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Minnesota Unemployment Job Search Requirements

Work search requirements are set up to make sure that you are constantly trying to get back to work and not living off unemployment benefits. It is very important to make job search contacts each week and maintain a record for the same. Retain your work search record for at least a year and furnish the same to the office when asked for.

The following activities satisfy the weekly job search requirement:

  • Visiting an employer’s place of business to fill out a job application
  • Preparing and mailing resumes in response to employer ads or job leads
  • Telephoning employers to arrange for job interviews
  • Attending creative job seeking skills classes, workshops, job clubs or other related job search activities
  • Meeting with a career counselor and taking skills and interests tests
  • Networking in your occupational field and industry
  • Conducting searches using Internet job banks and bulletin boards as well as professional/trade publications
  • Researching companies in your field of work and exploring current labor market conditions
  • Maintaining contact with professional organizations
  • Attending a Reemployment Session conducted at local WorkForce Centers
  • Members of a referral union who are not allowed to seek employment on their own meet the work search requirement by remaining in good standing with the union

Keep a Record of Your Activities – State law requires that applicants keep a record of their work search activities. Failure to provide a record of work search activities upon request, will result in denial of benefits. Download a Work Search Record form to record your work search activities.

Keep a record of:

  • Dates of employer contacts
  • Company name, address and telephone number
  • Name and title of person contacted about job openings
  • Type of work discussed or applied for
  • Method of contacts (phone, in person, etc.)
  • Results of contacts
  • Name, date and provider of job search workshops attended
  • Dates and details of networking activities and results

If you are about to exhaust your regular benefits, make a note of the following information to know how you can remain eligible and receive extension. When the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program was extended to the end of 2012, several specific work search provisions were added to the EUC law.

  • Each applicant must make an intensive work search each week to be eligible for EUC
  • Each applicant must keep a written record of their work search and provide it to the unemployment insurance program upon request
  • Each applicant must attend a Reemployment Orientation session at their WorkForce Center
  • States must closely monitor applicants’ work search
  • States must deny EUC benefits to applicants who do not comply with these requirements

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