Arkansas Work Search Requirements

Actively Seeking Work:

You must be making a reasonable effort to find suitable work. This means making personal efforts to secure work by contacting persons with hiring authority, union local, etc., or doing those things reasonable for you to do in order to find employment as soon as possible

You must also register with DWS Employment Services. You will be required to contact a specific number of employers each week. The number of contacts assigned to you should be entered on the inside cover of this handbook. If you have not been advised of the minimum number of contacts to make each week and it is not listed on the inside cover, contact your local office for work search instructions. If you file an application for unemployment benefits by computer, the required number of contacts will be shown on your confirmation page. If you receive notice to start recording your contacts and have either lost or did not receive a handbook, report to your local office to request one.

Unless you are exempt from the work search requirements, you will be required to report your job contacts beginning with the 13th or 19th week of unemployment compensation. A notice will be issued to you alerting you when it is time to begin recording your contacts. (The 13th week or 19th are assigned depending on the area where you live or work.) You will need to refer to the section at the back of this handbook entitled Notice of Work Search Requirements for complete instructions on the work search requirements. You will be required to begin recording your job contacts as indicated on the Job Contacts Log located in the back of the handbook. This can be printed from the electronic version.

If you are a union member, you may have chosen to allow your union hiring hall representative to make your job contacts for you. When you receive your notice to begin recording your work search, refer to the Work Search Requirements for Union Members (Part B), also located in the back of this handbook. You must notify your union representative to begin keeping appropriate documentation of the weekly job contacts they make on your behalf. Remember!

Failure to make the required work search contacts in any week may result in an ineligibility for benefits. Your work search activity is subject to audit by the DWS Benefit Accuracy Measurement (BAM) program as well as the DWS Benefit Payment Control (BPC) unit at any time during the life of your claim.

THE FOLLOWING RULES APPLY BEGINNING WITH THE FIRST WEEK THAT YOU ARE REQUIRED TO RECORD YOUR WEEKLY JOB CONTACTS

1. Make your assigned number of job contacts each week that you claim benefits.

2. At least one (1) of your contacts must be made in person with an employer unless it is customary for workers in your occupation to apply for work by telephone or through correspondence or unless you are applying for a job with an employer located outside the labor market area where you live.

3. If you make a repeat contact with an employer, it cannot be accepted as one of your weekly work search contacts, unless it is reasonable to believe that the repeat contact will result in a job for you, or unless the employer has asked that you come back at a later date.

4. If you are not registered with DWS Job Service, you must register with the Job Service when you are advised to do so by the local office staff. You must come in to the local office when you are advised to do so by the local office staff.

5. Contacts you make with the Job Service can be counted as work search contacts in the following manner: (1) One contact for the week in which you fill out your work application; (2) One contact for any week in which you report to the Job Service as a result of a call-in from them; (3) One contact per month if done in accordance with instructions provided to you by the local office.

6. Contacts you make for work through a private employment agency can be counted in the following manner: (1) Registration with a private employment agency will be counted as one job contact for each such agency, but will be counted only one time in any one continuous period of unemployment, and (2) Each job contact made as a result of a referral by a private employment agency will be counted as a job contact, provided it is listed in your Job Contacts Log with the items of information required for a job contact.

7. Any efforts you make to find work other than those described in items #2 through #6 may be acceptable. However, only one (1) such effort will be accepted as one of your weekly work search contacts for the week being claimed.

8. You should record your work search activities each week. You have been given a Job Contacts Log

(located in this handbook) for you to record all job contacts. You must document the following information each week: 1) Show date of each contact; 2) Show name and address of employer contacted; 3) Show method of contact; 4) Name of person contacted; 5) Type of work sought; 6) The result of the contact; and 7) Application or resume on file. FAILURE TO RECORD ALL ITEMS WILL CAUSE YOUR BENEFITS TO BE DELAYED OR DENIED. 9. Be sure that the information you enter regarding your job contacts is accurate and complete. Your work search contacts may be checked by the local office or our Quality Control Department. 10.As your length of unemployment increases and you have been unable to find work in your customary or secondary occupation, you may be required to seek other types of work for which you are qualified and for which job openings exist and you may be required to increase your job contacts.

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO BEGIN RECORDING YOUR WEEKLY JOB CONTACTS IN THE JOB CONTACTS LOG PROVIDED IN THIS HANDBOOK UPON WRITTEN NOTIFICATION BY DWS.