It is August 2023 and the hi-tech job market is very difficult. Here in Israel there are probably thousands of software developers, data scientists and QA engineers looking for a new job, but there are relatively very few open positions.

This situation is aggravated because many of these people looking for a job don’t have much professional experience. There are many young developers that graduated recently from universities, courses and bootcamps. Most of them are looking for their first job as a programmer, and many of them didn’t even have the opportunity to do an internship.

Israel also has many immigrants (which here are called New Olim). In the last 18 months, tens of thousands of people immigrated to Israel from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Among them, there are many engineers. These immigrants in general have previous experience, but it is difficult for them to find a job because they need to learn Hebrew and because they do not have a professional network in Israel.

As a consequence, recent statistics about the Israeli job market show that a junior developer may need 12 months on average to find his/her first job. This is lots of time: one year looking for a job! For any normal person this is a very difficult and challenging process.

In the rest of this article I will address two ideas: alternative ways to search for an interesting occupation and opportunities to use your time effectively while you search for a job.

Alternative ways to search for an interesting occupation

Let’s start with a famous joke:

A policeman sees a drunk man searching for something under a streetlight and asks what the drunk has lost. He says he lost his keys and they both look under the streetlight together. After a few minutes the policeman asks if he is sure he lost them here, and the drunk replies, no, and that he lost them in the park. The policeman asks why he is searching here, and the drunk replies, “this is where the light is”.

This joke illustrates the streetlight effect, or the drunkard’s search principle, which is a type of observational bias that occurs when people only search for something where it is easiest to look.

So now let’s say that you are a software developer or data scientist that lives in Israel. Do you need to search for a job only in Israel? Of course not! We are in 2023! Now, after the Covid Pandemic, we understand that professionals that do intellectual work can do their jobs 100% remote.

Thus you can live in Israel and work for a startup company in the United States, or participate in a project in the UK, or develop a system together with engineers in Germany and Holland. Your geographical location is not important, and therefore you should not restrict your job search to the country in which you have your residence.

Another question: Why have a single full-time job, when you could have multiple part-time jobs? If it is so difficult to find an open position as an employee in some company, I think it is time to consider being a freelancer and offering your services to people that may hire you, paying you per project or per time.

Again, it is 2023! This idea of having a full-time job as an employee is a very old concept, and today there are many more interesting options. This includes alternatives in which you will work less, make more money and have more fun.

I recommend you register to freelancer platforms and offer your services as a software developer. There are many such marketplaces for professionals looking for projects. The companies that use these marketplaces to search for service providers do not care about where you live.

Opportunities to use your time effectively while you search for a job

People normally say that searching for a job is a full-time job. But I think that this is what happens when unemployed people are sending too many CVs, or, like we say here in Israel: “shooting in all directions”.

In my opinion, the job search should be very focused. As a potential candidate you should send your CV only when relevant. I think it is a big waste of time for all parties when a person applies to some open position to which he or she does not have the qualifications.

Then the question: what should you do with the rest of your time while you search for a job? I think this question is very important, in particular in the context that the average job search can take almost a year.

I think that while you search for a job, you should invest in your education and the acquisition of new skills. And this is particularly important if there are new technologies that could give you a big advantage if you were able to learn them.

So let’s say for example that you are a PHP programmer. At this moment there is much more demand for Node.js developers. So perhaps while you search for a job using PHP you should also learn to program in Javascript.

Or let’s say that you are a software engineer but you think that Artificial Intelligence is fascinating. Then perhaps you should invest in doing a Data Science course and learn at least the basics of Machine Learning.

And obviously, if you are a new immigrant in Israel, you should learn Hebrew. It is possible to find a job in Israel if you only know English. But of course it is a clear disadvantage if you are not able to communicate with your co-workers in their own language.

In the case you don’t have any professional experience, you should search first for a non-paid internship. During the internship you will have the opportunity to work on a real project. Later you can use this internship period as a reference when you search for a paid job.

Finally, while you are unemployed it is very important to invest in Networking. Go to professional Conferences and Meetups, introduce yourself, make new contacts, perhaps even new friends. Who knows? Perhaps one of your new contacts will offer you an opportunity. There is such a thing called Luck, but you need to actively promote Serendipity.

Conclusions

Is it difficult to find a job?

• Start searching where you have not been searching. You can work for any company, in any project, anywhere in the world.
• Start searching for different kinds of occupations. You don’t need to be a full-time employee. You can be a freelancer and work part-time in multiple projects.

Do you have free time while searching for a job?

• Do courses.
• Acquire new skills.
• Do a non-paid internship.
• Invest in Networking.

Feel free to share other ideas in the comments below. Good luck!