If you’ve asked an immigrant to Israel what they do professionally, you’ve probably had more than one person respond with something like, “Well, in the United States I was a shul rabbi and here I am a salesperson” or “I used to be a lawyer and now I’m a freelance graphic designer.”
Of course, there are many people who have stayed in the same career after making aliyah and some have even stayed in the same job. But there are also plenty of olim who have made career switches either for pragmatic reasons or because they took advantage of the opportunity to change things up while they were busy shaking up the rest of their lives.
Wondering if you should switch careers after aliyah? Here are some reasons to consider it:
- Your current career doesn’t exist in Israel. If you like your field but your specific niche isn’t relevant in Israel, you can change course slightly, or you can choose to go in a completely new direction.
- Your career exists but will require extensive retraining or relicensing. Lawyers, doctors, nurses and accountants may be in this position. You will need to consider how complicated the process is and how important it is for you to stay in the same field.
- Your current career is lucrative in your home country but not in Israel. For instance, medicine is generally better paying in the United States than in Israel.
- Hebrew is required for your current career and you are far from fluent. If this is the case, consider switching to a job in which English is one of the job requirements, such as international marketing, sales to overseas clients, teaching English or hi-tech. If you love what you are doing but can’t do it for an Israeli employer, see if you can bring your existing job with you on aliyah.
- Your career is on its way to becoming obsolete. If you’re young and have many more years to work in your profession, it makes sense to work in a field where there is a long-term future. Technology is phasing out certain careers, like secretary, medical diagnostician, content writer, investment manager and construction worker.
- You don’t actually like your career. Whether you never liked it or don’t like it anymore, this is a really good reason to switch it up. You’re already making sweeping changes to your lifestyle – what’s one more?
- You’ve always dreamed of doing something different. Societal pressure, student loans and day school tuition costs may have pointed you in a direction that, while satisfying enough, isn’t what you really dream of doing. Now is your opportunity to see whether that dream can work in Israel, where both salaries and expenses are very different.
How to switch careers
It’s not always easy to break into a new field in which you have no experience, but there are some tips that can help you do this:
- Take professional courses or learn independently. You will want to show employers in Israel that you have the necessary skills to work in your new field, so learning as much as possible is helpful. A certificate of completion from a well-known institution can go a long way.
- Emphasize skills above experience in your CV. Since your work experience will not demonstrate why you will excel at the jobs you’re applying for, list your skills and be specific about what you know how to do.
- Network with people in the new field. Networking is one of the best ways to get hired in Israel and it is especially useful if you don’t have the requisite experience. If someone vouches for you, there’s a greater chance you will be considered for a position.
- Apply for work in small companies. Smaller companies may be willing to take a chance based on intuition or a personal click, where bigger companies will just throw a CV into the “no” pile without much forethought.
- Open your own business. Now you don’t have to convince an employer that you are qualified, but you will have to convince clients that you are up to the task. Those first few clients may take a while to get, but once you have some experience under your belt, there will be less need to prove yourself.
Getting the most out of your new career
Whether you’ve opted to become an employee in a new field or have decided to open a business, there’s a lot to learn about how the workplace functions in Israel. You should be knowledgeable about employee rights and obligations, company and business culture, how taxes and pension funds are paid and how to deal with specific situations like holding down two jobs or filing for maternity pay. All this information and more is available in our free ebook, Your Route to Career Success in Israel. Wishing you much success in your career and in your aliyah.