Israel Experience

Program Reviews

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Andrea
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

The Best Decision I Ever Made.

The Career Israel program is top-notch! I found a great internship in environmental advocacy in Jerusalem, although internships are available in any industry and at many of Israel's top companies/organizations. I met some of my best friends (including my now husband), and learned more about Israel and Israeli society than I ever could have hoped for. The staff of Career Israel is also fantastic. This program provides the perfect combination of living in Israel like a local while also having a community of fellow travelers from around the world, and the internship helped me advance in my career goals and aspirations. I would recommend this program to anyone who is looking to live in Israel, deepen their connection to the country, challenge themselves and advance themselves. I wish that I could do it again! :)

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Aviva
1/5
No, I don't recommend this program

Career Israel is Fraudulent

My experience with Career Israel has been a nightmare. So far they have lied about our accommodations and left a group of ten of us without housing. We have been shuffled around 5 times and been forced to live out of a suitcase. They have put us up in a hotel and made us share beds and sometimes even couches. Nobody from the program staff can ever be reached for assistance and the Madrichim know nothing and have no way to assist us.

It is not just my group having problems, my friends on the Tel Aviv program were housed in an overbooked apartment and are sleeping in a kitchen. I kid you not, they were forced to put their beds in the kitchen. Career Israel has done nothing for them

From day one everything has been disorganized and dishonest. Starting with making us arrive a day earlier than needed and travel out of pocket to meet the rest of the group because we are deemed not as important because we are a minority. Our bus was 2 hours late and when we arrived at our housing it was unsuitable and so we moved for the first of many times. In fact I'm currently writing this review from a lobby because Career Israel isn't even sure if we will have a place to stay tonight.

Sure its great to get matched with an internship but if you are at all competent you should be able to do so by yourself. My advice, save yourself the money and get an internship in Israel on your own.

The experience you are getting is not thanks to Career Israel, its thanks to being in the country and working in a field you love. Let's not confuse the two.

I wouldn't even advise my worst enemy to go on this program.

Response from Israel Experience

We are incredibly sorry to read these reactions and we of course invite any participant who is feeling dissatisfied with the living accommodations we have provided to be directly in touch with Hodaya.

We have done everything in our power to make sure that each and every summer participant is housed and comfortable for the entire summer in both central Jerusalem hotel complex and the Tel Aviv University dorms. For those who have expressed dissatisfaction with the accommodations, we have offered a refund. Our participants’ satisfaction and well-being is our highest priority. We will continue now and in the future to do everything in our power to ensure that.

Again, please be sure to be in touch with us directly if you have any questions or issues.

Sincerely,
Sarah Hindman, Marketing Director

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NYNY
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Career Israel - amazing opportunity to live in Israel!

This is a 5 month program where you can live/work/volunteer in Israel. There is a lot of flexibility to this program and it really is whatever you decide to make of it. I lived in Tel Aviv and worked at a high tech company during the program, also part of the experience was taking hebrew classes and traveling throughout the country. It was a great opportunity to spend time in Israel and really get a sense for what an amazing country it is! I met some amazing people from all over the world and wouldn't trade my time in israel, and on the career israel program, for anything!

Do go with an open mind and if you're looking for 5* accommodations this is not the trip for you... but if you're open to new experiences and want a chance to really get a feeling for life in Israel, beyond a 10 day Birthright trip, I highly recommend Career Israel!

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Sara
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Best decision of my life!

This program was an all-around incredible experience. Including an amazing internship, travelling through out the country, and making amazing international friendships and networking contacts. Coming on this program was the best decision I ever made. The staff was beyond incredible throughout the entire process. From the moment I began my application they have been incredibly responsive, caring, organized and available. I would recommend this program to anyone!

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iheartcareer
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Career Israel

Career Israel changed my life. I had the most amazing life changing experience and made friends for life. I learned so much about Israel and about myself in the process and also got further in my career.

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doritos
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Best 5 months of my life

There are no words to properly describe the amazing experience I encountered on Career Israel. I was lucky enough to get my dream internship, make amazing friends, and have the chance to live in Jerusalem. I was always impressed with the trips that they planned and how they managed to make it a unique experience for all whether you have never been to Israel before or this was your 14th time. One of my favorite trips was the Ein Gedi weekend, where we had the opportunity to discuss Israeli politics and culture with Israeli's. It was an important lesson to realize there is really no one Israeli opinion and it was insightful to hear all the different things they had to say. For those of you who are contemplating going on Career Israel I would highly recommend it. It truly was the best 5 months of my life!

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Noz
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Child Psychology Internship

I absolutely loved the program, loved my friends, and loved my internship. I got to do child psychology research at Tel Aviv university but also work in an autistic school and a refugee center. All three experiences made for a lot of variety and challenging situations, since most of the work was in Hebrew. My supervisor was a PhD student who worked as a child psychologist in the school. I learned so much from her and really looked up to her as a mentor. She encouraged me with everything.

The program itself was organized, with many trips and educational seminars. The counselors were great, very helpful, always available, and dedicated. I loved the people on the program and would not have been able to set up this type of internship on my own.

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trvlingcdn
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Amazing

I had an amazing time on this trip and it was definitely life changing for me. Living a ten minute walk to the beach was definitely something that I am not used to at home. The friends I have made for life made the program really special.

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Limited8721
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Career Israel

I had the most amazing time on career israel. You get to see an everyday life in the lives of israeli's while taking care of your own needs. This program is a pre-aliyah program to see if you are able to live basically on your own in another country that you are not used to. The program had some trips for us over the course of our 5 month internship but mostly we worked. The trips and seminars were informative and they tried their best to get us different perspective of life. I would go back in a second if I could redo it all with the new friends I made!