Iowa Unemployment Benefits

You are in Iowa and you are unemployed - do not despair. There are a lot of ways to get a job. But before going into that, you should first apply for your unemployment benefits as soon as possible because these benefits do not with retrospective and then you need the cash.

The basic requirements which will make you eligible for the benefits are:

  • 1. You must be a US citizen or a legal registered immigrant/ alien
  • 2. You must have a valid social security number or valid registration number (if you are an alien)
  • 3. You must be fully or partially unemployed
  • 4. You must have worked under insurance coverage for the last 15 months, earning the minimum amount of salary/ wages
  • 5. You must be available for work and actively seeking it
  • 6. You must be registered with the Workforce Development Centre (you can register online using the online employment registration application)
  • 7. You must have lost the job fully or partially for no fault of your own

    • You can apply online for the benefits at http://www.iowaworkforce.org/ui/index.html or in person by visiting the nearest Workforce Development Centre, by calling over the phone at (877) 891-5344 (toll-free) if you out of the Des Moines area and at 281-4199 if you are inside the Des Moines area or you could ask your last employer to do the filing for you. You will need to have the following information ready before contacting and filing a claim:

    • 1. Your social security number/ alien registration number if you are an US citizen
    • 2. Information about your past employer(s) (name, address, phone numbers, etc)
    • 3. ADD-214 (member 4) if you served in the military in the last 18 months
    • 4. SF-8 form if you worked in the federal government in the last 18 months
    • 5. The name(s) of anyone dependent on you, upto four people

    The claim will be processed from the Sunday of the week you have the claim. In order to continue receiving the benefits you must file information weekly as per the claim forms ask of you. In order to check the status of your claim at any given time, you can call toll free at (800) 850-5627 if you are outside the Des Moines area and 281-6231 if you are within the Des Moines area.

    Once you finished applying for your unemployment benefits you may turn your attention to finding a job of your interest as soon as possible. The economic trends in Iowa indicate the following job availability:

    • 1. The highest opportunities you will find in the area of Truck and Heavy and Trailer Drivers with a demand of 1350 jobs annually. You will need to have a moderate amount of on-the-job experience for this type of job.
    • 2. The second rank is held by Registered Nurses with an annual turnover of 1200 persons. In order to apply for this job, you will need to have an associate degree at the minimum.
    • 3. The third highest turn over of jobs is in the area of Customers Service with a 1190 annual turnover. In order to apply for these type of jobs, you will need a moderate on-the-job experience and training.
    • 4. The fourth rank is occupied by the Team Assemblers who have an annual job turnover of 950 persons. You will need a moderate on-the-job experience for this job.
    • 5. You also have a good job turn over in the First line supervisors/ Managers of Retail Sales Workers; for this type of jobs you will to have some amount of work experience.

    All said and done, you may not be able to go directly and apply even if you have the data for these jobs. So, you will need to immediately take a few measures in order to secure a job in the shortest possible time period so as to restore your peace of mind and financial solubility:

    • 1. Enroll with a few leading placement agencies in the area; prefer those which specialize in local job rather than outside if you need employment in Iowa itself
    • 2. Run a small classified in your local community paper
    • 3. Place 'wanted' ads all over the public notice boards
    • 4. Check constantly the local news paper/ newsletter and the local notice board for openings
  • 5. Tell all your friends, acquaintances, etc that you are on the lookout for a job - some great jobs are landed through network referencing many times
  • 6. Visit your neighborhood and/or the places where there is the highest concentration of work during the day time or night time - such as shopping malls, amusement parks, CD shops, restaurants, etc where they always need an extra hand - and offer your services
  • 7. Ask your last employer whether he/she could refer you to someone for a job
  • 8. Use the Net to earn cash. There are many ways to earn a decent income over the Net by:
    • a. Freelancing: If you are good at any soft skills, then you could take up freelancing on the Net. You could be a freelance journalist giving local news or writing columns on a topic; you could be a ghost writer, or a computer programmer, or analyst, you could be a web designer, etc - the list is endless. Think of what you can do best and pick it up as a tool. In order to get freelance jobs, run a search on the Net and enlist to any freelance website you get. Most of them do not charge anything for job seekers.
    • b. Start your business online: This will involve some investment so you can have a professional website and have it advertised - but this is a great way to start earning
    • c. Earn by promoting sales of other people's products: This is one of the easiest ways to earn money on the Net - become an affiliate and earn residual income forever
    • d. Complete Paid Surveys: It is possible to earn a decent amount of cash while this simple thing - completing surveys online. Check out however, before you join the Surveys' Club, that you are dealing with genuine people
    • e. Start a blog: Today blogging is catching people's attention more and more. It does not take anything to start a blog and if you have it informative and written in simple language, you can make a steady income with this too.

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