Demand in High-Tech After Waves of Layoffs: "We Receive About 850 Resumes on an Average Week"

The Israeli high-tech market is not frozen, but it is much more selective: alongside layoffs at giant companies and thousands of employees who have become candidates, Israeli companies are still recruiting - mainly for roles with deep expertise in AI, cyber, data, hardware, payments, and infrastructure, according to recruitment managers in the industry.

Today there are two markets that exist in parallel, says Shiri Wax, CEO of GotFriends. There are candidates who interview through GotFriends within two weeks at 10 places and manage to reach 5-6 contracts, and in contrast, excellent professionals who have been looking for work for months. The difference is mainly how relevant their experience is to where companies are currently investing.

According to Wax, the prominent demands are in AI, cyber, algorithmic research, Data, hardware and chips, Low Level, and complex software infrastructure. Companies are still competing for strong candidates, but the requirements are much more precise. It is no longer enough to be a Senior Software Engineer: they are looking for experience in scale, product, architecture, AI, or a very specific technological problem.

For candidates, the meaning is less pleasant: many jobs receive dozens and even hundreds of applications and still remain open. The challenge today is not to bring more resumes, but to reach the right people faster. A candidate with sought-after experience can close a contract even within 10 days, while in fields where there is less recruitment, the search may last for months.

Even within the same company, the picture can be double: a company can reduce one team and simultaneously increase AI, Security, or Infrastructure. Therefore, saying that a company is 'recruiting' or 'firing' no longer tells the whole story.

Yael Algart, recruitment manager at Viber (Rakuten Viber), describes a similar change. According to her, in the current market, the best defense is not the role itself but the depth within it. Companies continue to look for people who know how to do things at a very high level, real expertise, and not work that AI already covers. At Rakuten Viber, they are recruiting for roles around Viber Pay, including experts in digital wallets and mobile payments, and also for work on integration with OpenAI.

Algart says there is a significant increase in the amount of resumes, and also a change in the type of candidates: "We see candidates coming from companies that were considered very stable, something we didn't see in previous years." The challenge is no longer to find candidates but to identify those who are professionally and culturally suitable from a much larger pool.

Also at Payoneer, which was recently sold to the Canadian company Nuvei for 2.75 billion dollars, they talk about a market that continues to recruit, but mainly for those who come with up-to-date and sought-after expertise. Nadav Alon, Talent Acquisition Director at Payoneer, says that in the technological world, this refers to roles with knowledge and practical experience in AI and advanced technologies, and at the same time also to non-technological roles that require specific professional knowledge — strategy, operation, support, pricing, and finance.

At ForSight Robotics, which develops JASPER, a robotic platform for eye surgery, they also identify an increase in the amount of resumes. Nofar Tzimelman Avital, Senior Talent Acquisition at the company, says that there is still demand for professionals with expertise and significant technological experience, and they focus on relevant experience, the ability to deal with complex challenges, and broad systemic understanding.

To stand out today in job interviews, it is important to present clearly not only the names of the roles and technologies, but also what you developed, what problems you solved, what your personal responsibility was, and what impact you created. An updated LinkedIn profile, which clearly and accurately presents the experience and professional work, may help recruiters better understand the background and the degree of suitability.

Gong, which develops a Revenue AI platform, continues to recruit for dozens of positions to support the company's growth. According to Gong's data, from May to June, there was a jump of about 40% in the amount of resumes submitted, with an average of about 850 resumes per week. "In recent times, we see an increase in the number of resumes and applications for open positions, and we are happy to see that more people choose Gong as the next step in their career," says Adi Mora, recruitment manager of Gong Israel.

The recruitment momentum continues in other companies as well. The cyber company Cycode is currently recruiting for development and product roles, as the demand for security solutions is only growing. Axonius and Sela are also recruiting for various development and engineering roles following the demand for a transition to cloud infrastructures adapted to AI loads.

Alon suggests that candidates think not only about the resume they send, but about the professional presence they build over time. LinkedIn is a central tool, but not the only one: for developers, this can be activity in GitHub, and for others, participation in professional communities, forums, conferences, and meetups. In a world where almost every good candidate holds a reasonable resume, the advantage passes to those who manage to show a real professional presence even outside the document itself.