Collecting Unemployment Track Your Job Search Efforts

Collecting Unemployment Track Your Job Search EffortsCollecting Unemployment? Track Your Job Search EffortsCollecting Unemployment Track Your Job Search EffortsFor most, being unemployed sucks. Instead of spending your days doing your job, you spend your days job searching...and searching...and searching some more. Oy, how exhaustingBut since job searching alone can be hard work, you might as well get paid for it, right? Collecting unemployment benefits these days is more common than ever, especially when mass layoffs are the cause and people have mortgages to pay and families to support.If youre considering collecting unemployment benefits from your state, its important to note that its not a free ride to get there. Your state may have different rules and regulations, but here in Massachusetts you have to provide proof of all your job search efforts in order to collect your checks. They may not ask for records all the time, but you must have written proof of your job search efforts ready if the state requests them.In fact, Massachusetts law requires you to do three things each week to remain eligible for benefitsMake a minimum of three work search contacts in each week that benefits are claimed.Keep a written log of those work search contacts.Provide a work search log to Division of Unemployment Assistance upon request.To make things even stricter, youre required to write everything in the program-provided Worksearch Activity Log (they wont accept any other form).Here are some suggestions to help you keep track of your effortsPin the Worksearch Activity Log to your refrigerator door so youre forced to look at it several times a day.Save receipts and notes from meetings or networking opportunities, then write them down on the form as soon as you get home.Use online tools (likes Tracker and TaskManager) to log all your job search activities and communications, from submitting resumes and making phone calls, to storing interview times and contact names, so you ca n easily fill in the form when the state agency requests it.The point is, you cant just sit on your couch day after day collecting unemployment you have to be a proactive job seeker, and you have to have the records to prove it. Its in your and the governments best interest to constantly search for new opportunities. They dont want to pay benefits forever, and you want to return to a real paycheck, rather than the partial sum the government will give you. But meanwhile, that partial sum is a source of income you dont want to lose, so be aya to follow your states unemployment guidelines until you find your next job.What other ways do you stay organized while hunting for a job? How are you handling unemployment?