The Ultimate Guide to Hiring

Palestinian Tech Talent

Why We Created This Talent Hiring Guide

We frequently get questions about hiring Palestinian tech talent - and we LOVE it! However, despite of there being a number of useful resources online, they’re pretty scattered and require a certain baseline knowledge of Palestine. Additionally, they lack in-depth, industry-wide information covering the full hiring journey - from candidate search to hiring to talent management - leaving potential hiring managers with more questions than answers. This guide is an attempt to answer some of those questions.

Need Marketing or Design Support?

How Can You

As A Business Professional

Help Palestine?

We at Olives & Heather regularly receive questions from our network about how to best support Palestine, Palestinian business, and Palestinian tech talent. We always recommend:

  1. Buy Palestinian products and services

  2. Outsource or offshore to Palestine 

  3. Amplify Palestinian businesses and initiatives

  4. Volunteer your time and mentor 

We know, outsourcing or setting up business partnerships in Palestine can feel like a mammoth of a challenge, and not like a realistic short term option (especially given the current circumstance), but the number one thing you can do today is hire individuals! Whether we’re talking freelancers, remote workers, outsourcing teams, etc: the infrastructure is in place, and you can make a very tangible difference to Palestinian talent today. Don’t wait.

Why Hire Palestinian Talent?

There’s a million reasons why you should consider hiring Palestinian tech talent, and in addition to the obvious one being supporting Palestine, we’re here to tell you that Palestine is GREAT for your bottomline! Hiring Palestinian talent is not only an investment in diversifying your team, but a source of of highly qualified tech natives. Let’s debunk some myths:

  • English language skills: most Palestinians have great command of the English language, and are very straightforward communciators. 

  • University education: 70% of Palestinians attend university and they’re amongst the highest educated in the region.

  • Freelancing culture: Palestinians (especially Gazans) have been freelancing for almost 20 years, and with more than 10,000 freelancers, digital work is incredibly common.

  • Wide range of expertise: in Palestine freelancing isn’t limited to programming and writing code - you’ll find pretty much any kind of skillset from accountants, to designers,  to virtual assistants. 

And perhaps the most compelling reason og all: Palestinian talent is RESILIENT! Palestinian talent displays a combination of grit, flexibility, and determination, which is hard to come by. Determined to succeed, Palestinian talent is extremely solution oriented and very adaptable. 

Life Changing Stories

Told by Palestinian Tech Professionals, Freelancers, and Remote Workers

Remotely Doing Business Development and Sales

Freelancing As Frontend Developer Through UpWork

Interning with Google For Startups

Remote Backend Programming for German MedTech

The Gazan Freelance Translator

Freelancing From Gaza During War

Remote Data Quality Management

The 123 of Hiring Palestinian Talent

You’re convinced? Great! Let’s look at how you get started with hiring. Below is a step-by-step guide for how to find, hire, manage, and upskill talent. Palestine has a vast, existing infrastructure that can support all your hiring needs. From individual freelancing gigs, to remote employees, to offshoring full teams.

1. Finding & Hiring Talent

From talent development academies to recruiters to staff augmentation, the options are endless:

2. Managing Remote Talent

Already have your talent, but not sure how to get started? Many of the above-mentioned solutions offer both talent matching and EOR solutions. Apricot, Bees, Taqat, Techtative & Synergia are particularly strong. They can help you with anything from:

  • Finding the right talent

  • Contracts (compliant with Palestinian labour law)

  • Payroll and ensuring salaries reach talent

  • Finding suitable coworking space solutions

3. Upskilling Talent

Great! You’ve made your first hire, but your want to ensure that your team member keeps growing and developing. Gaza Sky Geeks, Axsos Academy & Manara are all offer great talent upskilling initiatives.

For enterprise level training consider GGateway.

Directory of Palestinian Recruiters & Talent Sources:

Apricot

Talent Matching & EOR Solutions

MENA Alliances

Recruitment & Talent Matching

Foras

Recruitment & Talent Matching

Gaza Sky Geeks

Talent Academy & Talent Matching

Axsos Academy

Talent Academy & Talent Matching

Bees

Talent Matching & EOR Solutions

Taqat

Talent Matching & EOR Solutions

Techtative

Talent Matching & EOR Solutions

Synergia

Talent Matching & EOR Solutions

Gaza Talents

Freelance Matchmaking

Youmna

Remote Executive Assistants

Intersect Advisory

Talent Matching

GGateway

Enterprise-Level Staff Augmentation

Manara

Talent Upskilling

Outsource Marketing & Design to Palestine Through Olives & Heather

About Olives & Heather

Olives & Heather is a remote-first social impact marketing agency committed to driving success for global startups and social impact businesses through brand-centric ROI optimisation. From branding to strategy to performance marketing: we offer end-to-end solutions, carefully crafted and executed by our collective of marketing and design specialists - the brightest minds in Palestine.

Approach & Services

Ultimately, we’re a collective of experts acting as an extension of your marketing team - we blend our team of young professionals with your existing resources. Rather than selling rigid solutions and packages with limited flexibility, we merge our skills and competencies with your existing team and resources in the pursuit of success. We offer our solutions fractionally, on a project-basis, or as a monthly retainer, and our services span across:

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Yes pop-up coworking spaces like Taqat is housing thousands of freelancers that are currently online and working - despite of circumstances.

  • The companies above offer a range of payroll solutions, but platforms like UpWork and selected banks also offer wire transfer solutions for Palestine and Gaza.

  • Arabic is the first language in Palestine, but the majority of freelancers are business-fluent in English and would easily be able to communicate. 

  • YESSS! Didn’t you read all the section above or the fantastic talent stories?

  • Very. Palestinian talent is passionate, resourceful, and if you just give them a chance they will not let you down.

  • The list if long, but the short answer is consider ANY skills or task that can be performed online: bookkeeping, content writing, translation, graphic design, programming, virtual assistants, and the list goes on.

  • That depends. For North-Western Europe and the US, there’s a clear cost advantage, but pricing is on par with hiring from Spain. Minimum wage in Palestine is $700, and the average tech worker will start at $1000-15000 per month. Hiring Palestinian talent is an investment in specialised talent, not the cheapest method of outsourcing.