Hawaii is paradise on earth - but sometimes, even in paradise things are not perfect. So, you are unemployed and looking for alternatives to be gainfully employed. Well, first things first. You can immediately apply for unemployment benefits, because these are not given in retrospective and time lost while applying for it, is lost forever.

In Hawaii, to be eligible for the unemployment benefit, you need to:

1. be fully unemployed or be earning less than you would receive a weekly benefit while working less than eight hours per day 2. be registered with the State Employment Service 3. be able to work (physically fit) and not be bound by any restrictions such as not having adequate child care, lack of transportation, etc 4. go through a waiting period which is usually about one week after you lost your job 5. file your claim every week you want to the benefits; the claim is not 'automatic' 6. have a valid social security number

• 7. have a valid registration number - if you are an alien
• 8. provide past employers' information (address, phone numbers, zip codes, period of employment, reason for severance, etc)
• 9. have earned sufficient wages in the base period (base period is the first 4 quarters of the last 5 quarters of employment) - that earning should be 26 times the amount of your weekly benefit
• 10. have been paid at least in two quarters in your base period

NB: you claim will start on the Sunday of the week that you filed your claim in; no benefits are given with retrospect

There are circumstances that you are eligible even if you have some income:

• 1. if you are getting any pension or benefits that may come below the weekly benefit amount
• 2. if you are injured and unemployed due to medical problems for which you cannot work
• 3. if you are employed but have low earnings - your employer will be required to fill in a special form, 'weekly report of low earnings' which is available at the unemployment office

You will be disqualified if:

• 1. you are an illegal immigrant
• 2. you are found to be employed but in official breaks (as teachers during holidays, professional sports person)
• 3. you quit your job out of choice
• 4. you lost your job due to misconduct
• 5. you refused work without having a plausible cause
• 6. your work has stopped due to labor dispute at your work place
• 7. you are already receiving benefits of unemployment
• 8. you are found to have committed insurance fraud

These are some of the main and the most important points. In order to get the whole picture you may like to call Hawaii Tele-Claim office at 643-5555 (if you are within the State) and 1-877-215-5793, if you are outside the State. The telephones to Hawaii Tele-claim are toll free from anywhere in the USA. For the hearing impaired you can call Telecommunication Relay Service (TRS) and request the TRS personnel to dial the toll-free number and operate the Option 2 from the menu.

Alternatively you can file your claim online at, http://hawaii.gov/labor/ui/. The online claim is easy to fill up and very convenient.

Hawaii is a tourist destination and there are many seasonal employment opportunities in the State. The highest job turnover however is given below - which can be used to gain an informative perspective on the opportunities available:

• 1. Health - registered nurses is the highest on the demand list with about 350 annual jobs turn over. In order to apply here you need to have minimum an associate degree
• 2. Hospitality - cooks and restaurant staff is the next highest, with a turnover of 290 jobs per year. In order to apply you will definitely need to have on-the-job long term experience
• 3. Maintenance - workers in general are needed at the rate of 250 people per annum. You need to have a moderate amount of experience for this purpose.
• 4. General & Operation Manager - here you will need to have a bachelor's degree or higher. The annual turn over for these type of jobs is about 240
• 5. Health and Hospitality - vying for the fifth position are medical assistants and customer service reps - with a turn over of 230 each annually. For these jobs you will need to have a moderate on the job experience

This will give you a general idea of what is in demand so you can narrow your focus accordingly. For best and speedy results, you should simultaneously take a few measures:

• 1. enroll in a few good placement agencies (include a regular local one - they are the best for local jobs)
• 2. network extensively - tell everyone who has time to hear that you are looking for a job; you will be surprised of the amount of leads you can get this way
• 3. place an add in the local community paper and/or notice boards
• 4. search regularly the local community paper and notice boards
• 5. offer your services as a consultant (in which ever field you are an expert in)
• a. teaching part-time in schools/ colleges
• b. administrative assistant for small business houses
• c. take up plain typing or DTP work from students (for their assignments)
• 6. freelance - this is one of the most profitable and convenient jobs if you have your heart in it. You can do as much as you want from wherever you want and get a very comfortable income:
• a. freelance journalism (check with national papers and local papers and provide stories of interest or articles)
• b. freelance writing - there are a number of sites on the net who need writers for SEO, for copy ads, for PPCs, ghost writing, etc
• c. freelance consultant - in whichever area you are an expert such as law, tax, finance, computers, beauty, you name it
• d. freelance tutor - teach students online
• e. freelance travel agent - provide information and services just as a travel agent would do
• f. sell products online - you do not need to have any product yourself - become an affiliate and sell other people's products and make money