Job Fair in Tel Aviv, September 8, 2009

The Ministry of Absorption is holding a large job fair in Tel Aviv at the beginning of September 2009.

Who

This job fair is aimed at new immigrants (olim hadashim) and returning Israelis (toshavim chozerim) but any job seeker can attend.

What

According to the official announcement, there will be hundreds of positions available in these fields and more:

• Programming
• Lab work in the field of life sciences
• Language teachers
• Customer Service and Sales
• Mechanical Work
• CNC, Factory and Technicians
• Chefs and Food Service
• Industry and Management, Electronics, Mechanical, Civil, Structural, and Electrical Engineers
• Construction and Building
• Warehouse
• Administration
• Hotel and Guest services

Where

Tel Aviv Fairgrounds (Ganei Hata’arucha), Bitan 20
Tel Aviv

Train: get off at Tel Aviv - University
Bus: Egged: 521 or Dan: 47, 48, 28

There might even be free transportation from cities in the Center of the country, call these people for more information:

• Tel Aviv: Miriam 03-5209171
• Petach Tikvah: Zimrah 03-9123006
• Rishon LeTzion: Esther 03-6337666
• Kfar Saba and Netanya: Avi 09-8890307
• Ashdod: Aliza 08-8546004
• Holon: Osnat 03-5023107

Entry is free.

When

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009, 12-5pm.

Bring your Teudat Zehut (ID card) and copies of your resume.

Originally posted on http://jobmob.co.il/

Delusions of Expertise

The other day I was eating lunch with a friend in a nearby park. We noticed a newlywed couple behind us being photographed. So we congratulated them on their recent marriage.

Just as they were finishing, we heard a random man passing by yell at the photographer, "That's a bad angle. You should take it from over here!"

We waited until they left and then we both starting laughing hystarically. I'm no photographer, but I'm smart enough to know that, a) this guy was dead wrong, and, b) if he was right, he should have been holding the camera instead!

Not everyone is an expert in every area. I can't sing "Heart Of Gold" as good as Neil Young can (or as bad, depending on your taste). When I try, my brother is always there to ask me, "Who sings that?" When I respond with the name, he replies, "Let's keep it that way."

This guy was no expert, and even if he was, nobody was asking for his opinion.

In business as in life, we need to be clear about we're good at and what we're not. And beyond that, we need to be clear about what we have time to be good at, and what we don't. Bill Gates may be a computer programming whiz, but I doubt he's doing much of that anymore. Just because we are experts at something, doesn't mean we should be the ones to take care of it.

This is a subject often discussed when hiring freelancers. "Why should I hire her, I can do the same thing?" Maybe yes, probably no. But either way, you have your own job that you should be doing.

If you do what she does, who's gonna do what you do?

Cheaper is better than cheap

I have the good fortune of living close to an incredible open air market. Yes, it's noisy, crowded and dirty, but cheap fruits and vegetables are in abundance.

I passed through today around closing time, when many vendors are trying to get rid of extra merchandise. At the bakery I really like, the guy was offering rolls for half price. I probably would have bought one anyways, but he made my decision a lot easier. The answer was 'yes'.

This old-fashioned marketplace has a lot of valuable marketing lessons to teach us. This time-tested selling principle never fails to impress me:

People are more willing to buy something that's cheaper than something that's cheap.

Let's say I know that Product X normally costs $5 but now it's on sale for $2.50. Compare this to the same product in a different store which is regularly sold for $2. The first product is more attractive even though it's more expensive. Why? Because humans like to compare things. And they appreciate novelty.

A $2 product costs $2 more than I would ideally like to spend. A $5 product that's now $2.50 is $2.50 that I now don't have to pay. That's the comparative element. It's the draw behind the "Comparison shopping" phenomenom which is so popular.

And the break from routine is the novelty. $2 all the time is boring. Yeah it's cheaper, but since it's always the same there is nothing attracting my attention. The $5 halved is out of the ordinary. It grabs us.

More marketing lessons learned from "the shuk" coming soon.

What "language" does your audience speak?

Working with Jewish non-profits has exposed me to the wonderful and not-so-wonderful traits of many of these organizations. Of the latter category, one of the more common faults is a failure to truly appreciate their audience. So I ask you:

How well do you relate to your donors, clients, or potential customers? Do you understand their needs and interests?

Like most organizations, sometimes you probably feel like you're just not getting through to them. What can you do? Elie Rosenfeld, COO of the Joseph Jacobs Agency gives some solid, big picture advice on how to make yourself relevant to your desired audience.

Typos gone good

I've been known to rant about misspelled words and how much they annoy me. I even posted about it a while back. I do differentiate between digital typos and physical typos, if we can call them that. Misspelling a word in an email or even on a blog post is regrettable, yet understandable. Doing the same on a traffic sign is appalling. Emails get sent by the boatload. They're a casual means of communication. Mistakes happen. Traffic Signs....well, a little more thought should go into them.

So you can imagine how annoyed I was when I read this from Jeff Brooks of the Donor Power Blog:

13. Typos improve fundraising results. I’m sorry, but I can’t prove that. Seriously, I can’t count the number of times we discovered an egregious typo, then waited in horror for donors to voice their wrath and confusion by not responding in droves … only to experience instead an unusually high level of giving. My theory: Once someone finds a typo, she pays a lot more attention — and that dramatically improves the chance she’ll be moved by your message and give.

I don't think you need my editorial advice on this but I'll give it anyways: Don't bank on it! Overwhelmingly, typos send the wrong message about the professionalism of your organization. Take the time to check your work.