How do you search for jobs in Arizona while on unemployment?

Applying online for unemployment in Arizona also registers you with the Arizona Employment Service, and keeping that registration is a condition of staying paid. The registering happens on its own; the job search your weekly claim asks about is yours to do.

What an AZ Job Connection account gets you

AZ Job Connection is the state job bank, and an account is free. With it you can:

• search openings with filters, save a search, and apply;
• upload a resume or build one from scratch with its resume wizard, and build cover letters;
• keep saved searches and settings in a personal folder, so you do not repeat them;
• use its career assessment tools, including skills matching;
• have automated job searches send listings to your message box, your email, or both;
• find state- or federally funded training programs for a new career.

If you applied for unemployment, you already have an account started. DES registers applicants with AZ Job Connection within 2 days of the application and asks you to log in, finish the registration, build a resume, and search. The registration comes with the online CACTUS application, so most people have nothing extra to do. The exception: if you registered on the job bank before and your old details no longer match, DES mails instructions with a deadline, and missing it can delay or deny your payments.

Forgot your user ID or password from an earlier registration? The AZ Job Connection help desk is at (602) 542-2460.

Registering with AZ Job Connection and searching on it count as work search activities for your weekly claim. The weekly contact rules are on filing your weekly claim in Arizona.

Help from ARIZONA@WORK job centers

ARIZONA@WORK is the state's network of job centers for job seekers and employers. DES's general employment services cost nothing: help creating a resume, preparing for interviews, job searching, career assessments, and goal setting. ARIZONA@WORK offices can also point you to:

• a nationwide listing of job openings;
• employment counseling and guidance;
• referrals to reemployment training;
• labor market information and ways to explore career options;
• representatives who help U.S. military veterans.

You can meet a workforce specialist in person at an ARIZONA@WORK office, by phone at 1-833-762-8196, or through a Google Meet appointment from home. Those specialists cannot answer claim questions, which go to the UI Call Center at 1-877-600-2722. Using career tools or reemployment services at a center, following up on referrals from workforce staff, and joining training at an ARIZONA@WORK location all count toward your work search. ARIZONA@WORK also runs hiring events, job fairs, workshops, and training, listed on its events page, and DES says its free job fairs and workshops can help you meet your work search requirements. The centers and their phone numbers are on Arizona unemployment offices and phone numbers.

DES's employment services also run programs for particular groups:

• veterans;
• people with disabilities, through Vocational Rehabilitation (see disability benefits in Arizona);
• apprenticeships;
• low-income job seekers 55 or older, through the Senior Community Service Employment Program, also called the Mature Worker Program;
• youth ages 14 to 24;
• people returning from incarceration, through reentry services.

Training while you collect benefits

Training DES approves. Arizona law does not deny benefits to an otherwise eligible claimant for a week spent in training approved by DES or under the federal Trade Act, and for those weeks the availability, work search, and job refusal rules do not apply. You apply for Arizona's approved training programs in CACTUS. If a public training program pays you an allowance, a week in which it equals or exceeds your benefit pays nothing, and a smaller allowance is deducted the way wages are.

DES's employer training program. Employers volunteer to host structured, supervised training, which can be an approved apprenticeship. You must register with DES, attend a mandatory orientation, give DES any information it asks for, keep looking for work unless exempt, and accept that the training does not promise you a job. Trainees who are not paid can keep receiving benefits if eligible.

Trade Adjustment Assistance. If your job moved to another country or was lost to foreign trade, this federally funded program, run in Arizona by DES, can add training and employment services. It starts with a petition to the U.S. Department of Labor by or for a group of workers. Certified workers may get, depending on the Trade Act amendment that covers them, reemployment services, occupational or on-the-job training, income support, a wage subsidy for workers 50 or older, job search and relocation allowances, and the Health Coverage Tax Credit. To apply, you email DES's Trade Act Unit from the Trade Adjustment Assistance page.

If DES selects you for RESEA

The Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment program can pick any Arizona claimant, and once you are picked, taking part is mandatory to keep your benefits; not cooperating can get them suspended. You will receive a notice by mail and an email with a calendar invitation for a virtual appointment.

The meetings are one on one with an assigned workforce specialist, by Google Meet or phone. They review your eligibility, skills, and barriers to work, check your work search, and build an individual employment plan, with career and labor market information for your field and referrals to other help. DES's RESEA page posts forms for clients: the Eligibility Review Questionnaire (UB-010), the Veterans' Assessment Tool (ESA-1193A), and the Work Readiness Self-Assessment (ESA-1220A), each also in Spanish. To ask a question or reschedule, call 1-833-762-8196 and choose option 4.

Job boards with Arizona openings

Alongside AZ Job Connection, the job boards below also list openings in Arizona.

• Diversity jobs in Arizona on Diversity Careers
• Healthcare jobs for veterans in Arizona on Healthcare Jobs for Veterans
• HR jobs in Arizona on HR Analyst Jobs
• Trades jobs in Arizona on The Trades Jobs
• IT jobs in Arizona on IT Jobs
• Forklift and warehouse jobs in Arizona on Forklift Jobs
• Environmental and outdoor jobs in Arizona on Nature Jobs
• University fundraising jobs in Arizona on University Fundraising Jobs
• Fiber optic jobs in Arizona on Fiber Optic Jobs
• Medical assistant jobs in Arizona on Certified Medical Assistant Jobs