Call It What It Is: Unemployment Office
In order to be politically correct, we refer to the state office that is supposed to help people find work, as the Employment Security Commission or ESC. The ESC is where you go to file for unemployment benefits when you lose your job for any number of reasons. When you arrive you sign in and wait and wait and wait. Eventually, you will be called by an employment coach or counselor. They will take all of your contact information and then ask questions to determine what kind of position you are suited for. Once this is done they match you with a series of occupations, each assigned a numeric code. Using the assigned occupational codes they can now search for openings in those particular fields.
If all goes well, they will actually give you a couple of leads and you can begin your search for that new career. What usually happens, is you will apply to the selected companies along with multitude of other clients they sent there before you. You will then go home and begin your own job search using the local paper and the internet.
When and if you find a job, it will be due to your own efforts and not those of the Employment Security Commission or as I prefer to call it ” The Unemployment Office”. The reason I prefer unemployment office is that as long as you are depending on them to help you find work, you will remain unemployed.
After the initial visit you will be told how to call in each week to get your weekly check. Beyond that you will receive a monthly notice to report to the unemployment office and update your file. This generally takes about 45 minutes to an hour. It takes two minutes for the counselor to verify that your information is current. The rest of the time is spent waiting to be called.
This is how the system works. They do not help you find work, they simply issue your weekly benefit check and verify your contact information once a month. This is their job and they get paid pretty well, not to mention all the state benefits and holidays they get.
I know all this from my own experience and unfortunately, both of my sons are now going through it. They are supposed to help you with retraining as well as finding work but the system is so screwed up, I’m not sure anyone really understands what to do. After months of being out of work Tommy and Joey, both asked about retraining opportunities. It seems that what they do is provide additional training in the career you currently CAN’T find work in. Let me clarify, Tommy was laid off from a customer service position in the insurance industry. He had been looking for months for a similar or better opportunity. When he couldn’t find one he asked the unemployment office about retraining. They said they would help him with classes in customer service. WHAT?
Anyway, that’s the way it works. You have to follow the rules and make the monthly appointments of they cut off your check. But, if you really want to find a job you have to work at it on your own. Although the local paper and the Internet will be key to your search, letting everyone know you are looking can come in handy as well.
So good luck and hang in there. Remember, finding work can be a full time job in itself.
