Hiring Israel-Based Talent For Remote Jobs: 4 Reasons Your Company Should Be Considering It
This small Middle Eastern tech power could also be the talent pool you’ve never thought about tapping
If you’re on the lookout for new team members and are open to the idea of hiring remotely (as you should be!), then Israel is one talent pool that you mightn’t have considered.
As an Israel-based advocate for all things remote-work (FYI: I also like async), I’d like to help change perceptions about the viability of working with employees in this part of the Middle East.
I’m also highly biased and have a glaring self-interest in writing this article because I’d like to continue to work with international organizations. Enough of a disclaimer? Let’s continue then.
While Israel mightn’t be top of the list of countries people think about when considering where to make their next remote hire, there are a few reasons why overlooking this booming tech superstar would be a mistake.
Ready? Here are 4 reasons.
Israel Is Chock Full Of Immigrant Talent
As a country built on immigration, it’s no surprise that Israel happens to have a disproportionately large expat community within its borders.
For a tiny sliver of the east Mediterranean, Israel has a surprisingly large population. At last new year’s eve, the number stood north of 9 million. But isn’t Israel famously tiny? Yes, it is. Head over to TheTrueSize.com to see how different countries look superimposed on top of one another. The secret to these two dynamics coexisting? High population density. Israel clocks in at 30th in the world on this metric with more than 400 people living in each square kilometer of the territory.
During last year alone, more than 20,000 olim (Jewish immigrants) moved to Israel to make a new life for themselves in the country. What can you do with all these fresh-starters? One option is to hire them!
In the multicultural melting pot that is Israel, immigrants are often segregated according to what language they speak. But judging by skillsets, it’s also a rich panoply.
Israel is home to immigrant:
- Doctors
- Lawyers
- Marketers
- Salespeople
Want to diversify your applicant pool? Make sure that Israel-based candidates are able to access your latest openings.
Israel Is On UTC+2 — So Is Easy To Interface With From Europe
As a country on the east of the Mediterranean Sea, like its neighbors, Israel is two hours ahead of Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) which, practically speaking, works out to be the same time as Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
This means that Tel Aviv and Cairo are both on the same time zone. Curiously, this also means that Israel tends to be on a very similar time to South Africa throughout most of the year (they’re just based in different hemispheres).
For those running Europe-based businesses looking to hire remote workers, this means that the time zone offset with Israel-based workers tends to be either one time zone of none.
Because of the nuances of time zones, Israel often works out to be ahead of countries on the periphery of Eastern Europe such as Ukraine (at UTC +3 at the time of writing).
Compared to workers based in the US — particularly on the West Coast — this time zone difference is minimal and doesn’t impede productivity or the syncing of calendars.
Remote Work Is Quickly Becoming Entrenched In Israel
The pandemic has greatly accelerated the adoption of remote working arrangements — both in Israel and throughout the world.
Israel, in fact, has emerged as a world lead in an unwanted category — becoming, earlier this year, the country that had forced its citizens to spend the most time under lockdown.
All this means that remote working arrangement have quickly accelerated in Israel — much as they have in other countries.
But why does this matter?
As a longtime remote worker (I’ve freelanced, on and off, for six years), I’m certain that the existence of a remote ecosystem can be a make or break factor in determining the success of remote working for each of its individual participants.
In this sense, the fate of the collective determines the fate of the individual. The simple explanation? Working remotely can get lonely. But being among other people doing the same thing can make it a lot more bearable.
As more and more countries turn to Israel for their remote talent needs, this ecosystem is likely to only get stronger.
Israel Is Well Connected By Air To Major Financial Centers And World Capitals
Owing to the vibrant nature of its immigrant community, Israel has developed extensive air links with major world capitals — connecting this Middle Eastern country with major world capitals including London, NYC, and Hong Kong (among many others).
And as Israel’s diplomatic relations expand, so do the list of countries wanting to do business with it — inevitably leading to the creation of new scheduled flight routes.
The pace at which these developments are taking place is easy to miss. It’s been less than a year since Israel’s national flag-carrying airline, El Al, operated the first commercial flight to Dubai in the UAE.
El Al and Israir agreed to begin flights to Marrakesh (in Morocco) after the signing of the Abraham Accords.
Given the ongoing pandemic, there are other routes that have been announced by airlines but which are presumed to be on hold for logistical reasons.
El Al had previously announced that it intended creating the first non-charter flight route between Israel and Ireland. American Airways had previously discussed creating the first direct flight between Tel Aviv and Dallas.
During normal times, Israel is a Middle Eastern transport hub that enjoys substantial connectivity with capitals — both neighboring and far-off.
As remote working continues to gather pace, companies are turning to diverse labor pools to ingest the human resources needed to power their growth.
Although legislative and taxation concerns still provide an obstacle for some companies, many are taking a chance on talent based in geographies with which they don’t have traditional relations, including Israel.
Israel provides a plentiful source of English-speaking talent with a strong expat population and good links with the rest of the world. For those interested in exploring it as a recruiting destination, it has a lot to offer.
