candidates who fit our requirements will be contacted by us.

Many candidates have multiple versions of their CVs, each targeted at a (slightly) different job that they feel capable of doing. What should such candidates do when making a general application to a placement company?

This question repeats frequently. We recommend candidates to have only ONE version of CV! If you write your CV correctly, and if it reflects your abilities well, there is no reason why you shouldn't be considered for several positions in different yet related fields. Bear in mind that in most cases, several versions of the same CV end up on our desk, and it gives an impression of unreliability to read the differences between them.

For conclusion, any special tips for new immigrants related to working with placement companies?

First of all – welcome to Israel

Second – finding a job in a new country is a daunting task – you don't speak the language well, you don't have a social-network, and you have yet to strike roots in the local market. That's why our connections with most companies in Israel can come in handy to you.

Third – learn the basics. A friend of mine who immigrated from New York sent me his CV a few days ago. He wrote it according to how you would write your CV in the US. Needless to say, it didn't fit the local market at all!
Learn how things are done in Israel – what to write in your CV, how to dress up for the interview, what questions you might be asked (Israelis tend to ask personal questions, which might seem intrusive and out-of-line to new-comers) etc…

Fourth – try to find an organization for people from your native country. Israel is an immigrants-country. My grandparents came from all around the world and most Israelis older than 50, weren't born here, so you are bound to find at least one such organization which can assist you at first or link you with your peers.

Fifth – think of the added value that your native language and culture can offer. Since many companies in hi-tech work abroad, it is easy to understand why an immigrant from Mexico, for instance, will be a wonderful Account Manager for South American countries.

I wish you good luck and look forward to hearing from you.

Yoav Haim – Social Media Recruitment Manager
Dialog - Consulting for Human Resources

About Dialog
Dialog – Consulting for Human Resources is one of Israel's leading companies for recruitment and placement of quality employees for hi-tech, IT, clean-tech and finance Industries. Since 1997 Dialog has been providing recruitment and HR solutions for leading global and local companies including: Microsoft, Ness, Checkpoint, HP, Matrix, and many other large and small companies in the Tech fields.
jobs@dialog.co.il
http://www.dialog.co.il/

Job Search in Israel Blog – 6 Months Old

2010-04-14T09:12:00.004+03:00

The Job Search in Israel blog (http://jobsearchinisrael.blogspot.com/) has passed the six (6) month mark, and I have kept to my target of one new article a week. The objective with the site is to explore issues related to seeking work in Israel, designed for newcomers and long-time residents, as well as those considering moving here. On the right-side of the blog page, there is an archive of all of the previous articles; here is a quick list of some of them:

There is a shortage of job search material that is lacking from the site, of course there are plenty of areas untouched. However, with so much readily available on the web, I don’t want to simply duplicate what can be found by anyone via a simple Google search. Rather, I am trying to address specific issues related to Israel and your employment search.

So, I am asking for your help, dear readers. Please write to me at jobsearchinisrael@gmail.com with feedback on the site, suggestions for future article subjects, problems you have encountered in your job search, and/or questions that you have about seeking work in Israel. So far, readers' comments are positive and encouraging, and I am enthusiastic about continuing to add new material based upon your interests and needs. So, please do take the time to send me a message.

And, best of success in your job search!

Work Permit for Foreigners in Israel

2010-04-08T10:49:00.004+03:00

I asked a question on the Job Networking in Israel LinkedIn group message forum on this subject, and was surprised with the quantity and complexity of the responses. So, it seems that this topic deserves an article of its own.

The first thing to mention is that the State of Israel does have a procedure for foreigners to wish to apply for Israeli work permits. There are the official regulations, and there are the ways these rules are implemented in reality. For those that understand Hebrew or have access to someone who does, here is a link to the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor website which defines the process: http://www.moital.gov.il/NR/exeres/43627A3A-8313-49FD-BFE5-ECE3EFA7289D.htm. And just to make sure we are all using the same definition, a foreigner in this case is someone that is not an Israeli citizen.

Reading and understanding the rules is important, but sometimes the critical points are difficult to grasp (or even unwritten). Therefore, I will present here what I have learned from my recent research, including from the responses I received of those that had made foreign worker applications of the Israeli Ministry of Interior. The details here are as accurate and complete as I have been able to ascertain, but note that I have not succeeded in getting an official response from the government ministry, and decisions are exclusively in their jurisdiction, so you should consider this article only as an informal guide.

There are two (2) types of Israeli work permits that a foreigner can receive from the Ministry of Interior:

An open (B1) work permit, allowing a person to work without restrictions, other than a one-year (renewable) time limit
A restricted work permit, initiated by a sponsoring Israeli employer, limiting employment to the specific company

The first permit is much better for the individual of course, as except for the renewal requirement, the job seeker has full flexibility. In practice, I heard of two situations in which such open work permits are issued:

A person that is eligible for aliyah (immigration) under the law of return; essentially, this means a person that is Jewish. For those that are eligible for aliyah, there is also another option that includes a work permit without becoming an Israel citizen; details are on the Nefesh B’Nefesh website: http://www.nbn.co.il/site/kb/questions/141/Temporary+Resident+(A-1)+Visa.
A person that has a long-term, stable/serious relationship with an Israeli citizen. In order to avoid fraudulent use of this option, the process is arduous, but those that meet the criteria can receive permits.

Be advised that this process can take from weeks to many months (four or more) to complete. Coming with a letter from a company stating that they are interested in hiring you can be helpful. Please keep in mind that successfully getting the B1 work permit only means that you are eligible to work, and I heard feedback from those that had received the authorization but were not able to secure jobs.

The restricted work permit is the mechanism used by companies that want to recruit foreign employees with a special skill. The employer must pay a fee to sponsor such an applicant, and must guarantee compensation of at least twice the Israel average salary. In practice, this is typically used by an international company operating in Israel to bring in employees from headquarters, of in other cases where an Israeli employer requires a highly specialized professional who can not be found in Israel.

In the case of both types of permits, there is no guarantee for success in receiving the work permit, even if you as the applicant believe that you meet all of the requirements. In general, dealing with government offices, whether in Israel or anywhere is, is fraught with uncertainties, and applying for a work permit is no exception.

