New Course Brings Older Tech Workers Back to the Office

The shortage of high-tech workers has prompted the Labor and Welfare Ministry to bring back retired engineers, with a new training course that will help them update their skills. The first course will open in early July, and provide 320 hours of training for workers, providing them with exposure to the latest technology.

Helping to run the course is Yehuda Zisapel, President of the Rad-Bynet Group. “Companies are having a hard time finding workers,” he told TheMarker. “Each year some 3,000 to 4,000 engineers leave the market because of various reasons. Some of them are managers and there is nowhere for them to advance in their companies, while others find that their skills have become outdated. Education is a way for them to bring them back to the workplace, with new skills that the market needs.”

The courses are not free, but they are subsidized. Candidates will pay NIS 2,500 (with a NIS 480 registration fee), where equivalent courses teaching the same material generally cost NIS 15,000. But unlike other courses, graduates are guaranteed a job; if they cannot find one on their own, Mr. Zisapel will hire them for Rad-Bynet.

“This is a good idea for everyone,” he said. “The high-tech companies get workers with up-to-date skills, and the workers get an opportunity for a second career at a good salary. At a time when life expectancy is so high, there is no reason that a 60-year-old high-tech worker cannot continue to work in the field.”