If you’ve been looking for a hi-tech job in Israel, there’s good news: New statistics indicate that the long drought in hi-tech jobs is over. A poll released last week by Israeli placement company Jobinfo says that demand for hi-tech workers is up 40% this year – while the numbers of those seeking jobs in the field has fallen dramatically, as companies retain their current workers and hire new ones.

Jobs in hardware development rose significantly – by over 30% – in the first quarter of 2010, compared to a year before. There was also a 12% increase in jobs for internet programmers – especially for developers with skills in PHP, Java, and C.

Along with the new demand, salaries have risen, the poll says. Engineers with 2 to 5 years experience are making 8% more this year than last, while salaries for web engineers have gone up as much as 20%. Jobinfo says that “The positive statistics are a positive sign that indicates that the time is ripe for hi-tech workers who lost jobs in the past to look for new ones now, and it is also an excellent time, in our opinion, for those who already have jobs to examine the opportunities in the marketplace.”

Well, of course they would say that – they’re a placement company! But still, the numbers don’t lie – and neither do the anecdotes, as a number of people I know who have been looking for quite awhile have begun new jobs in the past month or so. Yeah! Party like it’s 1999!

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We hear a lot about business “giving back to the community,” but everyone knows it’s BS. There are no free lunches, and everything has strings attached. It’s always all about the money. Everyone knows it.

But maybe what everyone knows isn’t always right. It certainly wasn’t at the “startup roundtable” meeting I went to, hosted by Israeli investment adviser and social media expert Sharon Weshler. Sharon and his buddy Aviad of the Termiks startup investment center ran a “roundtable” for fledgling Israeli startups, where entrepreneurs with great ideas could get some help in getting their idea ready for presentation to investors.

The ideas were really creative, ranging from a system to improve management of nursing homes to a home entertainment gadget, and a better way to grow food! Presenters gave the group their core idea and “elevator pitch,” and attendees could comment, question, or give constructive criticism on ideas and presentations.

The startup roundtable idea isn’t a new one, and I’ve been to a number myself. But most of them are sponsored by advisors for their clients, prepping them for presentations to investors. In other words, the sponsors of the roundtable have a financial interest in ensuring that their candidates present well, so they can bring in the bucks

Not so at Sharon and Aviad’s roundtable – from what I could tell, there was no financial or contractual relationship between the presenters and the sponsors. That said, I’m sure Sharon and Aviad would be happy to find a company to work with, but you have to figure there are better ways to track down companies interesting enough to invest in without spending upwards of four hours listening to ideas that they had no idea in advance would be worth listening to! That is what I call really giving back to the community!

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Israeli hi-tech may be down – but it certainly isn’t out. That’s the conclusion you would have to reach if you spent time at Tuesday’s Israel Venture Association annual conference. The IVA brings together investors – VC’s and angels – with Israeli companies looking for funding. Over the past couple of years, the organization has been responsible for getting tens of millions in funding for Israeli companies. At the IVA convention, investors and industry folk meet, with the idea that some deals will emerge from the balagan.

While I attended some of the sessions, I found the “startup pavilion” most interesting. While many of the companies presenting in the organized sessions – with sessions on gaming, telecom, cleantech, mobile, and “traditional” areas like semiconductors – were startups too, they were “mature” startups, who were already well funded and, in many cases, already making money. The startups I spoke too were far younger, although some were on the verge of signing contracts (they said) in the areas they specialized in. Some of the more promising ideas: a company that has figured out a way to conduct wide-scale and accurate TV and radio ratings, a better system for oil and water exploration, and an easy way to move pictures between different social network photo sites.

There were also in-depth sessions, as I mentioned, with VC’s choosing companies in their portfolios to present their technology at the show. I went to a couple of them to see the presentations, as did many others. I made sure to check out the Cleantech presentations, sponsored by the California-Israel Chamber of Commerce. Very nice, with discussions of what might be one day great technologies that will save the environment. Of course, with Cleantech a hot area for investments – private and government – the session was jam-packed.

But the discussion was a bit too theoretical for me – lots of “ifs” and “we believes” and “at some point in the futures.” In other words, there are a lot of great ideas and a lot of possibilities – as well as a lot of speculation. A little bored (to tell the truth), I moved on to another session – the one in the next room, called “Semiconductors.”

Well, if I was bored at Cleantech, I’d probably end up taking a nap at Semiconductors! I mean, could there be a drier, less “modern hi-tech” topic for discussion? Apparently, most of the people at the show felt the way I did, because there were barely two dozen people in the room, as opposed to the couple of hundred in the Cleantech room (as well as at the other presentations). As it turned out, though, there was plenty to hear in Semiconductors – plenty of great ideas that are much more likely to change the world – and make their investors a lot more money – far more quickly than Cleantech investments will, at least for now. Let’s just say that the two companies I saw presentations for – Sandlinks, and especially Siverge – have amazing products that will really impact on society.

The lesson? DON’T follow the crowd – it’s usually as lost as you are! For Israel, “old,” tried and true hi-tech is where it’s still at!