3 Myths about Job Recruiters in Israel

If you are a new immigrant to Israel and have a dream to become part of the corporate world you most probably know who a recruiter is. Yes, recruiters are the lucky guys who get to select candidates for different job positions, especially in big companies. You will meet a recruiter either in a selection process in the company you are targeting or with recruitment agencies that specialize in different sectors like Hi-Tech, medicine, law, business, etc.

As a new immigrant in Israel, who does not have a lot of connections or a dedicated team from the Jewish agency behind me, I had to make my way alone. I found it stressful and lonely to navigate the job market without any supervision or experienced counseling until I joined a career orientation program for olims and new immigrants run by Dr. Dafna Shaked, a career consultant from Tel Aviv University. Dafna created this program as a personal contribution to the 70th anniversary of the State of Israel and Zionism move. The whole program was done on a pro-bono basis from both Dafna as career consultant and hosting organizations like Intel, Verint, Applied Materials Israel and Biosense Webster.

As part of the program, we visited Israeli offices of these leading international corporations and met their recruiters over group discussions about possible career opportunities and our succesful integration in Israel professional world.

I was surprised to hear that my fellow participants at the program, mainly olims, and I had all sorts of misconceptions about the role a recruiter can play in getting a job.

So I decided to write this post because it’s important to set the record straight and know how to use recruiters to get your dream job.

I am going to talk about three common myths we encountered while dealing with recruiters and give some insights from professionals in recruitment job to uncover them.

Before we start with misconceptions, let’s look at the common understanding of what a recruiter is. They usually work either for big corporations such as Intel, Amdocs, and Philips or hire people through agencies contracted by big companies. In Israel, they are also called talent acquisition specialists. They do the exciting job of finding top talent for the success of their companies and can change your life by placing you in your dream job.

A recruiter’s job involves candidate screening, interviewing, background checks, and getting your references.

Okay, so how do they do it? Here comes the first myth about Israeli recruiters.

Myths #1 Recruiters are like career counselors

Not exactly. Many candidates tend to believe that the recruiter’s job is to look at the resume and tell you where you fit best. Yeah, it sounds like crystal ball reading stuff. Maybe that is why many of us write CVs that look like a movie plot. No wonder why recruiters do not even look at them, because their primary focus is a specific vacancy in a particular company.

There are recruiters at private career agencies that would help you with initial job search orientation, but you need to do your homework. If you’re not sure – check the open positions in your favorite companies and try to see where you would fit. It is your job to know what you want to do, so make a decision and let the creator know.

Myths #2 Recruiters do not read resumes

Wrong. This is another misconception that recruiters never actually read your resume, they just put them inside auto scan or use a software to look for keywords fitting the vacancy. In fact, there are big industrial companies that use such software, but most of the recruiters in Israel do read your resume.

Shahar Keyvan, a talent acquisition specialist at Verint, assures she reads resumes personally, at least the first section.

At times Shahar can go through fifty resumes a day to fulfill one vacancy within four weeks time. Therefore, as our expert in career management Dr. Dafna Shaked points out, it is essential to include in your resume four sections. They are — name, contacts (including all your Linkedin, professional blogs, websites, etc.), education, job experience and professional qualities that fit the vacancy you are applying. It is also essential, to keep it a one-page document and use numbers to give a clear picture of your experience and achievements.

Myths #3 Recruiters don’t understand job needs

This myth is popular among candidates for vacancies in the IT industry. However, the Israeli job market for recruiters shows, it is not so easy for anyone to become one. Most recruiters for top companies need to have demonstrable experience in their industry.

According to Dr. Dafna Shaked, recruiters study the organizational needs and the position’s descriptions in depth. The recruiters have regular meetings with the hiring managers to understand their needs and have the ability to identify those needs in candidates quickly. Don’t forget they do hundreds of phone calls to candidates, and can have over ten years of experience in recruitment.

Now that we have uncovered the three leading myths about job recruiters in Israel, your interaction with them should be more pleasant and fruitful. The key is to take your career into your own hands and remember that a recruiter is your partner in getting the dream job. Add to it a well-organized resume that shows your advantages, real experience and you are one step closer to your dream job.

Good luck on your job search!