Balancing duty and career: Reservists face tough choices in employment
Balancing duty and career: Reservists face tough choices in employment
Job seekers who are in the reserves fear mentioning their service out of a concern that it will harm their job prospects, but also want to know how the organization will handle their absences.
With many months of reserve duty behind them and more to come in upcoming months, reservists who are job searching are grappling with whether to disclose their active reserve duty status to potential employers. Some, unfortunately, are job searching because they were laid off after returning from the battlefield. Others want to find out how a new employer will react to their unavailability for long and uncertain periods for the sake of national defense.
"Employers, with all of their good intentions - and it really seems that everyone appreciates them and wants to help - want an employee who will work. I don't know what will happen to me in two or three months. What employer would want an employee who has just returned [from the front] and has another month or two before their next call-up? If they don't ask me directly, I don't elaborate too much on [my reserve duty] because it could harm the interview. The market is already really problematic," says Yair Gerbi, a third-year computer science student and reservist in Golani who is currently searching for work. He had signed a contract for a new role that was set to start on October 8, 2023, but then he was called up for reserve duty. The workplace waited for him for a time, but eventually they informed him that they were moving on.
And he is not alone. Job seekers who serve in the reserves are facing a new reality. They want to ensure that the workplace will genuinely accommodate their need to go on reserve duty, but fear that employers will prefer employees who are not required to serve. Avi Lewis, a senior tech engineer who helps job seekers on LinkedIn, shared a recent post from a reservist who was fired from his job two weeks after his reserve duty ended. After several failed job interviews, he decided not to bring up his reserve duty anymore.
"Countless reservists have approached me on LinkedIn with personal and painful stories of being fired, including during their reserve service. One friend, who has accumulated 200 days of reserve duty, shared how his startup fired him while he was still on the front line and sent employees to take the company car from him. Naturally, he didn’t have the time or the energy to fight the decision. Another friend at a different company, who hasn’t done reserve duty himself, said that management decided they would no longer hire reservists, and to stop submitting resumes on their behalf. As a result, reservists consult with me because they fear mentioning their service on their resumes, knowing that it may harm their chances of getting hired," says Lewis.
Employers also find themselves in a difficult situation. They face a tough economic climate, a saturated job market, and targets they need to meet. After nine months of fighting, even the employees who remain behind and are forced to take on more to keep businesses running in the absence of their reservist colleagues are burnt out. Employers have to pay prices and make tough decisions. Although it's not typical to talk about this issue in a job interview, the war has brought the market to a state where organizations start 'probing' about it in interviews out of a desire to hedge the risk of hiring a new employee who will have to disappear for extended periods in the future. You can understand them - there are companies where 15-20% of the workforce is serving, making it very difficult to move forward with tasks and meeting targets.
"From the reservists' side, even those who have been employed by companies for years avoid discussing their continued service fearing their employer's reaction, so the fear is that much greater for jobseekers. Reservists believe that unless the employer fully supports the issue, it's a deal breaker and their candidacy will be rejected. As a result, they may hide or downplay their service if the issue comes up," says Ziv Elron, an organizational psychologist and co-founder of IM.Tech.
Adi Orenshtein, HR Director at D-ID, says she has been hiring employees for 15 years, and this is the first time that candidates are interviewing her about reserve duty. "They ask questions like 'Do you have people who go and come back from reserve duty?'; 'How does the team handle it?' and actually they are asking 'Will I feel comfortable coming back here after reserve duty?' In the past, they asked more about culture because everyone wants to know that the people are nice and that they will enjoy working here. Today, they want to make sure no one will be mad at them when there's pressure because they aren’t at work but on reserve duty," she says. And their questions are very specific. For example, one candidate asked, "If I have a shift in reserves that ends in the morning, will I have to come to work the next day?" Another asked if he goes on long reserve duty, will anything change in the workplace, and how will the other team members react to him.
"It's very clear that they are worried about what is going to happen. For my part, I make sure to show that we have made an effort and worked with managers regarding how to handle this situation when we have employees on reserve duty shifts or who are away for long periods and sometimes return after a week or two," she says.
