From high-tech to sales floor: Tech veterans find new paths amid job market turmoil
From high-tech to sales floor: Tech veterans find new paths amid job market turmoil
Amid the economic downturn brought on by global layoffs, inflation, last year’s judicial overhaul, and Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas, many high-tech workers have been unable to find work in their field and have been forced to take menial positions
For many months now, A. (who has requested to remain anonymous), from Tel Aviv, has been working as a salesman at a clothing store. He began working there after failing to find a job in his field as a product manager in the high-tech industry with 15 years of experience. He first started working in the tech industry after completing his military service in the Air Force, starting in technical support, and working up to product management. In 2022, after COVID-19, he was among the first to be laid off during the wave of cutbacks in the high-tech industry.
"Since then, I've been looking for work for over a year. I went through several hiring processes, and reached the final stages for some, but in the end, they all fell through. I realized that the role wasn't suitable for me or the competition was too intense, so I decided to switch directions. Since then, I've been working in sales in a large and prestigious fashion store," he says.
"At first, it was really strange to transition from the world of computers and meetings. I was fortunate to work in a place that offers really good conditions - the best I've found outside of high-tech. I work shifts and weekends, instead of Sunday to Thursday and work from home. It's much more exhausting, but over time, I found my place and a way to enjoy it, even if it means bringing out sides of me that you wouldn’t have seen in the high-tech world, which is very business-oriented, formal, and serious."
A., 38-years-old and married, experienced a decrease in income due to the transition to working in a store, but says that it wasn't drastic, and that he’s still able to maintain his lifestyle. "Of course, we had to cut back on a few things. My wife isn't working right now either, but we're making adjustments, and I hope to advance in my field or in another field in the future," he says.
In recent months, he has been trying to find work in product management again, but he says the situation is very tough. "I received a few offers to interview, but I didn't really pursue them because I felt it was more of the same. It's really hard now to get a job offer, and even super talented people with lots of experience are struggling to find work," he says. "I've been out of the market for almost two years, and there's a sense of obsolescence in terms of experience. It's no longer relevant after two years without hands-on experience. I don't know if they'll take me seriously. Maybe I'm done with this chapter."
About working in the clothing store, he says, "It's not my life’s dream. It's not what I wanted and dreamed of doing, but I find there are many good things about it. Doing manual labor, it changes your perception about a lot. I look at it as a stop on the way to the next thing."
Igor Kushnir, 33, is a Technical Artist with 12 years of experience. He previously worked as a freelancer for a company that produces VR and AR games, with the intention that he would be hired as a full-time employee. But then the war began, and everything changed. The company ran into difficulties, and most employees were either laid off or put on unpaid leave - including him. "I searched for a long time until I decided to find work outside my field. I started working in a Roladin bread factory, and I've been there for two months now. I do all sorts of things like overseeing an oven or the production line. The first day was very tough. I had to stand on my feet for ten hours, wet because the bread was wet. It was very different from office work. I also struggled psychologically, but I decided to stay and give it another chance," he says.
Alongside the change in the nature of his work, Kushnir is also dealing with a significant drop in income. "I earn 40 NIS per hour - much less than what I used to earn before. It doesn't feel like a job to me, maybe more like a work camp. It's very unusual for me. I wake up every day at 4:45 and commute to the factory. The tasks vary; sometimes you clean the floors, sometimes I make bread, with or without water, and there are also days of just cleaning. Now it doesn't feel so hard anymore, I think I'm getting used to it and maybe I've relaxed a bit. I can relax on weekends and go on trips; I work five days a week, without weekends or holidays," he says.
Kushnir is still looking for work in his field, positions as a 3D Artist or Technical Artist, but he says that there are few open roles. Most of his professional experience was gained in Ukraine, where his last role was at an American company with an Israeli branch. "Companies reject candidates without giving any reason, and I think some of them advertise positions just to show growth to investors, but maybe I'm wrong." Recently, he's beginning to feel some sense of improvement and will continue to search for work in the field. "I see that the situation is slowly improving, and people are starting to get hired, which makes me optimistic. I hope that I'll also find work soon. Maybe if I feel like I need more time for job searching, I'll quit the factory, but at least I've proven to myself that I can do physical work," he says.
