myjobcontacts › States › Connecticut

How many job searches do you need for unemployment in Connecticut?

Special cases

• Approved to look for part-time work for medical reasons: 3 a week. Same number, but your employer contacts can be for part-time jobs.

What counts as a work search in Connecticut

• Contacting an employer about a full-time job, in person, online, by phone, mail, email or fax (counts as an employer contact)
• Applying for a specific job (counts as an employer contact)
• Going to a job interview, including a follow-up interview (counts as an employer contact)
• Going to a workshop at an American Job Center
• Going to a job fair or hiring event, or a networking event run by a formal group like an industry association
• Taking part in reemployment services at an American Job Center
• Creating a reemployment plan
• Creating a resume and uploading it to CTHires
• Creating a profile on a professional networking site

What doesn’t count

• Applying for a job you are not qualified for
• Going to the same workshop more than once
• Reporting the same activity more than once
• Looking for self-employment or work as an independent contractor
• Reporting your own part-time work

Same employer twice? Do not report the same activity twice. Applying to the same employer for different jobs counts as separate employer contacts.

More on this in what counts as a work search contact.

How to report your job contacts

When you file your weekly claim, you enter the details of each work search activity. If CTDOL has made you exempt, you will not see the work search questions. Keep your own record and proof, such as screenshots and confirmation emails, in case you are audited.

When: File your weekly claim starting Sunday for the week that just ended. You must finish it by 11:59 p.m. the next Saturday.

Where: ReEmployCT (weekly filing at filectui.com).

When the search starts: Every week you claim benefits, starting with your first weekly claim.

Keep a work search log

Keep all your work search records for at least 3 years. The regulation counts 3 years from the date you did each activity. CTDOL’s form is the Work Search Record (UI-230). It asks for: activity date, employer name, address/website, telephone number, contact method (in-person, phone, job interview, mail, video conference), name of person contacted / job order no., job/position applied for, status (waiting/pending, not hired/hired, interviewed), other activities: activity date, activity (workshop, job fair, reemployment service, create and upload resume), service provider / contact person, place of activity (location, virtual), any other details / comments.

The free myjobcontacts app keeps the same details and prints them in the same columns as CTDOL’s form. Prefer paper? Use the free printable work search log.

Who doesn’t have to search

• You will go back to work with your last employer within 13 weeks of filing your claim
• You have a new job that starts within 13 weeks
• You are a trade union member who must find work through a union hiring hall
• You are in a shared work program approved by CTDOL
• You are on jury duty
• You are in training or education approved by CTDOL

Union members: If you are a trade union member connected to a union hiring hall and must find work through the hall, you do not have to do the weekly work search.

See work search exemptions for how these work in other states.

Reviews, audits and RESEA

CTDOL can ask for your records at any time and checks job search contacts as part of fraud control. You may also be picked at random for a Benefit Accuracy Measurement (BAM) audit, which reviews your work search. If you do not answer a request, you can be denied benefits and have to pay them back.

RESEA: You may be picked for RESEA, often if you are likely to use up your benefits. You get a notice in CTHires. In a virtual meeting, an American Job Center worker reviews your eligibility and your work search, and sends you to one required service. If you do not take part, your payments can be delayed or stopped until you do.

What to expect: unemployment work search audits.

If you miss your number

If you do not report the required activities or answer the work search questions fully, you can be denied benefits for that week and may have to repay benefits. Saying you looked for work when you did not is fraud: you repay the money plus a 50% penalty (100% for repeat offenses), 1% interest per month, and possible criminal charges.

Sign up with the job bank

When you file your claim and agree to share your information, you are registered in CTHires automatically. Uploading a resume there is encouraged and counts as a work search activity. If you block the registration, benefits can be denied until you register. CTHires.

Questions people in Connecticut ask

How many job searches are required for unemployment in Connecticut?

You must do at least 3 work search activities each week, and at least 1 of them must be contacting an employer about a job. You enter all of them when you file your weekly claim in ReEmployCT. Some people have a different number: Approved to look for part-time work for medical reasons (3).

What counts as a work search in Connecticut?

Contacting an employer about a full-time job, in person, online, by phone, mail, email or fax (counts as an employer contact); Applying for a specific job (counts as an employer contact); Going to a job interview, including a follow-up interview (counts as an employer contact); Going to a workshop at an American Job Center, and 5 more on the list above. Check your notice for anything your state added for you.

Do I have to keep a work search log in Connecticut?

When you file your weekly claim, you enter the details of each work search activity. If CTDOL has made you exempt, you will not see the work search questions. Keep your own record and proof, such as screenshots and confirmation emails, in case you are audited. Keep all your work search records for at least 3 years. The regulation counts 3 years from the date you did each activity.

What happens if I don’t do enough job searches in Connecticut?

If you do not report the required activities or answer the work search questions fully, you can be denied benefits for that week and may have to repay benefits. Saying you looked for work when you did not is fraud: you repay the money plus a 50% penalty (100% for repeat offenses), 1% interest per month, and possible criminal charges.

Who doesn’t have to look for work in Connecticut?

You will go back to work with your last employer within 13 weeks of filing your claim. You have a new job that starts within 13 weeks. You are a trade union member who must find work through a union hiring hall. Your notice will say if this applies to you.

Does Connecticut check or audit work search records?

CTDOL can ask for your records at any time and checks job search contacts as part of fraud control. You may also be picked at random for a Benefit Accuracy Measurement (BAM) audit, which reviews your work search. If you do not answer a request, you can be denied benefits and have to pay them back.

Checked against CTDOL’s own pages and rules on November 6, 2026. We could not confirm the job bank link on an official page, so check your notice for that.

Sources

• CTDOL - Work Search FAQs
• CTDOL Guide to Unemployment Insurance (claimant handbook)
• CTDOL - Work Search
• UI-230 CTDOL Unemployment Insurance Work Search Record (Rev. 03/2025)
• Conn. Agencies Regs. 31-235-23 Efforts - method of work search; exemptions not official
• CTDOL Examples of Acceptable Work Search Activities (08/01/2025)

Work search rules in every state

myjobcontacts is not a government website and this is not legal advice. Rules change, and your own claim notice or letter is what counts. If something here doesn’t match what your state told you, follow your state.