Employers are prohibited from raising the issue of reserve duty during job selection processes because, according to the law, it is forbidden to discriminate in hiring based on reserve service. Candidates, of course, are allowed to bring it up, and for some, it’s a real dilemma. Aviya Telias, VP of Human Resources at fintech company altshare, says that if the subject isn’t brought up during the interview stage, it often arises during the selection process, usually at the final stage when signing the contract.
"In situations where the interviewee raises the issue, they usually inform in a matter-of-fact manner that they have a future call-up or that they are currently enlisted, without asking questions or opening the topic for discussion. I assume that just as we as a company normalize the issue, most candidates don't make a big deal out of it and simply choose at what stage to put it on the table. We totally go with them on this matter, because for us it has no impact on the selection process and the chances of that candidate getting the position. What determines the outcome are completely professional and factual considerations such as the skills required for the position, professionalism, experience, and fit with the organizational culture.
“We had one case where we started a recruitment process with an employee whose husband is enlisted in reserve duty, and she is a mother of three children. I sensed from her body language during the job interview that she wasn’t comfortable. Only when I asked her to share her feelings with me did she share her concerns. She postponed her start date several times, and I reassured her and told her that it was okay and that we were waiting for her.
“In another case, a candidate interviewed during reserve service while dealing with the loss of two members of his unit. He came to the interview in emotional distress and didn’t hide it. He now works on our transactions team and is one of our latest recruits. He’s no longer in active service at the moment, but I never know when an employee will receive a call-up order."
The company has established a policy of hiring soldiers and reservists and has decided not to hire temporary workers in their place. "It is clear to us that no company has the right to abandon the reservists. We must stand by them, even if it means we have to work harder to keep their place and ensure they have a place to return to," she says.
At Nova Measuring Instruments, a chip company, no policy has been established regarding recruitment of reservists because, in their eyes, there is no need for such a policy. "We are looking for the right talent for the company, and if they are on reserve duty, we will wait for them," says Sharon Dayan, Chief HR Officer at Nova.
According to her, the hiring teams didn’t notice any special questions about reserve duty that come up during job interviews. "There were candidates who mentioned they were going on reserve duty at a certain date or that they had been on reserve duty and might be called up again. For us, we treat it like any other employee. An interesting case that happened to us was with an employee who started the recruitment process with us during his regular service. His reference was his commander, who told us that he intended to draft him to the reserves. This, of course, did not stop us from making him an offer, and he was recruited to Nova and the reserves at the same time. Since then, he has been released and started working at the company," she recounts.
Even if there is no official policy, treatment of candidates on active reserve duty is an ethical issue, similar to pregnant employees. Elron encourages companies to make a decision about their policy towards reservists and to share it. "After nine months of fighting, and given the significant change in the security reality in Israel in the coming years, which includes a significant increase in the need for reservists, employers need to make a decision regarding the policy of supporting reservists, which involves fundamental ethical considerations. On the one hand, it’s a difficult decision with clear disadvantages that we are all aware of, but on the other hand, it’s important to also emphasize that it has great advantages and profits, such as setting an example for employees, deepening the commitment to the organization of all employees (and especially of the reservists working in the organization), creating a positive organizational image externally, and more.
“It is correct that companies which have decided to support the recruitment of reservists will demonstrate this publicly from the initial stage of dialogue with candidates. In this way, candidates can feel relaxed and comfortable, and an open and free dialogue can be created about the nature of their service. From here, better and more precise organizational preparations can already be built in advance for their training and entry into the position, which will also take into account their service periods and their call-ups," he says.
The fear of reservists is that the recruitment process will continue without them, says Shir Portal, Head of Talent Acquisition at Atera. "I encounter many cases where candidates coming for job interviews bring up their reserve duty service. They ask questions like 'Will we be able to adapt to their schedules?' or express their concerns about whether they will be able to keep up with the interview processes while on reserve duty," she says.
The company's decision was to try to accept this by being understanding and flexible about their availability and schedules for interviews. "Sometimes we waited more than a week between interviews because they were in the field. And we often have to reassure them that we understand the situation and know how to adapt," she says.
