Job search: The beaten path

Several months ago I was desperately looking for work rarely hearing back from anyone. I networked, trained in web applications, started trying to build websites, and began writing more than I had in years but all my efforts seemed fruitless. Countless resumes went off into cyber oblivion never to be heard from again and I needed to catch my breath….

Not knowing what the next day would bring, a friend suggested I contact Bituach Leumi, Israel’s National Insurance Institute, and apply for income support to alleviate some of the pressure till something worked out. There’s never anything fun about venturing into the world of Israeli bureaucracy  but there’s usually a good story to tell afterwards…

At the main Bituach Leumi office I was told to go to the secondary site around the corner. There I was told I needed special paper work and needed to go back to the first one. When I returned to the first the woman I sat with appeared dumbfounded why the second office wanted what they prescribed. She handed me some print outs and wrote on one a message to the workers in the second office that said “I have no idea why you want this information.”

Upon return to the second office I was yelled at and treated like an immigrant who didn’t understand the language or the system, which was partly true: I partly understood the language and partly understood the system.

When I pulled a mushy American move on the woman and asked her why she was yelling at me I was told I was annoying her and that its not her job to make me understand. She then printed out more paperwork and told me to go to a third address just up the street to complete my income support. Ok, at least I was done with her. Exit normality, enter beyond silly….

Just off Hillel Street there’s a building whose entrance is difficult to find. I walked in, handed my paperwork to the front desk and was told to return in an hour, preferably with my wife, and they would explain everything. Luckily my wife happened to be down town and was able to join me.

At 2:00 pm not only did we return but 50 other people showed up. We were all designated to a room, told to fill out a survey and watch a 20 minute film in Hebrew. Following the projection neither my wife nor I could explain what we were doing there and when we asked some of the Hebrew speakers in the audience they also were a loss for words. I just wanted to fill out my income support forms and continue looking for work.

After the confusion each person met with an ‘advisor’ and was given an appointment to come back the following week and meet with a representative from Bituach Leumi. But wait –I thought it was Bituach Leumi that was herding us around??? I asked the advisor what was going on and he said they would explain everything when I came back.

I came back the following week and I was ushered into an office with a Haredi woman representative from Bituach Leumi. When she started asking me for my personal information I asked her if she could explain to me what was going on. She was intrigued.

“Didn’t they explain everything to you?” she said. I suddenly had this flashback to the previous week when I first walked into the office. A disgruntled Russian man demanded to speak to one of the advisors but the front desk refused. The man said something in Russian and walked past the administration disappearing into one of the adjacent rooms. The administrative assistant turned to a security guard standing to his side an erupted: “Hello! Didn’t you just see that?”

The guard was obviously in his own world and hadn’t a clue.

“That man! You have to stop him!” yelled the administrative assistant prompting the guard to ‘mosey on over ‘and poke his head into a few doorways searching for ‘the one that got away.’

And there I was feeling like the one that got away. Why? because nobody wanted to answer any of my questions.

Like the sick ending to a cheap film when villain has to explain the entire plot because 1) the writers couldn’t do an better and 2) he thinks he’s going to get away with killing,  the woman gave it away: Bituach Leumi outsourced me to a company, whose goal is to help people find jobs and because I am between the ages of 25 and 45 I was not sent to the regular unemployment office. Bituach Leumi will pay me close to 2500 shekels a month in income support but if I don’t follow the agency’s guidelines and sit through their workshops and films and come everyday with my wife I don’t get paid. How much time was I to invest? 3 hours a day for the first month and if necessary 7 hours a day for the second month.

When I finally explained all the steps I was taking to find a job she looked at me and said: chavel ahl hazman (why waste your time here). “You sound like your doing all the right things,” she said adding, “The jobs here are not good jobs, but its your decision to stay.”

So I thought about the bouncer by the main desk and wished he had yanked me out of line for being so naïve in thinking that just this once waiting patiently and believing in the state could pay off. When I exited the building I was reminded of the greater good: I was in  living in Israel and once again walking the streets of Jerusalem. Let the job hunt resume, the adventure continue….