myjobcontacts › States › New Hampshire
How many job searches do you need for unemployment in New Hampshire?
Short answer: New Hampshire does not set one number for everyone. You must look for work every week and do what a reasonable person would do to find a job: make several contacts, on different days, in different ways. Your local NHWorks office may give you a set number, so check your notices.
Each week
No set number
Where they go
Typed in, and keep a log
Workforce Connect / New Hampshire Unemployment Insurance System (NHUIS)
The week
Sunday through Saturday
Request payment
File your weekly continued claim after the week ends, from Sunday to the following Saturday.
Official log form
Keep records
Check with NHES. We suggest keeping your log until your claim is fully closed.
Special cases
- Number set by your local office. Local office staff may set a required number of contacts for you based on your skills, experience, how long you have been out of work, and your local job market.
What counts as a work search in New Hampshire
- Contacting employers who are hiring, in person, by phone, by email or online
- Sending an application or resume to an employer
- Reemployment activities that help you get back to work (explained at your orientation workshop)
- Looking for temporary work if permanent work is not available, even if you expect to go back to a seasonal job
What doesn’t count
- Relying only on repeat contacts with employers you already contacted (follow-ups are fine, but you must contact new employers too)
Same employer twice? Contact new employers each week. Follow-ups with past contacts alone do not meet the requirement (older NHES guide).
More on this in what counts as a work search contact.
How to report your job contacts
When you file your weekly continued claim, you enter all the work search contacts you made that week. NHES also asks you to keep a daily record (the Work Search Log) and bring it when you are called to your local office for a review.
When: File your weekly continued claim after the week ends, from Sunday to the following Saturday. You have up to 7 days to file for each week.
Where: Workforce Connect / New Hampshire Unemployment Insurance System (NHUIS).
When the search starts: Look for work right away, starting the first week you claim. New Hampshire has a one-week waiting period, and you still file and meet the rules for that week.
Keep a work search log
NHES’s form is the Work Search Log (NHES 0162). It asks for: date (mo/da/yr), employer(s) contacted: name, street, city/town, state, phone, method of contact, type of work sought, results.
The free myjobcontacts app keeps the same details and prints them in the same columns as NHES’s form. Prefer paper? Use the free printable work search log.
Who doesn’t have to search
- You have a definite date to go back to work within 11 weeks of your last day of work, and you prove it to NHES (state law RSA 282-A:31)
- NHES selected you and enrolled you in a vocational training program
- NHES has told you in writing that you are exempt. Until you get that notice, act as if you must search.
See work search exemptions for how these work in other states.
Reviews, audits and RESEA
You will be called to mandatory meetings at your NHWorks local office, including eligibility reviews and reemployment meetings. Staff review the contacts you reported on your weekly claims and any work search logs you bring. NHES also has a quality control program that picks claims at random for review.
RESEA: Once you file, you will be scheduled for required meetings at your NHWorks local office, including reemployment services if you are selected. You must go to stay eligible. Bring your work search records.
What to expect: unemployment work search audits.
If you miss your number
If you do not look for work, do not give an accurate record, or miss a meeting at the local office, you can be disqualified and may have to pay back benefits you already got.
Sign up with the job bank
You must have an active, current work registration if you are required to register. You register through NH's Workforce Connect system when you file. NH Jobs portal.
Keep every job contact in one place
myjobcontacts is a free work search log. Pick your state and it shows how many contacts you still need this week, reminds you before you request payment, and prints a clean log if NHES ever asks for it. No sign-up. Your list stays on your phone.
Start my free logQuestions people in New Hampshire ask
How many job searches are required for unemployment in New Hampshire?
New Hampshire does not set one number for everyone. You must look for work every week and do what a reasonable person would do to find a job: make several contacts, on different days, in different ways. Your local NHWorks office may give you a set number, so check your notices. Some people have a different number: Number set by your local office.
What counts as a work search in New Hampshire?
Contacting employers who are hiring, in person, by phone, by email or online; Sending an application or resume to an employer; Reemployment activities that help you get back to work (explained at your orientation workshop); Looking for temporary work if permanent work is not available, even if you expect to go back to a seasonal job. Check your notice for anything your state added for you.
Do I have to keep a work search log in New Hampshire?
When you file your weekly continued claim, you enter all the work search contacts you made that week. NHES also asks you to keep a daily record (the Work Search Log) and bring it when you are called to your local office for a review.
What happens if I don’t do enough job searches in New Hampshire?
If you do not look for work, do not give an accurate record, or miss a meeting at the local office, you can be disqualified and may have to pay back benefits you already got.
Who doesn’t have to look for work in New Hampshire?
You have a definite date to go back to work within 11 weeks of your last day of work, and you prove it to NHES (state law RSA 282-A:31). NHES selected you and enrolled you in a vocational training program. NHES has told you in writing that you are exempt. Until you get that notice, act as if you must search.. Your notice will say if this applies to you.
Does New Hampshire check or audit work search records?
You will be called to mandatory meetings at your NHWorks local office, including eligibility reviews and reemployment meetings. Staff review the contacts you reported on your weekly claims and any work search logs you bring. NHES also has a quality control program that picks claims at random for review.
Checked against NHES’s own pages and rules on November 6, 2026. We could not confirm the weekly number, how long to keep your records, the same-employer rule, the payment website link, how RESEA works on an official page, so check your notice for those.
Sources
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.