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New Rules For Unemployment Insurance Beneficiaries

There are some new rules Ohioans must follow in order to receive their unemployment insurance benefits. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services is now requiring recently enrolled Ohioans to complete parts of a job search process before they can receive benefits. Spokesperson Ben Johnson tells Ohio Public Radio's Jo Ingles about the new requirements.

Johnson – Starting in April, we began automatically posting a resume to Ohio means Jobs dot com for every new applicant for unemployment compensation.  And then the applicants have some requirements.  Their first requirement is to visit Ohio means Jobs dot com and log in and replace that boiler plate resume with an updated and more personalized resume.  And then moving forward, there are some assessments they take and eventually a career profile and there are various weeks by which they must complete these requirements.

Ingles – So what is the thinking behind all of this?

Johnson – One of the things that we know is the longer someone is unemployed, the harder it becomes for him or her to find the next job.  And so we want to connect people as soon as possible with the career counseling and job search services that we offer here at Job and Family Services. And the best way to do that is to have them log onto Ohio means Jobs dot com and begin to get familiar with the website, with how to search and apply for a job online and then begin to look at the types of job opportunities that are out there.

Ingles – What about people who are going for retraining and that sort of thing while they are unemployed?  Does this pertain to them as well?
Johnson – Well it pertains to most unemployment compensation applicants but not all.  Students are exempt. People with a fixed return to work date are exempt.  And some union members are exempt because in some unions, hiring is done all or in part through a specific union process.

Johnson says each claimant receives instructions with the new deadlines.

Jim has been with WCBE since 1996. Before that he worked as a reporter at another Columbus radio station, and for three newspapers in Southwest Florida.