Following Lebanon ceasefire, employment service aims to help reservists re-enter workforce

The Israeli Employment Service has announced the launching of “From Uniform to Employment,” a program designed to aid reservists.

The service anticipated that the ceasefire in Lebanon will bring thousands of reservists back to their civilian lives, and that many of them may find themselves facing having a challenging employment status.

“Since October 7, hundreds of thousands of citizens have been [called up] to reserve duty, many of them to extended service of many months,” the service said.

“This, while worthy of every praise, often came with heavy personal costs and costs for the families, including employment and economic costs that they and their families paid.”

The program will offer released reservists, both those who are employed and unemployed, a wide variety of tools to help them integrate into the workforce in an optimal way.

Tools and resources the program will offer include career advising, career aptitude testing, online workshops for strengthening skills, job interview preparation, career change courses, networking events, and almost fully funded courses, the service explained.

The employment service has appointed a “reservists manager” in each of its five districts in order to ensure the success of the program, and a special hotline has been set up for reservists.

The service will also lighten requirements for job seekers who are reservists or whose partners are reservists, meaning they will be able to report to employment service centers online or to not report. Reporting to service centers is normally mandatory for those receiving unemployment benefits.

“Since the outbreak of the war, the whole country is the front line and there is not a home in Israel that has not been met with the war and its impacts up close,” said Israeli Employment Service director-general Inbal Mashash.

“Above all are the reservists and their partners, and we owe a huge moral debt to them as a society and as a country. We must do everything possible to ensure that their employment is not harmed by their dedication to the security of Israel,” she said.

Reserve duty time spiked due to war

The Israel-Hamas War has caused the number of days of reserve duty done annually by Israelis to spike dramatically – from between 25 and 42 to around 136.

While the end of the war, or stabilization of the situation, could bring this down, reservists are still expected to serve many more days than before – around 70 days annually.

This is around double the prior yearly average, so reserve duty is still expected to have a significant impact on reservists, including on their economic status and employment.

Reservists can sign up for the employment service program at: survey.gov.il/he/milouyim.

Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this report.