Transferable Skills & Professions

2010-03-24T08:13:00.002+02:00

One aspect of the job preparation stage, before starting the actual search, is to identify your objective. Sounds trivial, I know, yet I’ve seen many people overlook this step to their own detriment. As the old saying goes, without knowing where you want to go, it is difficult to get there.

For some, this process may be easy and even seem invisible - for instance professionals (accountant, teacher, social worker, programmer…) that want to remain in their field of specialty. Oftentimes though, job seekers don’t have such a clear cut direction and/or want to explore new options. In this case, both the interests and transferable skills of the job seeker need to be explored, to be considered alongside an understanding of available professions to create a set of suitable jobs to target.

There are of couple of websites that can assist in this effort. These sites are focused on the US employment market, but I think that are enough similarities that they hold a great deal of valuable information for those seeking career directions in Israel as well. Certainly disregard salary estimates, and you will have to make a judgment of what level of Hebrew skill is required for the specific role, but the details of the jobs themselves on these sites are fully usable.

First is O*Net (http://online.onetcenter.org/), the Occupational Information Network sponsored by the US Department of Labor. Here you can learn about new careers that match your skill set. This site has a lot of useful information and a variety of search options – some consider this combination comprehensive and others confusing. Although the site does take some experimentation to find the results that are most useful to you, it is worth the effort. One place to begin from the home page is in the Find Occupations section, clicking on Browse, and then entering a job title of interest in the keyword field. This will provide you with a report including: similar job titles, job description, tasks, tools and technology, skills, education, and related occupations. For instance, my first career in Israel was in technical marketing, so I entered these keywords. I was presented with a list of jobs sorted by relevance (similarity) to my field. Some of the jobs were ones that I would have thought of on my own (market research analysis), others were jobs I had heard of before but never really thought about as having such matching skills/tasks (sales rep), and there was a third group of jobs that even after reading the details I didn’t find a strong match (aquacultural manager). Nonetheless, this exercise did give me a quick glimpse into the power and relevance of this site and the process. Certainly you don’t have to use as your starting point a job that you have previously held. If you have always wanted to work as a fashion designer, and would like to learn about related jobs, use this keyword combination as your starting point.

A second site which can also be helpful is Job-Hunts career page: http://www.job-hunt.org/careers/index.html. Here you will find jobs sorted by sector, and you can click on individual job title to learn more about them.
Using such sites, your own common sense and knowledge of yourself, combined when necessary by seeking the outside assistance of career guidance professionals, will help you plot a course that matches your interests and skills, and enables you to spend your working hours doing something you enjoyable and fulfilling.

Employee Assessment in Israel

2010-03-16T14:50:00.011+02:00

I am introducing guest posts to the blog in order to broaden the scope of the Israeli employment issues covered. We are fortunate to be able to welcome Natalie Anker Cohen as our first guest blogger, writing on one of her areas of speciality: employee assessment.

What type of companies/sectors/job positions are the ones that send their candidates for employee assessment in 2010? Why is this so?
The process of employee assessment as a means of determining job fit and future job performance is a fairly well-established procedure in Israel, spanning a wide range of job positions, companies, and sectors. Assessments may be offered for roles as diverse as top management levels, intermediate and professional roles, through to more junior positions. Likewise, small and large companies across a wide range of market sectors in Israel utilize assessment processes to aid their hiring decisions, including finance, industry, technology, communications, insurance, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, transportation and retail.
As to why companies choose to use employee assessment practices when making hiring decisions, a number of reasons exist. Firstly, the assessment process aims to ensure that staffing decisions are based on the best information available given the constraints of the hiring situation. Assessments aim to add value in terms of their ability to support more objective, consistent treatment of candidates. Assessments also aim to provide a selection process that is accurate, efficient, fair, and legally defensible. In addition, companies use assessment practices in the hopes of hiring employees who are more successful at their jobs, thereby increasing retention and reducing turnover of successful employees through improved job fit.

What is the objective of employee assessment?
The aim of employee assessment is to systematically collect and analyze information from job candidates for the purpose of predicting their future job performance. Assessments can include anything from structured interviews, personality and ability measures, knowledge tests, background investigations and work simulations. Assessments can be carried out either “in-house” (that is, on the company premises, typically facilitated by HR personnel) or at various external companies that specialize in administering assessment centers and other assessment-related activities. When properly designed and used, assessments provide an efficient means to measure and evaluate aspects of a candidate’s knowledge, skills, personality, experience and motivation that influence whether they are likely to succeed in a particular job.

What are the main companies in Israel that are conducting these assessments?
A number of companies in Israel specialize in carrying out assessment centers and related activities. Some of the larger organizations that do this include: Adam Milo, Keinan Sheffy, Pilat, to name just a few. In addition, many of the larger companies in Israel also have their own “in-house” assessment teams that focus on conducting assessments internally to support their hiring decisions.

What are the components of these tests, both conceptually and in detail?
The components of assessments used in assessment centers will vary from job to job, and from company to company, but typically, assessments comprise structured interviews, ability measures (also known as cognitive or aptitude tests), personality questionnaires, work simulations and behavioral tests (including group dynamics, role playing, interactive tasks). Assessments can be administered using multiple platforms, including traditional pencil-and-paper tests, computerized tests, and web-based testing. With regard to duration, typically, assessment centers can be classified as either half-day (approx 4 hours) or full-day (approx 8 hours).
Following is a brief description of some common forms of assessment used in assessment centers. To help you get familiar with the types of questions you may encounter, click here to view sample items (available in Hebrew only), and make sure to check out the links included at the end of this article.
Structured Interviews: Such interviews attempt to gain insights into an individual’s preferred style of working, often by asking questions directed at past experience, and help to predict behaviors in future situations.
Ability (Cognitive) Tests: These tests attempt to measure an individual’s ability to acquire, through future training, some specific set of skills. The tests assume that people differ in their special abilities and that these differences can be useful in predicting future achievements. Such tests often include verbal, numerical, spatial and abstract reasoning assessments.
Personality Questionnaires: ‎Personality questionnaires differ from ability tests in that they look at ‘style’ rather than ability. In other words, they examine how one typically prefers to do things, such as the way one relates to others or how one approaches tasks and solve problems. They tend not to be timed and there are no right or wrong answers, as they are concerned with how one sees oneself.
Behavioral Tests: These tests examine demonstrated behavior as a means of predicting ‎future performance. Behavioral assessments focus on an individual’s work style, including problem solving and decision-‎making style, leadership competencies and social skills. Such tests include group dynamics, role playing, and interactive tasks.

