Why talented engineers from the Arab sector do not pass your recruitment process?

For the past five years, I have been volunteering at Tsofen, non profit organization. A significant part of this wonderful organization's mission is integrating technology professionals from the Arab sector into the high-tech industry. Among the many projects, they operate a Full Stack course for computer science graduates to provide engineers from the Arab sector with skills that will enhance their readiness for the high-tech world.

Within the course, I conduct workshops where I share my experiences from the high-tech world and tell students about the recruitment and onboarding processes they can expect to encounter. Together with experts from Tsofen (HR professionals from the Arab community), we practice job interview simulations, spending about 30 minutes with each student.

I meet incredibly talented young people with a genuine passion for integrating into the high-tech industry. Having been in this field for twenty years, I've learned to identify the material from which successful entrepreneurs or excellent engineering managers are made. I see this material in these workshops.

For me, this is a fascinating experience - when we don't know a specific society, we are typically unaware of its cultural markers and sometimes even unique identity components. Is the young Arab I'm talking to from the Galilee or the "Meshulash", is he an urban resident from Haifa or from a village, is he Christian, Muslim, Druze, is he religious or secular. Similar to Jewish society, all of these have a significant influence on a person's personality.

I'm here to act to the best of my ability to transform Israeli high-tech into a leading sector in employing professionals from the Arab sector in Israel. I believe the high-tech sector must "align" with two sectors from which it has much to learn - hospitals and universities. There, despite all the complexity, we witness true opportunity and partnership. This is a "win-win-win" opportunity: new talents for companies needing developers, advancement of the Arab minority in Israel, and contribution to the complex partnership between two peoples.

We know very well how networking and role models (successful startup entrepreneurs) are vital in creating momentum within a specific sector: people who will open a door for you, or even give advice to help you make the right decisions in studies or before an interview. Look at how central these elements are in the Israeli high-tech scene. They almost do not exist in Arab society, and therefore the path is long.

How does an organization become more open? This is a complex, multidimensional journey, starting from the recruitment stage through establishing a tolerant work environment that provides "psychological safety", to universally recognizing dates throughout the year (Christmas, Eid al-Fitr, Pride Parade) or the organization's response to exceptional events occurring in the country. Here I will focus on the recruitment process.

Recruiters are well aware of the sensitivity of the hiring process to various biases. This sensitivity is understandable, as at this stage, the level of familiarity with the interviewee is very low. Therefore, we are compelled to create "shortcuts" to make decisions. I am concerned that candidates from the Arab sector may be significantly harmed by such biases.

It’s important to pause for a moment and examine the (often subtle) difference between bias (first impressions, halo effect, preference for similarity) and personal (or cultural) patterns that can genuinely influence a person’s ability to integrate into an organization and succeed in their role. My strong feeling is that there are cultural behaviors that negatively affect the impression Arab candidates create, even though they have no actual impact on their performance.

I will try to describe unique patterns I’ve seen during conversations with close to a hundred graduates from the Arab community. Of course, I am generalizing, as identifying patterns inherently involves a degree of generalization. In addition to the patterns, I will attempt to describe how they might manifest in a job interview and how an interviewer can overcome them.

It seems that the most significant factor in the context of job acceptance is that Arab society is characterized by a much more collectivist culture compared to the more individualistic Jewish society. As an Arab candidate applying for a position in a certain organization, symbolically, your entire family stands behind you. This is also true when you choose your field of study. This increases the already high level of stress and, to a large extent, makes it difficult for the candidate to focus on themselves—on their achievements, aspirations, and even fears. All of these are crucial for building a personality profile and matching it to the company’s needs.

In response to the common interview question, "Tell me about yourself," candidates from Arab society often provide a very brief description, which may be interpreted by the interviewer as a certain "lack of depth" or narrow perspective. The vast majority of young engineers I’ve met were very modest and avoided explicitly mentioning achievements or excellence in their studies or work. For a Jewish candidate, who grew up in a more individualistic culture, it feels much more natural to highlight peak events in which they excelled—whether in youth movements, the military, or their studies.

I’ve learned that to learn more about Arab candidates, I need to rely more on direct questions, such as: “Tell me more about your time at university—courses in which you excelled, struggled, how you prepared for exams…” In short, a more direct and engaged interview approach that guides candidates and allows them to present their best selves.

Another significant cultural element relates to the approach toward expressing opinions or criticism. As an Arab, you are taught to avoid confrontation, especially with strangers and particularly when they represent authority (such as interviewers). Therefore, Arab interviewees may avoid expressing criticism, even constructive criticism, whether toward others or themselves. When faced with a question like, "What did you appreciate less about your manager's management style?" an Arab candidate might struggle because they were raised to avoid criticizing their direct authority. The same applies to questions about self-criticism, such as, "Tell me about a failure or a project that didn’t go well."

For the interviewer, this behavior may be perceived as a lack of critical thinking or even as evasiveness. I am also familiar with cases where an Arab candidate, unable to attend a scheduled interview, preferred simply not to show up—just to avoid confrontation or the uncomfortable situation of canceling the meeting.

From my experience, Arab programmers are no less critical thinkers or reliable than their peers. Once they join an organization, they develop close relationships with their team members, and their confidence to express themselves freely grows.

To gauge the critical thinking skills of Arab candidates, I make it a point to explain why I’m asking them to describe a mistake they learned from or behaviors of their manager they found challenging. I explicitly clarify that this helps me understand their thought process—and this approach often works.

Language: At Tsofen I met several people with excellent Hebrew, but there's no doubt that language is a significant challenge for many Arab candidates. Some of the Arab candidates you’ll meet may have studied abroad, and even those who studied in Israel often haven’t used Hebrew in most of their social circles. The language gap further amplifies the discomfort inherent in a job interview for an Arab candidate, who might prefer to avoid elaborating on their experience. This difficulty could mistakenly be interpreted as low cognitive (or social) ability.

It’s easy to agree that a programmer needs only basic proficiency in Hebrew and a high level of fluency in programming languages, so I recommend:

1. Being aware of the "overweighting effect" that language proficiency might have on your overall impression of the candidate.

2. Some candidates express themselves better in English. Allow for that option, similar to interviews with new immigrants.

Beyond the professional conversation, it’s important for us to also learn about additional personal aspects of the candidate, such as family and hobbies. An Arab interviewee is likely to focus on relevant technical experience, even if they’ve excelled in other areas like youth movements, volunteering, or roles they held during their studies. As noted, ask them directly about these points. Arab candidates will often be happy to share about their family (collectivism—remember?). In any case, there’s no need to worry about social integration. It may take an employee from the Arab community a bit longer to open up, but they’ll catch up quickly.

This is just a brief overview, and I apologize again for the generalizations... You are more than welcome to reach out to me or to the wonderful people at Tsofen, who are advancing this very important vision in Israeli society.