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Artem Minav had many concerns about moving from Belarus to Israel with his wife and two children after they decided to leave their home quickly following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He worried about getting in, finding a place to live, learning the language. But even before the grueling 28-hour journey from Minsk to Tel Aviv, one thing was taken care of: Minayev’s career.
A week after landing in Israel, Minev signed a contract with Cloudnow as a cloud architect, which he interviewed and welcomed before leaving Belarus. “It was great to get this offer and be sure to come,” he said.
Minaev is the first person displaced by the war in Ukraine to join The Reboot Startup Nation, a volunteer-run database connecting new Russian-speaking immigrants and Israeli high-tech companies.
“We really believe that the high-tech sector has the ability to attract not only programmers, but also people from different backgrounds,” said Sophia Tupolev-Luz, co-founder of Reboot Volunteers. Last week, Reboot announced a partnership with itworks, a 16-year-old Israeli organization that helps place marginalized communities in the tech sector. eWork has placed more than 5,000 single mothers, Arab nationals and people with disabilities at tech companies over the years.
Highly skilled, looking for immediate employment
In the year When Russia invaded eastern Ukraine on February 24, Tupolev-Luz, who lived in Moscow before moving to Israel in her 20s, was suddenly inundated with messages from friends. She texted her acquaintances in Ukraine and Russia to tell her they were leaving for Israel immediately and asked for help finding work.
Tupolev-Luz, who currently works as a strategic communications consultant for several high-tech companies, reached out to her professional network. “I talked to my clients and said, ‘Would you be willing to meet the people who come here?’ I asked them,” she said. “I thought we would get a few people and a few jobs, but it turned out to be a lot bigger than we thought.”
Currently, Reboot has helped connect more than 700 people with jobs in Israeli companies, and the demand is only growing. More than 10,000 people submitted their resumes, joined Reboot’s social media channels or signed up for workshops on resumes, interviewing or other skill sets. More than 300 companies have registered to hire candidates from the database. More than 100 Israelis currently working in high tech have offered to have coffee with the newcomers or work as mentors.
The Aliyah and Integration Ministry announced that 37,000 new immigrants from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus have entered Israel in the past six months. About 18,000 are new citizens and 19,000 have made clear claims for citizenship under Israel’s Law of Return, which allows anyone with a Jewish grandparent to move to Israel but must have their papers approved before citizenship can be granted. About 5,000 stateless Ukrainian refugees in Israel are in the country on tourist visas.
About half of the new arrivals are between 22 and 50, considered the age for looking for a new job. Tupolev-Luz and her team at least 20% of the new arrivals are qualified to work in technology, not only on the program, but also in areas such as marketing, communication and human resources.
In the year August 4, 2022 at Pearl Cohen’s office in Tel Aviv to learn Hebrew for newcomers (Photo: Reboot)
Tupolev-Luz and a group of friends started the Reboot initiative as volunteers, but the collaboration with his works allows them to grow the program. The partnership is supported by the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, the United Jewish Israel Appeal and the Jewish Federations of North America.
According to Minaev, a new tenant from Belarus, one of the advantages of high technology is that many international companies operate in English, and many newcomers are looking to fill specialized positions that are qualified to fill. While in Minsk, Minaev quickly got to work once he had access to Reboot’s resources, changing his LinkedIn profile location to Israel and updating his resume. He immediately began talking to several companies interested in his skill set.
Minaev said the resettlement support was critical because he and others had no idea how to approach the foreign job market while living abroad, especially when they were in a state of great uncertainty about their documents and their future.
“I have a family and two children and I don’t want to be dependent on anything I can’t manage myself, like money or an apartment,” said Minayev, who is originally Russian and moved to Belarus in 2015. I know that Israel is more expensive than Belarus, so it was very important to find some opportunities and jobs before I arrived in Israel.”
Minaev noted that people in technology find it much easier to find placement in a new country compared to other professionals who need local certifications. “High technology is not as complicated as doctors or scientists, because high technology is more flexible between countries,” he said.
Not repeating history.
It’s always in Reboot mode. It is learning from the mistakes of the wave of Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s, when Israel took in more than a million Russian-speaking refugees.
Many of the new immigrants were highly skilled doctors, engineers and professors. But many professionals are forced to work in menial labor far below their capabilities, largely due to Israeli racism. “The main reason we live is to prevent the 90s from happening again. Alia” said Tupolev-Luz. “What’s wrong with the Ministry of Aliyah?” How did this happen?’ They told us that people rush to work without learning Hebrew… There was a rush to find a job, to find a job, to find any job,” she said.
This emphasis often puts the Russian to get any paying job immediately once upon a time On low-wage trips where they can’t get environmental certificates and return to their profession.
Reset and Work is encouraging people to enroll in Alpan’s Hebrew classes, helping them continue their education, develop new skills, and understand the Israeli job interview, hoping it will make them better at their first job in the country. Work direction.
Israeli society also has work to do.
“Israeli society begins without knowing how to understand these once upon a time [new immigrants]” said Tupolev-Luz. “The word ‘refugees’ is very derogatory to them. We tried to combat that and used the term ‘displaced professionals’.
While sympathy for those forced to flee the war in Ukraine is high among most Israelis, Tupolev-Luz said it’s important to know that new immigrants get jobs based on their skills, not their sympathy.
“In many cases, we received reports from companies saying, ‘We wanted. [development-operations] Person for six months and we’ve got exactly what we’re looking for in a person in your database,’ she said.
‘Why isn’t this just for Ukrainians?’
“People don’t fully understand why Russians should be part of this work; ‘Why is this not just Ukrainians?’ they ask. “Russians are under severe political repression. Russians and Belarusians can go to jail for saying ‘no war’ on social media, they can’t go to protests. I don’t know if it ever happened, but Russia is not a free country.”
Russia has pointed to its threat to close the Jewish Agency to show that Jews are under threat on all sides of the conflict. “Unfortunately, war has caught everyone in the net,” she said.
“Sometimes I have to explain this to people who don’t know much about geopolitics… The Russians and Belarusians who are coming are very excited about what is happening. You’re not seeing Russians supporting war, because they have no reason to leave. Those who think the war is a problem say, ‘I can’t raise my child in this country.’ People are really scared, and it’s hard to hear stories of how they can’t get on with their lives.”
Another big problem is that about 19,000 Russian speakers are in bureaucratic limbo and are considered incompetent. AliaBut their papers were not accepted for immigration. This process can often take years for Jews from the former Soviet Union, with candidates without the ability to work while waiting.
Currently, Reboot is working with HIAS to help those awaiting immigration approval as well as refugees who have fled Ukraine but are unable to obtain citizenship. These groups do not have work permits, although the Ministry of Interior says they can, making job placement difficult.
Artem Minav and his family went on a sightseeing trip to Haifa. (Photo: Artem Minav)
Meanwhile, in Kiryat Gat in southern Israel, Minaev is settling into his new life, working most days remotely and sometimes commuting to his Kfar Saba office. He loves his job and is grateful to be able to support his family, and is learning Hebrew so he can better communicate with the company’s clients. His oldest daughter, 9, attended the school for two months and spent most of the summer vacation playing in the park with other Russian-speaking children. His son, 2, enjoys going for bike rides and exploring the parks around their new home.
We are trying new fruits like mango and watermelon. For us and our children, they love the fruits, and of course all the ice cream is amazing,” said Minaev.
But the part of their new life they love may not come as a surprise to older Israelis. Minayev’s oldest daughter has celiac disease and cannot eat wheat products, so they fell in love with an Israeli classic – gluten-free peanut butter. “They love it so much Bamba… that Bamba It’s great.”
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