How are the results interpreted by the employers?
Often, there is some anxiety surrounding the usage of assessment results. It is important to remember that assessment is one of many important pieces used to support the hiring decision. At the end of an assessment process, a comprehensive report is compiled, integrating all aspects of the assessment. The report summarizes the candidate's profile and their fit to the position and the organization, including the degree to which the candidate is likely to succeed in the specified role.

Can the job candidate get their results? What about results being made available to future employers?
Yes, results are available to job candidates seeking results after assessments. Typically, companies that carry out the assessments will offer a personal feedback session, usually subject to payment. During these feedback sessions, a consultant will present the findings of the assessments and answer any related questions.
In addition, subject to the candidate’s consent, assessment center results may be used for future jobs that the candidate applies for. In this way, if a candidate who has already gone through an extensive assessment with one employer wishes to share these results with a potential future employer, this service is generally available, subject to payment.

What happens for people taking these tests that are not fully fluent in Hebrew?
Depending on what position is being applied for will largely determine the language in which the assessments are conducted. In most cases, the candidate will be given the opportunity to perform the cognitive and personality components of the assessment in their native language, if available (common languages may include: English, Spanish, Russian, French, Arabic). Remember that the aim of assessment is to gain a clear and accurate account of a candidate’s knowledge, skills, and abilities in reference to a particular job, so as to accurately predict future job performance. It goes without saying that undergoing the tests in ones’ native language increases the likelihood that the results obtained will be accurate. Therefore, most companies that conduct assessments will offer alternatives for people who may otherwise struggle to complete the assessments in Hebrew. However, with regard to group assessments, it is likely that these will be administered in Hebrew, particularly if the majority of group participants are Hebrew speakers.
The company responsible for sending you to an assessment should take account of any language requirements; however, it doesn’t hurt to call ahead and notify the assessment company of any language requirements you may have.

Preparing for assessments. What help is available?
While there are online sites that exist today with the aim of helping to prepare candidates for assessment, most assessment companies would agree that it is not possible to prepare for the types of activities used in assessment centers. A quick search of the websites of some of the larger assessment companies in Israel offer some helpful tips and sample questions to ensure you are at you personal best when approaching an assessment procedure (use the links below to guide you). As a general rule, the best preparation would be to ensure that you arrive refreshed and well rested to the assessment day, and approach the exercises and activities calmly and with an open mind.

Additional Links
Preparation tips: Adam Milo (English, Hebrew, Spanish), Pilat (Hebrew only), Keinan Sheffy (English, Hebrew)

Sample questions: (Hebrew only): Adam Milo, Pilat

Employee Assessment Real Life Examples:

Author Details:

Natalie Anker Cohen holds a Bachelor of Science, a Graduate Diploma in Psychology, and a Master of Organizational Psychology, all from Monash University, Australia. She relocated to Israel in 2007 and has recently held a position in Human Resources at one of Israel's leading high-tech companies. Prior to relocation, Natalie worked as an assessment consultant within the Talent Management division at Hudson, in London and Melbourne. She can be reached at: nanker16@hotmail.com.

Interviews – What is the Employer Really Asking?

2010-03-09T08:25:00.004+02:00

I grew up in the wine country of Northern California, so I was introduced to a whole new set of sports when I attended UC Santa Barbara in Southern California: water/beach sports. One of these was water polo, a game similar to soccer/football played in a swimming pool, with the teams not being able to touch the bottom of the pool. I went to my first match and sat next to a friend that understood the game, and he told me that what we saw from the bleachers was only half of what was really going on. Underneath the water, far from the spectators’ (and presumably the referees) eyes, the players were kicking each other and generally doing whatever they could to make their opponent’s lives difficult.

I was reminded of this recently in two separate occasions, one of which relates to employment. First, the non-employment event... In Israel, we are fortunate compared to our non-Israeli counterparts in that we receive the Blessing of the Kohanim in synagogue each Shabbat (twice!). During this prayer, the men lift our tallits high enough so that our children can come underneath it with us and receive this benediction. I guess from the outside looking at our family unit under the tallit, it probably appears to be the picture of serenity. However, anyone that could peek under my tallit would be witness to some quite violent actions by my children, suddenly forced to be so close together. Maybe I have the makings of junior water polo players…

More seriously though, I was speaking with someone that was preparing for a job interview. What we attempted to do was understand what was hidden here, meaning what were the objectives of the employer, so that we could then devise a plan for the appropriate responses to anticipated questions. After this conversation and a little research, I think it can be summed up like this.

Clearly, getting invited to an interview means that you have succeeded in attracting positive attention to yourself and making progress in the recruitment process. The employer has shown enough interest in you to invest valuable resources in understanding better your qualifications and capabilities, to ultimately determine if you meet their requirements. There is no shortage of Internet articles about interviewing, and a quick Google search will give you instant access. Doing some research on the “art of interviewing” can help you prepare for these meetings, allowing you to understand better what to expect and why. At the same time, researching the company and the interviewer will also pay dividends, enabling you during the interview to show that you have prepared well.

I have found it easiest to think of the employer’s objectives during an interview to be divided into two categories:

Are you qualified for the job? – Here, employers are trying to determine if the candidate can do what is required. The interviewer needs to understand if what is on your CV is accurate, and whether your actual skills meet the company’s real needs. Technical candidates may be required to solve problems. A good interviewer will get the candidate to provide details of their past jobs and accomplishments, asking relevant questions when necessary. So, be prepared to offer these examples of your previous experiences, relating them as closely as you can to the employer/interviewer.
Will you fit in with the company? – The interviewer also wants to find out if you are a good match for their corporate environment. Maybe you will be given situations that have occurred previously in the company and asked for your reaction. Some companies expect a lot of overtime, or the ability to work in teams (or work alone) – these then become tangible elements in which you will be evaluated in job candidates. For new immigrants, there are special issues, as many times employers have doubts how a person seeking their first job in Israel will survive in the local workplace, both in terms of culture and language. Your task is to understand the company and its environment as well as you can before entering the interview, so that when these questions arrive, you will be prepared to answer them properly.

