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Independent guide. Not affiliated with the Department of Unemployment Assistance or any government agency.

How do you find a job in Massachusetts while claiming unemployment?

Short answer

MassHire JobQuest lists open jobs across Massachusetts and matches them to a jobseeker profile. A MyMassGov account is what lets you apply and sign up for workshops.

Search jobs on MassHire JobQuest

MassHire JobQuest is the Commonwealth's own job bank. The searching you do here is also what you certify to DUA week by week on your weekly claim.

What you can do on MassHire JobQuest

Creating the profile, applying for jobs, and signing up for workshops all need a MyMassGov account, the same kind of account an unemployment claim is filed with. The Department explains the rest on Find your next job with MassHire JobQuest.

What a MassHire Career Center adds

Career centers are where the reemployment work happens in person. If DUA picks you for the Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment program, known as RESEA, you have to finish what it asks to keep collecting benefits.

RESEA starts with a Career Center Seminar. You can find one through your JobQuest account or by calling (888) 822-3422, and a claimant selected for RESEA can also complete the seminar requirement inside JobQuest itself. After the seminar come 2 one-on-one meetings with a RESEA specialist, online or at the center, where your requirements are gone through in detail. Questions about the program go to 617-626-5300, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Centers also hold limited in-person appointments for DUA itself in Brockton, Fall River, Greenfield, Holyoke, Pittsfield, Salem, Southbridge, Springfield, Taunton, and Worcester. Addresses and numbers for every center are on offices and phone numbers, and the Department's map sits on MassHire Career Center locations.

If a health condition is what makes the search hard, disability benefits covers the career help built for that.

Training that keeps your benefits running

If new skills would help you find work, the Training Opportunities Program lets you attend a full-time approved training program, keep drawing unemployment benefits, and stop looking for a job while you study. Benefits can run for up to 26 weeks beyond your initial benefit period if the training is still going.

Apply before your 20th paid week of unemployment benefits, which is the cutoff for joining the program.

DUA's own example: begin an 18-week training program after claiming 18 weeks of benefits, and you can claim for a maximum of 36 weeks in all. Training has to be finished within 2 years, or 3 years if you take basic skills courses. How long benefits last covers the ordinary limit.

The program also settles a question about school. Full-time students are generally not eligible for unemployment benefits, and meeting the requirements of the Training Opportunities Program is the way that changes.

The program unit answers on (617) 626-5521, and the application sits on Training Opportunities Program.

Other job boards with Massachusetts openings

These job boards list openings in Massachusetts.

More Massachusetts guides

Official sources

Updated and checked against mass.gov on