19 Yahoo Groups For Israeli Job Hunting – Part 1

This two-part article covers a selection of Yahoo groups that you should check out in your search for jobs in Israel.

Some Background

Yahoo got into the Groups arena in the '90s before Google did. As a result of being a first-mover and having an easy-to-use design to boot, its groups are still much more popular for now.

Google initially took a different strategy in acquiring Deja News and revamping that website to continue allowing access to the Usenet newsgroups over the web, something Yahoo still doesn't do in 2007. Later they added Google Groups to compete head-on with Yahoo but their recent redesign is a symptom of its disappointing popularity. More indicative in our case are the low numbers of relevant Google Groups and the very low membership numbers of the few Google Groups that are related to job hunting in Israel.

For these reasons, Yahoo Groups are where it's at.

One thing you'll notice as you go through the list is that all the groups are in English, and you will rarely see messages in Hebrew. The Hebrew job-related discussions are mostly taking place in forums like Ma'ariv's.

How To Read This Guide

• Yahoo Groups require a Yahoo email account to login. If you don't have one, sign up here. Don't worry too much about it not being your main email address since each Yahoo Group allows you to choose any email address you like for receiving group posts, so you can still be updated via your regular address.
• (Jobs-Only) – this tag is meant to separate the employment-focused groups from the others where jobs can be found but aren't the main purpose of the group.
• (Restricted) – this tag indicates that when you join a group, you will need to send a request to its moderator. It's rare that moderators don't respond within one business day.
• (Moderated) – this tag indicates that if you ever post anything to the group, your message will only appear after a moderator has approved it. This is was less a necessity before spammers began trying to take over the Internet (over 86% of all email traffic in 2006) but in these groups, it's often a way of preventing conversations from degenerating into Israeli politics and the usual calm & relaxed discussions on that topic.

The Top 5 Groups for Your Israeli Job Search

Here are the most trafficked and most relevant Yahoo Groups for finding jobs in Israel in descending order by February 2007 membership numbers:

1. (Restricted) (Moderated) Janglo – Jerusalem Anglo Protexia. This group was founded in 2001 by Zev Stub and is approaching its 12000th member. As the name intimates, it was initially aimed at helping Jerusalem Anglos but over time it has grown beyond that constituency. Job postings whether hiring or seeking are welcome and frankly, recommended, considering the size of the audience. Janglo.org.il is on its way to add some features that a Yahoo Group currently doesn't provide.
2. (Jobs-Only) Israemploy – Networking for Job Seekers in Israel. This group is essentially a job posting board and rarely involves active discussion. It became so popular (just over 11000 members) that it spurred the successful creation of Israemploy.net, which has practically replaced the group itself. It's still worth subscribing if only for the occasional job listing but time is better spent creating an account on the website and using its search to generate daily emails of job listings tailored to your interests.
3. (Restricted) (Moderated) raananalist – A general-purpose group of over 4000 members for people interested in the town of Ra'anana. Job opportunities of all kinds are often posted and the group is extremely active, averaging almost 2000 messages per month in 2006.
4. (Jobs-Only) (Moderated) NCYIjobs – National Council Young Israel Jobs Board. This job listing group was created “to assist those in the Jewish communities in the United States, Israel and around the world in seeking employees and employment.” Most of the jobs are US-based but 2000 members and their contacts is nothing to scoff at, so by all means join if only to post a job want-ad.
5. (Restricted) (Moderated) newraanana – similar to the raananalist, smaller but still significant at over 1800 members. In a twist, it's sponsored by a PR firm and seems to be related to Ra'anana City Hall, but claims to be relevant to the entire Sharon area.

Please be helpful to others and be job finders

While using these forums, if you see people posting with the word ‘JOBSEEK' in the subject of their message or you notice anyone else looking for job search help, suggest they visit JobMob so that they can get answers to their job search questions. Thanks in advance for them and for us.

Coming Next in Part 2 – Groups 6-19

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