The Day Job I'm Not Quitting

Today I'm working in a factory. I'm making insulated water bottle carriers and backpacks. I get the canvas shell, already sewn together by someone else, inside-out. I pull the outside out, making sure the corners are in good shape, place the foam padding inside, thread the straps, and in the case of the backpacks crush them neatly to be stacked.

I wasn't hired to make backpacks, but I'm doing it, and you know what? I'm enjoying it.

Another part of my job: working in a store on Ben Hillel / Ben Yehuda (a.k.a. the Midereḥov), selling backpacks and other gear to shoppers of the pedestrian mall. That's not the job I applied for. In fact, it's not the job that was advertised.

Originally, I applied for a job in management in this company, coming right off of another management job that was outsourced to the Philippines. I also explained at length to the company owner that I could help him in some other ways, using some other skills and ideas I'd picked up in the previous months.

It turned out that I was not right for the management position he was trying to fill, but he liked my other ideas. And he need someone to work in the store, starting immediately. Could we make a synergy? Yes, we could. We did. And now I'm working, enjoying it, learning new skills, and pursuing the project that I recommended to him in the first place.

I also have more freedom than in my previous job to pursue some side projects that I've dearly been wanting to do ― the kind of projects for which you are advised, "Don't quit your day job".

The moral of this story is something like this. There is a tough job market right now, perhaps especially for Anglo Israelis with limited Hebrew. I'm guessing that it is always tough for ’olim who come with some professional training or experience in a field that may have been viable in the old country, but which is little more than useless here (let's just use “professor of French” as a random example). That can be pretty discouraging. I've spent too much time since my aliyah being unemployed, faced with the perplexing problem of job listings not lining up with my chosen career.

Thanks to a little bit more open mind, I've been a sous-chef for a gourmet kosher caterer, ridden around North New Zealand with milk tank truck drivers, and helped build a store on Ben Yehudah street, working side-by-side with Arabic-speaking construction workers. I'm not saying I'd want to carry on with these jobs in the long term, but I'm glad I did them. I don't care anymore when people ask me, "Is that why you spent six years in grad school?" Each one gave me some experiential knowledge that I carried into the next job.

What I'm experiencing right now is a providential kick in the pants. It's the opposite of the mentality (such as mine was) that says: "What did I major in? What experience do I have? Okay, now let's see what job listings correspond to that."


I began writing this posting during lunch, and went back to work after a couple of paragraphs. While finishing backpacks I started chatting with the foreman of the operation, who was using a jigsaw to cut bolts of canvas in order to make new backpacks. Mahmoud has 30 years of experience, 14 years in this company, and has the disposition of a artist in his workshop. Sensing an interest, he asked me if this was a skill I'd like to learn. "And then you can work here, and I can go off to the beach?"

Sure, he was joking, but as we kept chatting for the rest of the afternoon, I could see this wasn't a 100% pointless conversation. It could turn into something bigger. Or not. The important point for me was that this was not a job that was listed, and even if it were, I would have never have given it a second's thought. But I'm working.