Success Story – Meirav Badash, Cost Accountant, Gibor Sabrina / Hadas Shimoni

meirav badash, 27, was soon to complete her degree in logistics and economics at bar-ilan university when she started looking for a job. as a person who likes stability, she was afraid to leave her position as head of logistics, a post she had occupied for six years, but at the same time she had an urge to develop a career in economics.

"toward the end of my degree studies my friends from class recommended
i look for work through the jobnet website. i started looking just before rosh hashana was quite surprised to find that by sukkot – just three weeks after i'd first entered the site – i'd been hired at gibor sabrina."
meirav found her job six months ago as a cost accountant at gibor sabrina  through the jobnet site.

on gibor sabrina:
gibor sabrina specializes in undergarments, night wear, socks and stockings, and owns leading brands such as can can, fixmen, fix, cacharel and sabrina. the company is one of israel's largest textile firms and has earned a reputation based on a tradition of high-quality products. the company has 380 employees in israel and sells its products at lodzia rotex with its 31 branches, at retail chains and at selected stores that carry leisurewear and undergarments.

development department manager nissim tamam (right) and
 meirav badash (left) at the company offices

why did you choose to specialize in economics rather than logistics?
"in the course of my previous job, where i was in charge of organizing conferences at kibbutz shefayim, i specialized in logistics, which included managing stocks and the supply chain, working with foreign and israeli suppliers, etc. during my degree studies
i fell in love with the world of economics, which differs fundamentally from operational logistics. unlike logistics, which includes field work and staff management, it's office work and includes a lot of dealings with money, economic analysis, working with reports, overseeing prices, etc."

how did your job-search period go?
"first of all i had the full support of my managers at shefayim after i notified them of my intentions of leaving to pursue economics. every day i made sure to visit the job-search sites to look for suitable positions. i got a considerable response from companies, considering i was conducting my job search during the holiday period, shortly before rosh hashana, when job offers are relatively scant. so it came as a real surprise to me when, within a short time i'd managed to find a job at a company and in a position i liked."

where did you look for work?
"besides jobnet i sent out my resume through another site, but i stopped using it after a few days because its style and design weren't right for me. i soon began focusing on jobnet, which has a large selection of job offers. the division into professions and the well-known companies that advertise on it made me send my resume from it every day. after three weeks i found my job at gibor sabrina."

what types of jobs were you looking for?
"i was looking for jobs suitable for ba graduates with a degree in economics in the fields of accounting and finance. also, because i had a lot of experience in logistics and purchasing i applied for management positions in that field, even though i was hoping to specialize in economics. the quality of the company was even more important to me than its location and the type of work, because i was looking for a place where i'd be able to develop my career."

why do you think gibor sabrina hired you as a cost accountant?
"because gibor sabrina is a company that places emphasis on the character of its employees it looks for mature, highly motivated workers interested in a place that provides job security. therefore, during my initial interview etti bernstock, the human resources manager, assessed how well i was suited to the company in terms of personality. also, textiles is different from any other industry, so it's hard to find experienced candidates."

can you say a few words about the textile industry?
"the textile industry is a fascinating and competitive field. the market is known for its battles, takeover attempts and rapid changes. in israel the textile and garment industry was one of the dominant industries in the early years of the state, and over the years has undergone numerous permutations and transformations. the manufacture and marketing of fabrics and fabric products (primarily clothing) is central to israeli industry and commerce, and includes several areas: fabric production, knits production, clothing production, etc."

how was the recruitment process conducted?
"after the character interview the woman who was manager of the development department at the time conducted a professional interview, but toward the end we drifted into a personal conversation about life and judaism. i got a really good impression from the interview and the company in general. the atmosphere and the warm people really won me over, and i decided on the spot that this was the company where i wanted to work. the personal attention and the bond with etti during the recruitment process also contributed to my decision to join gibor sabrina."

were you hired immediately after the professional interview?
"no. after the professional interview etti told me there were other candidates vying for the job, so i made a bold move and decided to call the manager of the development department, asking for a chance to prove myself as a cost accountant even though i lacked experience."

how did your first days at the company go?
"from my first day on the job i was treated warmly. throughout the breaking-in period i was paired with a veteran cost accountant who gave me an in-depth introduction to the profession. he taught me all about the textile world and personally introduced me to all of the workers at the company. afterwards the knitting manager taught me about the processes and the machines."

did you settle into the job quickly?
"yes. i wanted to prove to myself that i could meet the challenge and that i had made the right decision. thanks to my ties with the development manager, which were strong from my first day on the job, i fit in quite quickly. his door is always open to me and his's a really warmhearted person. i also got a very quick response and support from the veteran cost accountants."

what do you do in your job as a cost accountant?
"my job entails assessing the advisability of products that were developed according to the customer's demands and setting the price of the product based on all of the phases of the production process. as a cost accountant i evaluate which costs might reduce production costs in terms of fabrics or threading, and price the product accordingly."

what kind of company is gibor sabrina in terms of the atmosphere and the people?
"it's a company that holds a lot of celebrations and events for its employees. a few weeks after i began working i got married and my colleagues bought me a present and celebrated with me at work. there's a lot of support and encouragement from the other workers here, even during times of pressure when there are deadlines to meet. most of the employees grew within the company and have been working here for years. for example nissim tamam, the manager of the development department, has been working at the company for 30 years."

are you happy with your move to gibor sabrina?
"i see gibor sabrina as my home away from home. i hope to stay at the company for many years, like the other veteran employees, and work my way up the ladder. i see getting hired here as a success. i'm working at a large, stable company in a respectable job and enjoy the atmosphere and the warm people. every day i learn something new and there's never a dull moment. in the morning i come to work with a smile and enjoy every moment of the day."

what advice do you have for jobseekers?
"i advise web users to properly market themselves to companies, whether by writing their resume correctly or presenting themselves in a genuine and honest way during interviews. it's important to convey a lot of self-confidence and stability during the recruitment process and believe in your abilities and the professional knowledge you've acquired. i also recommend that recent graduates compromise when it comes to finding a job in order to gain experience at a good company, but at the same time maintain certain standards in terms of the position, the employment terms and the salary."

human resources manager etti bernstein on gibor sabrina's cooperation with jobnet:
"jobnet is considered one of the leading websites in the field, serving gibor sabrina as a central recruitment tool for jobs in management, development and at our administrative offices."

for more success stories, click on employment articles

looking for work? go to search

looking for employees? go to contact

join everybody's success at jobnet! 


for the hebrew article