And what about the Israel-specific interview questions that you may have heard about, those quasi-illegal queries such as:

Are you married?
Do you plan to have children?
How old are you?
Are you religious?

It is quite difficult to decipher what purpose/relevance these types of questions have in the recruitment process. Somehow the Israeli interviewer must put them in the second category of questions, those used to determine if a person will fit within their company. Why interviewers choose this way to try to understand this legitimate concern is a big unknown for me and most new (and veteran) immigrants, but there are plenty of things in Israel which immigrants probably never find good answers to, such as understanding how people can afford to buy new cars and go take regular international holidays when earning Israel salaries, why there are no good Mexican restaurants in Israel… Nonetheless, you shouldn’t be surprised if such questions are posed during your interview. At that point, you need to remember what your objective is (make a favorable impression and get the job!), take a deep breath, and answer the question so that the interviewer will have the feeling from your response that you match the company environment.

And if all else fails, you are always welcome to join me on Shabbat to receive the blessing of the Kohanim, which may improve your job search results. I’m sure my kids will be happy to make room for you under the tallit.

Freelancer in Israel – What does it Mean?

2010-03-02T09:14:00.006+02:00

People in Israel typically consider the freelance (contractor, self-employed) issue in one of these situations:

They are offered a job as a freelancer, and want to know what to do to be able to accept such payments
They are offered a job as a freelancer, and need to understand how the offer compares to the compensation of something they understand better: a traditional employee
They are offered the option by an organization to work as a freelancer or as an employee, and must decide which is best of them (this is relatively rare)

I will start (and end!) with a disclaimer:

This issue is possible to discuss generally, however it is dangerous to think that you have a full understanding of the issues without consultations with the relevant financial (accountant, investment, insurance) professionals.

Definitions:

Freelancer - someone that provides a service to a company (works), presents a bill, and is subsequently paid by the company. The freelancer is responsible for paying taxes, social security, health… themselves from the total amount that they receive, as well as contributing to savings/insurance/disability/pension plans if desired. In order to be eligible to operate as a contractor, a person must register with the relevant government organizations: VAT, Mas Hachnasa (tax) and Bituach Leumi (social security).
Employee - provides service to the company (works), but their compensation comes without requiring a bill to be presented; the employer makes standard deductions (tax, social security and health) before transmitting compensation (neto) and has specific legal obligations to the employee (pension, vacation, sick leave, severance pay [pitzuim]).

Before discussing the issues of freelancer’s compensation, it is important to understand the there is a solution available for those that are interested in accepting a contractor position, but do not want to invest the time, and effort to go through the process of registering as self-employed with the government authorities. That is, to enroll with a company that serves as your proxy for the transaction, acting to the actual employer as a contractor and presenting the relevant bills, and serving as the individual’s employer, meaning that the individual is still an employee (of the proxy company rather than the real employer) for legal and administrative purposes. A company that I am familiar with charges a one-time set-up fee of 300 NIS, and then 7% of the amount transmitted by the actual employer.

Back to the subject at hand, the gross amount paid to an employee before taxes (bruto) and the gross amount paid to a contractor can not be understood and compared as equivalent. From the perspective of certain deductions, such as tax and health, they are financially identical - the only difference being that in the case of an employee the company makes these deductions before transferring the money, and in the case of the contractor the money is transferred without deductions and the freelancer must handle this themselves. Still, the after-tax (netto) amount of money is the same.

However, companies are obligated by law to offer to their employees vacation (minimum 10 days/year), sick leave (minimum 18 days/year), pension (2.5% minimum in 2010), and severance pay (equal to 8.3%/month), things with a monetary value; these are not generally provided to a contractor. Social security is a kind of hybrid in that employers deduct a portion of the gross/bruto pay as well as make a required contribution of 6% for their employees; contractors must make this payment themselves and do not get this extra 6%. In addition, some businesses offer additional benefits, such as a variety of savings/pension plans in addition to the obligatory (and minimal) pension plan; again these are typically not provided to contractors.

So, when you are considering an offer as a freelancer, these points are relevant:

In terms of standard deductions (health, tax), consider the contractor gross amount to be financially identical to the bruto (before tax) amount of an employer
To make the contractor amount comparable with the bruto employee total, about 25% needs to be added, which accounts for the social security, minimum vacation, sick leave, and pension obligations of a company towards employees, plus severance pay – a contractor does not receive this from the employer. You can think of the situation like this: if a freelancer wants the same benefits as an employee of the company at the same pay structure, he/she will have to pay about 25% of the received compensation. Speak to an accountant to relate this to your personal situation.
For hi-tech companies and professional roles, it is not unusual to be offered employee savings/pension plans in addition to the relatively low level mandatory pension plan. The standard package can come to an additional company contribution of 12.5% or more. For such an opportunity, generally a contractor should add in the range of 35+% to the gross salary of an employee to arrive at the equivalent compensation. The 35% is derived from the lack of savings, pension, severance company contributions together with the lack of vacation/sick leave/disability insurance. It is sometimes possible to negotiate up if you can make the argument that as a contractor, the company doesn't have to pay for a room for you, PC... if this really is the case. Again, keep in mind that this is a rough estimate, and you should consult with an accountant to understand as this relates to your specific case.

Note: A self-employed (contractor, freelance) US citizen in Israel has a kind of double taxation, being required to pay the Israeli bituach leumi (social security, like all Israelis), and also having to pay 14.1% to US social security. Obviously, this social security issue makes the freelance option less attractive to US citizens. While this point is not attributable to the employer and thus may not be useful to you in terms of a negotiation, it is a real cost and therefore a factor in your decision.

Another difference between working as an employee and as a contractor relates to unemployment benefits. If an employee is laid off and the employer writes them a letter, they are eligible to receive unemployment benefits (assuming specific conditions are met); there is no such provision for a contractor. Please note that for people going the proxy company route, unemployment benefits are also not available to you.

