Mishra hunting

Etmol (yesterday) at Ulpan, we worked on vocabulary for interviewing.  Some logical, and helpful words, included nisa'ion (experience), miktsoa (profession), hamlatsa (recommendation), and mashkoret (salary).  But there was a whole additional list of words that reminded me of my earlier post about the interview process here in Israel - gil (age), nisui/ravak (married/single), hametsav hamishpachti (family situation), ve yeledim (children).  These really are legal topics for discussion in an interview here.  It is hard for me to imagine wanting to work in a place with people who would discriminate on the basis of characteristics which should have nothing to do with a person's ability to do a job successfully. 

I recently sent out a couple resumes here in response to online postings, as a kind of fishing expedition to see how it works.  While this technique is generally about as effective as playing the lottery for the jackpot, I have had surprising luck landing several of my previous jobs this way (in the U.S.).  However, the Israeli online job sites require monthly subscriptions, which I refuse to pay out of principle (they make plenty of money off the corporations listing the jobs), so I am receiving somewhat limited, non-targeted listings.  This is a country based on human networks, so I expect that will be the required method for success, particularly because I am not looking for a traditional/well-defined job function.  One English listserv that I subscribe to here raised a confirming point in this matter - in Israel, "everyone know's everyone from the Army."  Of course, this makes it all the more important to position myself as having a skillset that is limited in availability, making it worth taking a risk with an outsider like me.

I may start pursuing networking more aggressively in the New Year, as I hope to be done with Ulpan sometime in the spring.  I miss having challenging, meaningful work.