myjobcontacts › States › Illinois

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

What counts as a work search in Illinois

• Applying for jobs with employers, in person, online, by mail or email
• Searching and applying for jobs on IllinoisJobLink.com (your activity there is saved automatically)
• Contacting employers about openings in the kind of work you are seeking
• Interviewing with employers
• Reporting at least monthly to a union placement service certified by IDES, if you are in that union

What doesn’t count

• Looking only for work you are not trained, licensed or physically able to do
• Making all your contacts on one day and doing nothing the rest of the week (the rule's own example says 7 applications on Monday and nothing after is not an active search)

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

How to report your job contacts

Every two weeks your certification asks questions about your work search. You don't send your contacts in. Keep your own written record of each contact: employer name and address, person you talked to, date, how you contacted them, the type of work, and the result. You can use the IDES Work Search Record (form ADJ034F) or your IllinoisJobLink.com history. Show it to IDES if asked.

When: Certify every two weeks on your assigned day (Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday), online or by Tele-Serve at (312) 338-4337. If you miss it, you can certify Thursday or Friday, or the next week.

Where: IDES online account (certify for benefits).

When the search starts: From the first week you claim. You must look for work during each week you certify for.

Keep a work search log

Keep your written work search record for each week until 53 weeks after that week ends (the IDES handbook and form ADJ034F say 53 weeks; another IDES page says one year). If an appeal about your work search is open, keep it until the appeal is over. IllinoisJobLink.com keeps its records for you. IDES’s form is the Work Search Record (ADJ034F). It asks for: week ending, contact date, name & address of contact, person contacted, method of contact, type of work sought, results.

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

Who doesn’t have to search

• IDES tells you that you don't have to search (the rule says 'unless otherwise instructed')
• You belong to a union whose placement service IDES has certified, and you report to it at least monthly (this counts as your work search)
• You are in training approved by IDES

Union members: If you belong to a union local whose placement service IDES has certified, and you report to it at least once a month as the union requires, that counts as your work search.

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

Reviews, audits and RESEA

IDES can ask for your work search record at any time, in writing, and does random or targeted work search audits. It can also ask in a phone interview with a claims adjudicator, an appeal, or a hearing. A finding that you were actively seeking work can be looked at again later, even after you were paid or went back to work. That is why IDES says to keep your record for 53 weeks.

RESEA: IDES screens every claimant to see who may need extra help. If you are referred to reemployment services (an assessment and job search activities such as resume help, interview tips, or job clubs), you must go. If you miss it without good reason, you are not paid for that week, and you can be denied until you take part.

What to expect: unemployment work search audits.

If you miss your number

If you can't show you were actively looking for work, you can be denied benefits for those weeks, and weeks already paid can become an overpayment you must repay. False answers to get benefits can be treated as fraud, which brings penalty weeks, seizure of state payments like tax refunds, and possible prosecution.

Sign up with the job bank

You must register with the Illinois Employment Service at IllinoisJobLink.com and upload a resume, unless IDES tells you that you fit a narrow exception (for example, a temporary layoff of 10 weeks or less, a certified union, or approved training). IllinoisJobLink.com.

Questions people in Illinois ask

How many job searches are required for unemployment in Illinois?

Illinois does not set a fixed number of job contacts per week. You must actively look for work every week you claim, in a way that makes sense for your job and your area, and keep a written record. IDES looks at how often and how well you searched, as well as how many contacts you made. Spread your search across the week.

What counts as a work search in Illinois?

Applying for jobs with employers, in person, online, by mail or email; Searching and applying for jobs on IllinoisJobLink.com (your activity there is saved automatically); Contacting employers about openings in the kind of work you are seeking; Interviewing with employers, and 1 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 Illinois?

Every two weeks your certification asks questions about your work search. You don't send your contacts in. Keep your own written record of each contact: employer name and address, person you talked to, date, how you contacted them, the type of work, and the result. You can use the IDES Work Search Record (form ADJ034F) or your IllinoisJobLink.com history. Show it to IDES if asked. Keep your written work search record for each week until 53 weeks after that week ends (the IDES handbook and form ADJ034F say 53 weeks; another IDES page says one year). If an appeal about your work search is open, keep it until the appeal is over. IllinoisJobLink.com keeps its records for you.

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

If you can't show you were actively looking for work, you can be denied benefits for those weeks, and weeks already paid can become an overpayment you must repay. False answers to get benefits can be treated as fraud, which brings penalty weeks, seizure of state payments like tax refunds, and possible prosecution.

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

IDES tells you that you don't have to search (the rule says 'unless otherwise instructed'). You belong to a union whose placement service IDES has certified, and you report to it at least monthly (this counts as your work search). You are in training approved by IDES. Your notice will say if this applies to you.

Does Illinois check or audit work search records?

IDES can ask for your work search record at any time, in writing, and does random or targeted work search audits. It can also ask in a phone interview with a claims adjudicator, an appeal, or a hearing. A finding that you were actively seeking work can be looked at again later, even after you were paid or went back to work. That is why IDES says to keep your record for 53 weeks.

Checked against IDES’s own pages and rules on November 6, 2026. We could not confirm who doesn’t have to search on an official page, so check your notice for that.

Sources

• IDES UI Benefit Handbook: Work Search and Availability
• IDES Work Search Record ADJ034F (Rev. 09/2011)
• IDES Unemployment Insurance Benefits Handbook CLI105L (modified March 2026)
• IDES Benefit Rights Information CLI100L
• IDES FAQs for Claimants
• 56 Ill. Adm. Code 2865.100 Work Search Requirements
• 56 Ill. Adm. Code Part 2865 (full part: 2865.50 union, 2865.115 actively seeking, 2865.145 reemployment services)
• US DOL Comparison of State UI Laws 2023, Ch. 5, Tables 5-14 (work search requirements) and 5-15 (reporting and monitoring)

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.