In order to be complete, there are other costs associated with working as a contractors/freelance that don’t exist for a regular employee. First, there are one-time costs to complete the paperwork so that you can operate legally in Israel as a freelancer. There is no charge by the government organizations to submit/process these forms; if you decide to use an accountant for assistance with the forms it generally costs 1,000-1,500 NIS. This process generally takes less than a week. Also, certain professions and businesses may require certificates and/or licensing from other governmental agencies in order to work as a contractor. In addition, you must pay an accountant to file the relevant tax forms. There are potential benefits to the freelance mode of operation in that you can deduct certain expenses, such as car, utilities…

This article is in no way meant to substitute for consulting with a qualified financial professional, including an accountant, investment advisor and/or insurance agent, in order to fully understand the options specific to your situation. Hopefully though, it does give a good initial overall picture of the details to consider and the questions to ask when going through the process.

Special thanks to Boaz Felsenstein and Don Shrensky for reviewing this article and making critical comments. Boaz is an experienced recruiter specializing in the hi-tech sector, and he can be reached at: boaz.felsenstein@gmail.com. Don is a US & Israeli CPA, and can be reached in Jerusalem at don@dscpa-israel.com.

Job Seekers – Help People Help You

2010-02-22T07:42:00.005+02:00

Most jobs are not publicly advertised. To get to them, you need to network. I know, I sound like a broken record (for those of you what remember what a record is!), but the more I speak with job seekers, the more I realize that this is a difficult point to internalize, and even when it is fully understood, often it enters into our short term memory only.

For instance, take a look at the habits of those looking for work reported by UpMo: http://www.upmo.com/blog/upmo-research-job-seekers-doom-chances-through-poor-networking. To summarize:

Sporadic communication: Job seekers only talk to - or email - an average of 8 people outside of their current organization on a monthly basis.

Failure to expand the circle: Job seekers are reluctant to ask for introductions, with fewer than 4-in-10 (38%) asking for an introduction in the past month.

Small networks: On average, job seekers have a network with of just 29 colleagues, defined as peers they have interacted with in the last 18-24 months.

Misplaced priorities: Jobs seekers say spend 68% of their time is spent looking at online job postings - and less than one-third of their time reaching out to others.

What we have here is clear evidence that most job seekers are doing very little networking – reaching out to people that can assist in efforts to identify opportunities that will not be available elsewhere. My experience tells me that networking significantly helps job seekers throughout the world, but I think that in Israel it is especially true. Since Israel is a small country, and it seems that “everyone knows everyone”, once you get to a small number of connected people, you have access to many people that can provide you with information and even specific employment possibilities. However, this will never happen if you don’t take the first step.

LinkedIn is one of the best resources out there to make connections. Joining groups for instance, either those targeted at people in Israel or the ones focused on your profession, is a quick and easy way to get access to thousands of new people that have something in common with you. When you have built a relationship with people you found on LinkedIn, you can make a LinkedIn connection to them, thereby increasing access to additional people (connections of your new connection). By the way, one comment about sending invitations to people on LinkedIn: I personally get many invitations from people that I don’t know (or at least don’t recognize) sent using the default LinkedIn invitation text; I immediately archive (permanently ignore) them. I guess that everyone has their own philosophy of who to connect with, but I find it unprofessional for someone to make such an approach without investing some thought and adding a personal touch.

One thing that job seekers tell me regularly is that when they do network, they often are disappointed in the results. This can be true whether the networking is being done with friends/acquaintances/industry professionals or with people within organizations. Remember, the objective is to get to people that work in industries/companies of interest to you, and when you do, enter into discussions to further your understanding and get to unpublished job opportunities. There are two categories of people/organizations to network with:

Your friends/family/acquaintances that are not necessarily in a profession/company of interest, but like/trust you and can serve as facilitators to those that are. Non-professional associations, including representatives from immigrant organizations, can be considered in this category.

People with knowledge of professions/companies/sectors of interest to you can serve as professional knowledge providers. Resources from professional organizations (such as accountants, finance, hi-tech) also meet this criterion.

In some cases, these networking conversations are relatively informal in nature. Once you explain the purpose of your query, the networking contact will often try to help. However, this person doesn’t always automatically know the best way to assist you. Clearly the person understands that you are looking for a job, so sometimes they jump straight to this issue, and tell you that they don’t know of any job openings, or they don’t know anyone else that might be a good new contact for you. In these cases, you need to do some nudging to move the conversation in a more productive direction. For the networking facilitators, sometimes you must ask directly for people that they know in the professions/companies/sectors of interest to you. Now it is much easier for them to help, as they know exactly what you want. For the networking professional knowledge providers, you need to be prepared with probing questions about your field of interest to elicit the information that you want.

Everyone searching for work has the same end point: to get a job they are content with. However, not everyone has the same means getting to this end. For new immigrants just starting their careers in Israel, building a better understanding of the industry here is critical, including whether the skills they bring from another country, combined with their Hebrew languages abilities, meet the requirements. Of course, everyone is interested in hearing where the industry has employment opportunities, including at the individual company level if possible. If you are prepared with specific questions for your networking encounters, you will have a much better chance to be satisfied with your efforts.

Jerusalem Job Fair - Break out of Your Job Search Blues

2010-02-15T12:28:00.007+02:00

I attended the Jerusalem job fair last Thursday, February 11, 2010, organized by Hadassah’s Merkaz Hamagshimim, and co-sponsored by Israemploy among others. A Jerusalem Post article about the fair can be found here: http://www.jpost.com/LocalIsrael/InJerusalem/Article.aspx?id=168488. Kudos to Shira Barzily for putting together this successful event.

The good news is that many hundreds of people benefited from having access to the companies that were present and participating in the targeted employment lectures. Having the chance to speak with many employers in one location that are actually seeking workers is a rare opportunity. While it is true that a certain percentage of companies at these events are always the same, and that a number of placement agencies are regularly present, there were also some employers in attendance specifically because they had many immediate job openings that they need to fill, so all job seekers should take heart from the fact that there are positions available.

In fact, I think this is a critical point for all those looking for work to keep in mind. People become too isolated during their job search. Either self-imposed or coincidently, searching for work oftentimes is a task that separates us from others. Besides the job search reason: that networking with people is the absolute best way to find work; lack of human interaction is simply not good for the individual psyche. If you are not optimistic/motivated when looking for work, including while sending applications and speaking with prospective employers, your mood comes across loud and clear, creating a cycle that is difficult to rise above, where your lack of enthusiasm negatively impacts your job search leading to increased negativity.

So, returning to the recent job fair, attending such an event is a great way to energize yourself, speaking to companies with real job opportunities and talking with other individuals that are also looking for work. I believe that people leave such evenings with strength to re-invigorate your search.

