TRA Work Search Explanation

State of Illinois

Department of Employment Security

www.ides.illinois.gov

Trade Readjustment Assistance Work Search Explanation

CLI114L Page 1 of 1 Rev. (09/2011)

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In accordance with the Trade Reform 2002, since you have been waived from training:

YOU MUST CONDUCT AN APPROPRIATE WORK SEARCH AS DISCUSSED BELOW:

1. You must register for work with the Illinois Employment Service.

2. Every two weeks, you must report your work search on a certification form. The work search must include: a list of

employers contacted with the names of the persons contacted and their phone numbers or addresses; the dates of your

contacts; your methods of contact; the kind of work you applied for; and the results of your contacts.

3. You are required to make a SYSTEMATIC AND SUSTAINED effort to find work. This means:

a. Your efforts to find work must be continuous throughout the week. On each normal work day, you must take some

positive action to find work. You must make a significant (at least five per week) personal contacts with prospective

employers and apply for work on at least three working days during each week. If there is a day in which you make no

employer contacts, you must, for example, prepare a resume, contact a union or professional organization, attend an

employment seminar, review the Illinois Employment Service listings, etc.;

b. Your health or physical condition must be such that you are able to search for and perform work;

c. Your personal or domestic circumstances must permit you to search for and accept work. For example, if you need

child care to allow you to look for work, you must arrange for such care;

d. You must look for work that pays as little as minimum wage or your weekly benefit amount including any supplemental

unemployment benefits (Sub Pay), whichever is more;

e. You must look for work that requires you to travel one way as long as 90 minutes from home to work. This may require

you to use alternative means of transportation;

f. If you look for work in your customary occupation that uses more than one shift, you must apply for and accept any shift

that is available;

g. You may continue to look for work in your customary occupation, but you may not limit your search solely to jobs in that

occupation. For example, if you are a construction worker, you can look for work in the construction industry, but you

must also look for other kinds of work;

h. Your work search methods must me realistic and appropriate considering the type of work you are seeking. For

example, a factory worker does not ordinarily find employment by sending out resumes or by making phone calls, but

applies in person;

i. Your search must be thorough. Repeated contacts with the same employer are not acceptable unless there is a

reasonable prospect of obtaining work with that employer. If you are a union member, you cannot limit your contacts to

the union hiring hall;

4. The systematic and sustained work search requirements do not apply to you if you are attending a training course

approved by the Director of the Illinois Department of Employment Security. If you fail to accept or continue in training

which has been approved by the Director, your TRA payments will be terminated if you do not make a systematic and

sustained work search;

5. If you do not have a definite offer to begin work within four weeks, you will be expected to accept any offer of work you

are capable of doing.

IF YOU CLAIM TRA FOR A WEEK WHEN YOU DO NOT MEET ALL THE REQUIREMENTS DESCRIBED ABOVE, YOU

WILL BE INELIGIBLE FOR ALL FUTURE TRA PAYMENTS UNTIL YOU HAVE WORKED IN AT LEAST 4 SEPARATE

WEEKS AND HAVE EARNED AT LEAST 4 TIMES YOUR WEEKLY BENEFIT AMOUNT.