Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Yesterday I had an interview/recruiting session at an American 'call-center' with a branch here. The company is the biggest 'Anglo' employer in Jerusalem, and it is a member of the Forbes 1000. Supposedly they pay American wages, but you sometimes have to work crazy hours, like graveyard shift, so it's a tradeoff.

The job I was offered was paying terribly, and it was strictly the overnight shift. Not exactly what I was looking for. I walked out of that building feeling a bit low, knowing that I would be going back to square one looking for a job. There are plenty of jobs here for English speakers, but so many of them are jobs that I don't want to be involved in, like secretarial or administrative assistant work. An undergraduate degree, especially in political science, doesn't really give any type of leg-up on the competition. The job market isn't so interested in me...

The real problem is that I am trying for such a specific job segment: English speaking position, afternoon hours (3 o'clock or so), with no experience necessary. This description fits the basic American company operating out of Israel, or a company working with companies in America. A friend of mine has the perfect job, fitting these requirements...but it's the exception, not the rule.

At least I can know that a lot of people are in my position! I have a few friends also looking under the same criteria, also having little luck. I applied to the most popular English newspaper here, for an editorial position, but they wrote me back asking how good my Hebrew is; guess that's a 'no.'

I do have one more string to pull...

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