However, this needs to carry over into actions. According to the US Department of Labor, on average a job seeker spends 18 minutes a day looking for work. That is simply unbelievable to me. I know that Jews value the number 18, the numerical (gematria) equivalent of the Hebrew word for life: Chai, and use multiples of this number for good luck. However, the optimum multiple for the job search is a number much greater than one! The old saying goes that searching for work is a full-time job – yet certainly it is true that the more time you devote to the search, the better the results will be. Of course, at the same time we need to always remember that this time has to be invested effectively, including some not insignificant component of networking, not only looking at Internet job sites, since readers of this blog know well that two-thirds of all jobs are never published publicly.

I had a table at the fair, representing Israemploy. My purpose there was to offer advice to job seekers, and I spoke to a large number of people. As can be expected in such an open event, there was a wide range of jobs seekers in terms of work being sought, length of time in Israel and age. Yet, it is still possible to categorize some of the queries:

CV (resume) help – I realize that even with all of the articles that we and others have written about Israeli-style CVs, there is only so much you can get from a generic document, and nothing replaces personalized assistance. It is impossible to provide such feedback in the very short amount of time that is available for each person at a job fair, but I am convinced that after you have invested the time to create your CV(s), it is very important to have people whose opinion you value go over it carefully and provide feedback. This is also true for the Hebrew version of your CV. For many immigrants, the process for creating a Hebrew version of their CV is to first build the English (or some other language) version, then get it translated into Hebrew. The problem can be that since the job seeker themselves may not be at a high enough level of Hebrew to understand the intricacies and subtle meanings, they are therefore totally dependent upon the skills of the translator to provide a faithful version, both in terms of objective and content. We have all heard the phrase Lost in Translation, where the meaning of the original text is changed so much that the main message itself is lost, and this is a danger with CVs as well. In addition, I know of many cases where the translated Hebrew version was not at a high enough level because the words used were not the appropriate ones in the particular profession being targeted, thus giving the wrong impression to the prospective employer. The solution is to find Israelis in your sector of interest, and at a minimum ask them for a kind of sanity-test review, making sure that the document flows well and communicates your message successfully.
What type of job to target – This is an example of a very difficult (impossible) subject to cover in a job fair short period of time. I will devote an upcoming article to this subject of identifying transferable skills and applying them to professions.
How to get information about a specific profession in Israel – No matter what the profession is, the answer to this question is invariably the same. I personally may not know the answer, but I certainly know who does, and that is those that are already working in the profession in Israel. Your challenge as a job seeker is to identify such people and make contact!

Finally, I would like to offer an apology to those that waited a long time to speak with me, but were not able to because time simply ran out and I had to give my lecture. I truly believe that such opportunities to talk with an employment advisor are of critical importance to job seekers, and open job fairs are not always the most conducive forum for such conversations, due to lack of time and noise/distractions. As a small organization, Israemploy does not have the resources alone, neither the building (we are a virtual organization) nor human resources to devote to offer such consultations. Yet it is clear to me that this is a large missing component in the arsenal of those seeking work in Israel, especially for immigrants that don’t often have a large built-in group of people to turn to, and we will continue to support such efforts to broaden the networking scope of resources for the job seekers amongst us.

Job Seeker Black Hole

2010-02-10T07:52:00.000+02:00

You might not have realized the danger involved in searching for work, but all too often job seekers find themselves networking and sending employment applications, yet finding that there efforts are met with silence – entering the dreaded black hole.

Applying for jobs on the Internet is a must in the 21st century, yet the response rate from such applications is relatively low. Most people consider a 10-15% of answers from employers to be good, with the rest of the applications entering some nether land never to be heard from again. To read more about this and some techniques to improve your results, take a look at this article: http://jobsearchinisrael.blogspot.com/2010/02/so-what-am-i-doing-wrong.html. And to read a humorous story of what one job seeker did after being ignored by a company he had started the recruitment process with, read here: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/complaint-box-the-e-snub/.

The main activity to be used to supplement your online job search is networking: http://jobsearchinisrael.blogspot.com/2009/11/employment-networking-getting-to-other.html. For some additional information about the five different types of networking resources, and how to speak to them effectively, read this article: http://timsstrategy.com/job-seeker-give-the-people-what-they-want/. One of the things that happen often when you are speaking to someone is that they will offer to forward your CVs to some of their network. While this is a very nice thing for them to do, what usually happens is that you don’t hear back nor do you have a way to follow-up (black hole!). In this case, it is best to try to get the names and contact details from the facilitator, in order to increase your visibility.

The worst thing that can happen is that frustration sets in, which is the real danger, as it can cause people to give up there job search entirely: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100206/ap_on_bi_ge/us_work_force_dropouts.

Certainly the employment market today is difficult and many things are beyond the control of individual job seekers, but there are things that you can do to improve your chances and make better progress, and I encourage you to focus your efforts on these activities.

So, what am I doing wrong?

2010-02-04T15:04:00.004+02:00

A common complaint of job seekers is that after sending out many resumes/CVs for advertised positions in which they are qualified, almost never do they even get responses. What's the problem?

Sometimes the cause can be related to the CV itself. The Israeli format for a CV is quite different than what olim [immigrants] will be used to. Israeli CVs are short (1-2 pages), and very focused on the job being applied for. If targeting a variety of jobs, multiple CV versions are often recommended, each customized towards a different job title/sector. A person sending a CV should understand that their masterpiece will get approximately 20 seconds of the employer's time initially, and during this period the objective must be to show as best as possible why you exceptionally meet the requirements for the offered position. For those that are at least conversational in Hebrew, a Hebrew CV is certainly advisable. And of course, never send a CV without at least a short cover letter.

However, in many cases the CV itself is not the main reason for the lack of response. Rather, the problem is often how a person goes about seeking job opportunities. Many people concentrate on jobs advertised on the Internet or in newspapers. The advantage of using this approach is that it is simple; the disadvantage is identical: it is simple. If you can search through the job lists easily, so can (many, many) others, and thus the amount of CVs that arrive in response to such advertisements can be very high. Don't misunderstand me, regularly searching Internet-based jobs sites is a must in the 21st century and people absolutely do find jobs in this way, but websites should be only one component of your search, not the sole focus.