The job market is the worst it's been in recent years, says Yoav Melamed, a career specialist who provides placement services to hundreds of companies and thousands of candidates. "Even during the burst of the high-tech bubble in 2022 or during the attempted judicial overhaul in 2023, the situation wasn't this bad. And, there’s huge uncertainty regarding the fate of the hostages and the continuation of the war.
"I see people searching for jobs for six months or more and making more and more painful compromises. For example, a candidate who worked as a digital director at a promising startup and received a salary of over 20,000 shekels per month is now a social media manager at a small tech company and making 40% less. Similarly, a project manager that I'm working with initially set NIS 18,000 ($4,839) as a minimum starting salary. Now, she is willing to go down by 33% just to get back into the job market. There's also vice president of human resources at a giant company who actually hired employees through me, but is now willing to accept a junior or part-time role, yet still can't find work because the market is flooded, especially with unemployed HR managers due to layoffs," he says.
Melamed recommends that job seekers treat the job search as a job in itself, to spend an hour or two every weekday and work to exhaust various search channels: Facebook groups, LinkedIn, job sites, and more. "Job searching in general, and today in particular, is a journey, not a trip; a marathon, not a sprint. Sending out 30 resumes a day for a week, hoping that 5 of them will result in interviews and one will bring the coveted contract, is unrealistic. Even if it takes a month to three months, within the perseverance I mentioned, it's entirely possible. Therefore, it's advisable to also participate in meetups and networking opportunities. It's also recommended to grow your knowledge through reading professional websites, participating in relevant webinars, and online courses on sites like Udemy or Coursera."
Lihi Goralnik, owner of Goralnik PR, was forced to compromise temporarily in order to survive financially and save her business at the beginning of the war. She opened her business a year ago, and the war broke out six months later. As a relatively new business amid wartime, Goralnik found herself with very few clients - but still had living expenses, income tax, and national insurance.
"I didn't know if the government would help me, so I went to look for a job. Something close to home that would allow me to pay taxes and run my business simultaneously," she says. "After a few places didn't accept me because I couldn't commit to a long-term role, one place, a supermarket, agreed to accept me for a cashier position, which meant organizing products on the shelves. I didn't ask about the salary; later it turned out to be NIS 33 ($8.8) per hour - three shekels more than the minimum wage.
“It was a very physically demanding job, from 8:00 in the morning until 4:00 in the afternoon without sitting for a minute, bringing merchandise to the shelves, dealing with difficult people, but I was happy for the opportunity they gave me even though it was very hard for me," she says. "At the end of the month, I wasn't exactly happy with the amount I saw on the salary slip, but I was happy that I had a slip and had some income to help me get through the period. The salary amounted to about 4,000 shekels, but it was more than nothing."
During her time working at the supermarket, Goralnik documented her experiences on Facebook in a column she called ‘Super Stories.’ "I was happy to have a job and income. I wished that I didn’t have to write these things; I wanted to go back to my work. It was very strange for someone who is self-employed to return to a system where I had two bosses, very nice ones, but still bosses.
"There was one incident where I answered the phone during work, and one of the bosses scolded me and was going to hang up the phone, even though they never said that it wasn’t allowed, and it was the first time that I did it. I didn't argue because I needed the job. I really appreciated the opportunity; they could have chosen anyone else and it would have been easier for them bureaucratically. It was exactly at a time when I needed a job, and others didn't accept me. For example, in one of the pharmacy chains, they asked for a long-term commitment because they said if they train me to organize shelves, the training time would be a month. If they invest a month in me, they said that I wouldn't be able to leave soon after."
After two months of working at the supermarket, Goralnik decided to quit and returned to her business. "They said we were going to have inventory counts day after day with night shifts which was too much for me. During those two months a new customer came who heard I was working at the supermarket and said I shouldn’t forget about my PR work either. I said that if I had another client then I would leave and so it was. There was a recovery as we moved away from 7.10 in public relations. The supermarket was for me a moment to breathe and save my business," she says.
