At 25, Chevy Weiss had parlayed over a decade of youthful political activism into a successful career as an independent political consultant in Washington, DC. With numerous Republican connections and her PhD in political science nearly complete, Weiss says moving to Israel was not on her agenda.

Yoel Bender outside the offices of IDT

"I was born [in Israel] but my parents moved back to the US when I was two," she says. "I wasn't interested in moving back." But during a visit to Russia, Weiss met "a great guy living in Israel," eventually giving up a great career and friends to hop on a plane to Israel. Though she has continued to work long-distance for some of her American political clients, Weiss had to begin in Israel at entry level.

"You have to be willing to begin at the bottom and take baby steps," she says. "Israel is a hard place to work and you really have to learn your way around. That's what it takes to make it here, and I was very determined to be successful."

Today, many of Weiss' former employers have become her clients at Global Visions Israel, the public relations company she founded in 1998 near her home in Ramat Beit Shemesh. Current clients include the International Council of Jewish Women and Yeshiva University in Israel.

"I saw there was a huge need for a company like mine," Weiss says. Her company has thrived, she says, bringing "modern US PR strategy to Israel."

Weiss' hard work and professional patience appear to have worked. "We started as a one-person office and I now have eight employees," she says. "Our client list is growing and we have earned ourselves a good reputation; people have approached us to open additional offices in Tel Aviv.

"Our US clients come to us because we charge less for the same high quality; the Israelis come because we are familiar with foreign audiences. We don't pretend to be in the US. Our clients call us, we call them back and [then] have conference calls. [We] manage the rest through e-mail."

Despite her success in Israel, however, Weiss is still wistful about leaving Washington.

"The US political arena is more exciting - people making a change for the world and influencing it," she says. But, she adds, "What I do here is not remarkably different. I took my skills and channeled them into a different environment - public relations - which incorporates political, educational, business and non-profit institutions. Much of my political work involved researching public issues and planning campaign strategy, understanding the environment in which I was working and communicating, and that's the stuff I use here."

Weiss says she thinks many entrepreneurs born outside Israel make the mistake of moving too aggressively or giving up when trying to find a job. In Israel, she says, flexibility is key.

Danielle Slasky, director of employment at Nefesh B'Nefesh, an organization helping Jews from North America make aliya, claims the majority of Nefesh B'Nefesh immigrants have found work in Israel and only a handful have needed to formally retrain. Most of those who came with careers have stayed within their field, she says, though many have switched to new areas within that industry. She cites as examples computer programmers who became technical writers, journalists who entered other writing fields and scientists who have become patent writers.

"Very few people totally change their career," says Slasky. "We always want people to have realistic expectations. Some do have to take a step back, though many stay on the same level."

Leemor Machnai, Chief Executive Officer of Machnai, Weiss & Partners, an international executive search company based in Tel Aviv, says, "English is definitely relevant for 99% of the positions I work on... Hebrew is an advantage but it is not essential.

"I sometimes have very senior positions for which very few people in Israel have the requisite experience," Machnai admits, "we may even bring over talent from outside Israel if that particular talent is not here."

Because she looks for professionals who've worked for multi-national companies, Machnai considers corporate experience in the US very valuable. But she says of olim, "If they had a very unique niche position in a large company, here they may find themselves doing that position in addition to two or three other positions, because the companies are not as large."

Machnai's other advice: "Network, network and network. Try to focus on what you want to do and what type of skills you have to achieve such a job. Try to find friends, or friends of friends connected to that kind of industry. It is really hard to find jobs just through the regular channels."

AT WEISS'S public relations firm, the office manager, Ruth Wellins, graduated with a degree in psychology and the intention to become an industrial psychologist. But a pilot trip to Israel with Tehilla, the religious aliya organization, convinced her to take what she considers a more pragmatic approach.

"I spoke with many psychologists, and they all said that without good Hebrew and insight into Israeli society, I wouldn't be able to find a job in my profession," Wellins recalls. "So upon my return to Manchester, I studied for a certificate in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language)."

That plan also turned out to have its shortcomings. While Wellins's husband, a former computer programmer at Intel UK, successfully transferred to Intel in Israel, Ruth juggled a variety of English teaching jobs until the couple moved to Ramat Bet Shemesh, home to a high proportion of English-speaking olim, and Wellins's English teaching skills lost much of their value. Searching for an alternative, she landed her administrative position at Global Visions Israel.

She calls the job "the perfect match - part-time, close to home, close to my children's schools and intellectually challenging."

Another immigrant who adapted her skills is Sarah Bronson, who made aliya with Nefesh B'Nefesh in July 2003, arriving in Israel with a Masters degree in journalism and freelancing experience at, among others, New York's Observer, The Jewish Week, Hadassah Magazine and the London Jewish Chronicle. Bronson hit the deck running.