In order to broaden your search, it is critical to use multiple techniques to identify job opportunities. For instance, employment agencies are a source of jobs. There are a wide variety of such companies, each with a different emphasis, and there is no charge to a job seeker to use their services. Since some employers do not advertise on Internet sites or in newspapers, but rather use such placement companies exclusively, it is worthwhile to explore opportunities here. Keep in mind though that these agencies receive many CVs every day, so often you need to be the one to contact them regularly to make sure you get the attention that you deserve.

Without question though, the absolute best job search activity is networking. The industry rule of thumb is that approximately two-thirds of all jobs are never publicly advertised, neither on internet/newspaper nor via employment agencies. If you think of this from the employer's perspective, it makes prefect sense. A company prefers to hire people that are recommended/introduced by those that they trust, including current employees. So, the challenge and goal for job seekers is to be in contact with as many people as possible, and have others serve as their eyes and ears.

How to go about meeting people that know about these jobs? Networking is the term for this activity, and simply put, it means being in contact with as many people as possible, telling them about yourself professionally and getting information about your job type/sector(s) of interest, including details of the market/conditions in Israel, and suggestions about where to search and who else to speak with. Networking is a numbers game; the more people you communicate with, the better your chances to learn about job availabilities in as short a period of time as possible.

And who should you be networking with? Everyone you know! For instance, your friends and family in Israel are obvious initial contacts, even if they don't work in positions of interest to you; they know plenty of people that you don't, so quite possibly one or more of their contacts might be a good resource. In addition, don't forget the people from your previous life (before moving to Israel), as depending upon which circles you ran in, this route can lead to introductions to relevant people in Israel.

And finally, between online networking sites, local community discussion groups and trade/religious/immigrant organizations, a wide variety of options exist for a job seeker to proactively search for those that will be useful new networking contacts.

In the media, we only hear about people losing their jobs, not those that are finding work. Nonetheless, even in this tough market, and it is difficult with unemployment growing and companies cutting back on their recruitment activities, opportunities exist. Increasing your chances of finding suitable jobs by varying your employment search techniques will serve you well in this economic climate.

Your Employment Search Persona

2010-01-25T09:46:00.017+02:00

Have you given much thought to what image you are portraying as you search for your next job?

Presumably you have seriously considered what the correct job title(s)/sector(s) to target are, and have created resume(s)/CV(s) that best highlight your relevant work experience/education/skills. However, there are other informal aspects of your search which play an increasingly important role in forming your persona.

Certainly choosing your career direction is the most critical part of this task, and developing associated well-matched CVs/Resumes is an essential step towards achieving the goal. What I will discuss here are other things that also impact your image.

With this candidate identity, what the job seeker should try to achieve is the ideal combination of consistency and appropriateness in the following areas:

Online Network Presence – LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter – these are all popular internet-based networking sites. More and more employers (estimates of 50+ % already) investigate job candidates online, impacting their decision of who to invite for an interview and ultimately hire. As a job seeker, you have the ability to influence the impression you make. There are even new-age terms thrown around when discussing this subject. Here are two in the same sentence: Become a virtual detective and check for the digital dirt. Pretend that you are a perspective employer searching for information about yourself online; do a Google search on your own name and see what appears. You may be surprised!
For all of the networking sites that you are using are have used previously, check them carefully to ensure they are consistent with the CV/resume you are distributing. This includes job and education details.
At the same time, be sure that there are no inappropriate messages/pictures on your sites. Keep in mind that anything you write online may well be publicly available to anyone that decides to search. A recent study reported that 35% of employers found content on social networking sites to cause them NOT to hire. Main reasons included:
- Bad-mouthing previous employer/boss
- Sharing confidential information
- Lying about qualifications
- Making discriminatory comments
- Provocative/inappropriate pictures

Content about drinking/drugs

Create a Blog – A blog is an excellent way to strengthen your online persona, highlighting your writing skills and your (professional) content expertise.

Email Address – Now we come to the most trivial element, yet one that job candidates sometimes overlook. The goal with an email address is to make it easy for the employer to respond to you, while at the same time not causing any red flags for inappropriateness to arise. When all is said and done, even this first point is questionable, as in the huge majority of cases if a company is interested in you, they not send an email but rather call. Nonetheless, there are cases when a company does respond by email to ask for more details or even to schedule an interview. So, let’s take a look:

The simplest course of action is to choose a conservative and easy to remember email address, such as ron.machol@hotmail.com (by the way, this is NOT my email address; see link on the view my complete profile link for my contact details). Of course, there are a number of variations using free email accounts (gmail, yahoo, hotmail, walla…) and your name. The one thing that I personally don’t suggest, yet something that new immigrants do regularly, is to use a country specific email address, for instance: name@yahoo.fr (Yahoo in France). It is already challenging enough to get a first job in Israel, and to so blatantly in the opening of your application show that you are from another country is probably not in your interest. Employers prefer people that they can be confident will fit in to the Israeli workplace.

When a company is writing to you, usually it will be by replying to a message that you sent. Or someone may copy and paste your email address from your CV. However, there are times when the person sending you the message actually types your email address manually. For this reason, it is preferable not to use a capital letter O or the number 0 (zero) in your address, as these can be difficult to distinguish. Also, the underscore character can be problematic, as it is not visible if the text is underlined.

The main reason to double-check your email address though, is to consider whether it is appropriate. I have received emails from addresses such as:
- gorillaguy@yahoo.com
- moshiach-now@gmail.com
- loverboy@walla.co.il
- I-Love-Likud@013.net.il
Are such email addresses really suitable to your professional objectives, supporting your effort to build a strong image? It depends… If you are seeking a job at respectively, a zoo, Chabad, a pornographic movie or in Bibi’s office, then maybe yes. However, as a general-purpose email address for a job seeker, such identities can be a liability. Politics, religion, and flippant images are not helpful in the recruitment process.

For those of you that decide that you need to create a new email address while searching for work, this process is free and quick. And most internet email services give you the ability to automatically forward emails from one address to another, so you can oftentimes continue to monitor one email account even when you use multiple accounts.

In the year 2010, your online persona is your virtual shadow, accompanying you along the path to your career success. Take the time and effort to make sure that this image is the one you want to portray.

CV/Resume File Type – Is it Important?

