Operation Roaring Lion has disrupted the country’s labor market, with the Labor Ministry reporting a rise in unemployment. But Israel’s high-tech sector continues to operate, and hiring has largely continued as usual despite the fighting.
The defense-tech sector, focused on security technologies, has even increased its hiring in response to growing defense needs.
Unlike in previous wars, when technology professionals completing their military service were often immediately called back to reserve duty, discharges from the military have continued as planned in recent weeks. That has further accelerated efforts by tech companies to recruit newly released soldiers.
A survey by the recruiting firm GotFriends, conducted among 500 high-tech companies, found that only about 15% of firms have frozen hiring processes. Around 50% continue recruiting at a normal pace, while 35% have actually accelerated their hiring efforts.
“The companies that froze hiring did not do so because they no longer need employees, but because under the current circumstances, it is complicated for them to manage the process,” said Shiri Vax, CEO of GotFriends. “Many managers are serving in the reserves, and recruitment managers are juggling work with children at home.”
Among roughly half of high-tech companies, hiring is continuing at a slightly slower pace but has not stopped. “It’s important to say that companies are continuing recruitment processes that already began,” Vax said. “New processes are mainly being opened for exceptionally strong candidates that companies don’t want to miss.”
The most notable trend is the acceleration of hiring by about a third of companies, something that was not seen during previous wars. According to Vax, the phenomenon is especially evident among small and mid-sized startup companies.
“Many companies have canceled non-urgent meetings and postponed development work, which frees up time for managers to focus on recruitment goals,” she said.
Nearly all job interviews during the current period are being conducted over Zoom, she added. “Managers are simply interviewing remotely and moving forward quickly. From these companies, we feel greater exposure — they want more candidates and are suddenly pushing us to find them candidates. It’s possible they’ll succeed in hiring excellent candidates now because the larger companies are more stuck.”
How is the surge in defense-tech reflected?
“Defense-tech companies have significantly increased their hiring efforts — both small companies and the large defense industries, drone companies, cybersecurity firms, all those working on technologies for the state. They’re operating at very high intensity and they also see more projects coming their way, so they understand they’ll need to hire many people and they’re moving fast. We’re seeing the success of defense-tech in this war, and the sector will continue to experience growth we haven’t seen before.”
Vax also pointed to a trend of career soldiers being released from service according to their planned dates. In previous wars, she said — including after Oct. 7 and during fighting in Lebanon and Iran — there were long periods when tech job candidates could not leave military service.
“Startups and other companies in Israel love to recruit veterans of elite technology units with five or six years of experience. After Oct. 7, there was a very long period when those candidates were not released to look for work because they were called up for reserve duty,” she said.
According to Vax, since the start of the current war with Iran, those leaving regular service have not been called back into reserve duty — at least so far.
“I haven’t seen a massive mobilization like after Oct. 7, when everyone’s service was automatically extended by about half a year. When something like that happens, it’s a severe blow to the market that relies on veterans of these units.”
Is this a good time to look for a job in high-tech?
“In all the Facebook and Telegram groups I’m part of, I’ve seen job candidates asking, ‘What will happen with my recruitment process? If I already started one, will they get back to me or not? And if I was just laid off, does that mean I’ll have to wait another month without compensation?’”
“There are many people who were laid off in the past six months, and that’s very painful. So anyone looking for a job now needs to increase their efforts and not give up. People are very discouraged — they’re really under pressure. There are fewer job opportunities, but some companies are still hiring, and you shouldn’t say, ‘OK, I’ll take a break and stay home for a week.’ You need to keep looking because you might land exactly at a company that has accelerated its search rather than paused it.”
What is the overall level of activity in high-tech companies?
“I don’t know a single high-tech company that has completely shut down. Work is hybrid — everyone has a computer at home, so they don’t need to organize for that — but the sector is operating at about 80% of its usual capacity. I don’t know any parents in high-tech who, under these conditions, are managing to work more than 80% of a full-time job.”
Have workers been laid off and become unemployed?
“I don’t think many workers have become unemployed right now. What is happening is that about 20% of job candidates have stopped looking for work — because they themselves are in reserve duty, because their spouse is in the reserves or because they have children at home. They’re saying: ‘Don’t talk to me right now. Give me a little quiet — I can’t make decisions at the moment.’”
She also noted another trend: young high-tech employees without families or children are using the period to look for alternative jobs and improve their employment conditions.
“Singles are saying: ‘Now I’m available, I’m working from home, so I can search discreetly — you can talk to me.’ In a normal week, they’re only home one day, but now they can take tests and attend interviews.”