Happy 5779! Shana Tova Umetuka! My wishes for you, dear readers…

Rosh Hashana card made by Caroline Hauser Slapak using images from website Vecteezy.com

In Brazil, as in many other countries around the globe, New Year’s Eve is celebrated on December 31^st. In cultures that follow the Gregorian calendar, it is customary for people to host and/or attend parties; where they dance, eat good food, drink alcoholic beverages, and set off (or just watch) fireworks to mark the new year. But I don’t live in Brazil anymore – I chose to live in Israel. Here, they follow the Hebrew calendar, a lunisolar calendar, where the next day is considered to start close to sunset the night before. So for example, if a special day falls on a Sunday, then according to Jewish custom, the day actually starts on Saturday night. This can be confusing, but it’s just for general knowledge!

New Year’s Eve in Israel is totally different to the New Year’s Eve is many other countries. It is celebrated on the first day of the Hebrew month “Nisan” – usually it’s in September (Gregorian calendar) – but no parties, no fireworks, just a nice dinner table prepared by our “Yidishe mamas”. As in Brazil, people in Israel are full of hope for the new year to come – and they send wishes to their friends, family, co-workers, clients, readers, connections, etc.

This year, I decided to wish to all my readers 13 positive things that I, myself, did last year or want to achieve next year; and 9 negative “quotes” that I heard during my own hiring process that I wish you’ll never hear.

And you? What do you wish for your new year? Share it in the comments! I would love to learn from you as well!

Happy 5779 to everyone!

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For this new year, I wish you…

More

1- Real challenges in your work environment (or in your job hunt)

2- Opportunities to try, make mistakes and learn from them

3- Honesty is the best policy

4- Open communication

5- “We want you to join our team!”

6- More win-win negotiation

7- “Let’s meet for a coffee?”

8- Go to meet-ups / bar talks and meet new interesting people

9- Expand your network and reconnect with dormant connections

10- Invest in yourself

11- Help others without expecting in return

12- Accept that the world has changed and whatever you used to do to be hired 5 years ago is not as helpful as it was

13- Stop complaining about the Israeli culture! Start trying to see the good things and fit in

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Less

1- “You’re overqualified”

2- “You don’t have experience with SaaS”

3- “You’re experience is based on big and global companies; you won’t adapt to the start-up environment”

4- “The hiring manager is too busy to give you feedback”

5- “We will call you in a week” – with no follow-through, or response to phone calls or e-mail

6- “You don’t know the Israeli work environment”

7- “What you did in your home country is less relevant”

8- “Protektsia”

9- “We’re looking for someone ambitious, yet humble; that can learn fast but to come with lots of experience; the person also has to be resilient, reliable, positive, motivated and an Excel ninja. And we will pay a junior position salary”

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If you are curious about the symbols in the main picture, you can find a nice explanation in this link.