Interviews can be tricky. You’re nervous, you have limited information about the interviewer and the company, and somehow you’re expected to sound confident, competent, and charming. If you’re a new immigrant, there’s the additional challenge of not knowing the norms of Israeli interviews. These guidelines will help you avoid some of the worst interview mistakes.
Coming late
Israelis are always late, right? If you come on time, you’ll probably be waiting for some time before the interview actually starts. While both of these things might be true, you are still expected to show up on time for your interview. Leave your house with plenty of time to get there, factoring in the ever-present Israeli traffic and the unreliability of public transportation. When you get there too early to go in—as you should—find somewhere comfortable to sit and relax, and show up at the company’s office ten minutes before the interview time.
Dressing too formally or informally
Israelis tend to dress informally at work (with some exceptions), so you don’t want to be overdressed. You also don’t want to come in very simple clothes, or in something stained or wrinkled. The rule of thumb is to look neat, put together and casual, unless you know that the industry you’re in has a different dress code.
Leaving your phone on
Before you walk into the office, be sure to turn your phone to silent and put it away. You don’t want to interrupt the flow of the interview with phone notifications or worse, ringing. Give your interviewer your full attention, even if he leaves his phone on and answers it during your meeting.
Being too modest or too confident
The nation of Israel is known for its modesty, but a job interview is not the time for playing down your strengths. Be confident about your academic and professional accomplishments and make it clear what you know and what you can do. But don’t show arrogance or act like the interview is in the bag, even if you’re pretty confident you have the job. Until you have a contract in your hand, nothing is a done deal. And that’s true even if you have been through many interview stages and this is the very last one.
Criticizing your previous or current workplace
When you criticize your workplace or your bosses, you come across as a difficult person to work with. A job interview is not the place to air your work grievances (that’s what friends are for). If you need to explain why you were fired or why you’re looking for a new job, prepare an answer in advance that doesn’t make your bosses or workplace look bad. Also keep in mind that Israel is a small country; your interviewer may very well know the people you are talking about or their friends, so anything you say could get back to them.
Being surprised by personal questions
Israeli employers are not allowed to discriminate in job applications based on personal details like parenthood, age or location. Contrary to conventional wisdom, it’s not illegal to ask these questions, just to reject an applicant based on the answers. On a practical level, this means that you are likely to be asked all sorts of personal questions. This is a tactic for getting to know you better, so if you feel comfortable answering them, this is the easiest course of action. If you don’t want to answer them, especially if you feel you might be discriminated against because of them, you need to rehearse a polite but vague answer. Telling an employer that he shouldn’t be asking these questions, reacting belligerently or turning the question back on the interviewer are all strategies not likely to go over well.
Being unprepared to state your salary expectations
Many Israeli job interviews include a question about what your salary expectations are. This is a tricky question, since you don’t want to undersell yourself or price yourself out of the game. The worst thing you can do is be unprepared for this question and either answer it without forethought or stumble your way through an attempt to avoid answering it. Spend some time researching the range you can expect, figuring out what salary makes it worth it for you to accept the job and rehearsing the exact wording you will use when the question comes your way.
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