The Israeli civil service is banking on the appeal of its jobs and careers

With the public sector representing 19.7% of the workforce and with 89.2% of public employees being civil servants, Israel’s circumstances are very similar to those of France. As the civil service has been suffering in recent years from a lack of appeal, particularly to young graduates, the country has decided to act. 

The Civil Service Commission, which is tasked with drawing up the HR policy, has successively introduced two programmes focusing respectively on new employee training and onboarding.

It first unveiled the Civil Service Cadets programme to select and train the next generation of civil service management. It comprises:

 • An eighteen month training period with the acquisition of academic knowledge leading to a Master’s Degree in Public Policy which is fully funded. This is supplemented by vocational training leading to qualifications given by top level training staff as well as practical internships.

 • Placement in a government department with cadets signing a personal contract which commits them to the civil service for at least four years during which the new employees must hold two different positions.

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Obviously, the government wants to take advantage of these initial years to incite its young managers to continue their careers in the public sector. This is the purpose of the Civil Service Onboarding assistance programme to foster integration.

This approach caters for two requirements: standardising existing procedures and bolstering the transmission of values to enable all employees to find their place in the organisational structure.

There is a pre-boarding stage two weeks before arrival. This covers everything to do with the work environment and, most importantly, designates the supervising mentor (different from the direct supervisor).

The entire programme lasts one year and is broken down into four steps:

 • Day one, presentation by the HR unit and head of the absorbing unit, and receipt of signed welcome emails from the Civil Service Commissioner and the Office Director

• First month, identification of professional needs and meetings with key administrative staff (training, welfare, etc.)

• From the second to the sixth month, deepening onboarding and integration (participation in two seminars) and first evaluation by the direct supervisor

• From the sixth to twelfth month, expanding job responsibilities and building professional independence through cross-referenced feedback

Smooth operation of the process is ensured by a number of resources: a monitoring instrument for the supervising mentor and educational software for the new employees who are provided with an onboarding kit and a modest gift.