2010-01-17T10:04:00.003+02:00

You have spent so much time working on your CV, getting it just right. You found the perfect job, and are anxious to apply. Maybe something you have never given any thought to, but what is the correct file format for your CV: DOC, PDF, TXT…?

I have received CVs in all of the above formats, including variations, such as DOCX. Are they all the same?

Even if you are not a computer expert, it is important to understand the basics:

DOC – Most versions of Microsoft Word use this type of file
DOCX – Microsoft Word 2007 uses this type of file
RTF – Microsoft and Apple applications, and as well as open source systems, can work (including edit) with these files
PDF – This is the format that Abode Acrobat works with. It is multi-platform, but most people can only open and print such documents, and are not able to edit them.
TXT – A text file, notepad and other programs can be used to create these text only files, without formatting options.

Of course, there are plenty of others, but these are the most common today.

MS Word is used more frequently as the document creation tool of choice, so most CVs are in the DOC format. Since it is almost universal that the person receiving your CV will be able to work with this type of file, it is in fact a safe choice for sending your CV. The potential disadvantage is that each person can have different settings on their PC Word application, so format of the document on your PC may not be exactly the same as the way that they see it.

For those using Word 2007, DOCX files are the default format, and I get CVs in this style as well. There is a problem though, as older versions of Word can not open this type of file unless they add a special problem to their computer to do a conversion. Therefore, I do not believe that you want to take this chance; users of Word 2007 should use the “Save As…” option, and save the file as a “Word 97 – 2003” document format, which will produce a standard DOC file.

RTF Files are used usually by people that want their files to be accessible on a variety of systems (Microsoft, Apple, LINUX/UNIX…). In the case of CVs, since it can be safely assumed that everyone can open a DOC file, there is probably not much of an advantage to the RTF format.

PDF Files look exactly the same on each PC, so they overcome the potential disadvantage of Word DOC files in this regard. The disadvantage is that they are not editable or searchable, something I will expand upon below when applying to job advertised by H/R companies/headhunters. There are many free programs available to convert the various Word format files to PDF.

TXT files are simple files, and can be opened by anyone. However, because of the lack of formatting (for instance, bold text or different size characters) and the universally acceptable DOC/PDF, there is no real reason to send your CV in a “boring” text format.

So, what is the best choice for your CV? When sending an application directly to most employers, I think that sending in a DOC, RTF, or PDF are equally acceptable. However, when you are sending an application to a H/R company / headhunter, or to a very large employer, then a DOC format might be the best choice, and sometimes in the job notice itself a Word format is specified. Why? There are two main reasons:

Oftentimes H/R companies will send your CV to the actual employer, but remove your contact details (so that the employer must come to them to move forward in the recruitment process). Since a PDF file can not be easily edited, your application may simply be too complicated for them to deal with if they have other candidates, and you won’t be forwarded on.
For H/R companies as well as very large employers, there is usually a CV file bank that they use, and each new CV they receive is added to this library. When a new job position becomes available, the company will quickly do an automated search through all of the CV in the file bank, and those that meet the criteria will be selected for further consideration. In many cases these file banks can only handle Word documents, so it is to your advantage to submit your CV in this format. In addition, since this search is usually based upon keywords, you want to make sure that for this version of your CV, you have included all of the keywords that you could reasonably imagine would be part of a potential employers search criteria.

While certainly the contents of your CV are much are important than the file type that you ultimately use to submit it, it is important to understand the implications of your decision, so that you present yourself as attractively as possible.

Immigrants – The Second Job

2010-01-12T07:51:00.002+02:00

I have discussed in previous articles some of the issues facing new immigrants to Israel related to securing that first job. For more veteran immigrants, it is important to build on this subject and better understand the difference between the first job and the second (subsequent) jobs.

Although there are always exceptions, in general the most difficult job for an immigrant to get is their first position. There are many reasons for this, including:

Low level of Hebrew
Small initial network of professional contacts
No previous Israeli work experience
No local recommendations

For a full article on employment issues for new immigrants, see the article: http://jobsearchinisrael.blogspot.com/2009/12/new-immigrants-employment-issues.html. Some or all of these points can combine to make it complicated to get your first job. The last two issues may be less obvious, so a short explanation is in order. In many cases, employers have doubts about whether someone new to the country will fit smoothly into the Israeli work place. Whereas most new immigrants are rightly proud and excited about becoming citizens of Israel, employers don’t always treat this recent relocation as a positive. Having Israeli work experience, combined with job references that speak Hebrew, can go a long ways towards allaying employers’ concerns.

When a person moves to Israel, in many cases they have a professional objective, a specific job/industry/company/title/salary which they are targeting. I know some new immigrants fortunate enough to find the perfect first job, meeting the majority of their objectives. However, the more usual situation is that with the first job, a person is able to meet only a (small) portion of their goals. It might mean that a person finds a job at a company they really like, but don’t start with a great role/salary. Or possibly finding a suitable position but not in the correct sector.

What I have found is that often it takes one or more intermediate jobs before an immigrant gets to their employment objective, with each job along the way adding something to make you more attractive in the Israeli employment market. Take another look above at the bullet items. By definition, any role that allows you to address one or more of these points is improving your chances to find a better job next time.

So, for the first position(s), until you reach your goal, it is important to keep in mind that even if it is not the job of your dreams, if any given role is enabling you to attain skills and/or connections to upgrade your marketability, then it is of significant value to you. Flexibility and long-term vision is the key to success in the Israeli marketplace.

Once you have your first job in Israel, your employment prospects are much improved, immediately and for the future. Hopefully you will find yourself in an environment where you are forced to interact in Hebrew, thus helping you improve your language skills. Also, as a regular part of your job, you will almost certainly develop relationships with co-workers as well as employees in other companies that you come into contact with, helping your networking prospects for the future. You will start to learn how Israeli organizations operate, and how the work culture in Israel differs from what you might be used to before moving here. In any of these cases, you are in a much better position then when you were seeking your first job.

This all boils done to one short sentence:

You can’t get a second job without having a first job!

Sure it’s trite, lacking in imagination, and at an initial glance doesn’t have much meaning. Getting your first job in Israel is always a challenge, and the search process oftentimes leads to job offers that are not what you initially had in mind. However, if in order to reach your long terms plans a less than perfect job can help you, then you are well served by taking this into consideration before making a final decision.