President Peres launches initiative to integrate Israeli Arabs into hi-tech workforce 9 Feb 2011 President Peres, joined by 20 participating CEOs of leading hi-tech companies in Israel launched a unique Web-based portal for the recruitment, placement and integration of Israeli Arabs who have completed the relevant academic training.       President Peres with the leading hi-tech CEOs (Photo: Israel Hadari)

(Communicated by the President's Media Adviser) President Shimon Peres and 20 CEOs of leading hi-tech companies in Israel have launched a project to recruit and integrate Israeli Arabs into the hi-tech industry.  The CEOs, who recognized the importance of integrating and promoting Israeli Arabs into this sector and joined the President's initiative represent companies including: Intel, SanDisk, Cisco, Microsoft, TowerJazz, HP, SAP, IBM, Live Person, TaKaDu, NICE, CA, ECI and RSA. A thorough study indicated that very few Israeli Arabs have successfully integrated into the Israeli hi-tech industry, even though many are academically qualified. Some of the barriers to entry are technical in nature, fear of not being considered on the basis of merit, unfamiliarity with the application process and a lack of knowledge of Israeli hi-tech culture. This initiative hopes to bridge those gaps and streamline the application, interview, acceptance and integration process for Israeli Arabs to enter the Israeli hi-tech workforce. Within the framework of the project a unique web-based portal was launched.  Israeli Arab technology and engineering students can send their resumes to participating companies in the project through the web-based portal. When necessary, assistance in helping applicants improve their resumes will be offered.  The selection and placement process will be managed by Manpower, the human resource company. The idea for this initiative is the result of a meeting between President Peres and John Chambers, the Chairman and CEO of CISCO at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos last year.