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I never really intended to write about this, but because everything Coronavirus / COVID-19, I knew I needed to. When I lost my job last summer, not only did it completely take me by surprise and rock my world mentally, but it also did so financially. Sure I have this blog, but it is more of a passion project than a provider of finances. For a little insight and behind the scenes info, I never know how many collaborations I’ll actually get / how many affiliate sales I’ll gain. Plus, with things like Rakuten and Honey (sites that aggregate coupon codes), they override influencer affiliate sales and take the commission instead. Also, the cookie window for things like Instagram has reduced, so if you don’t purchase from a link on Instagram within 5 minutes, the influencer no longer gets the sale. Last but not least, a lot of content creators get paid on net-30, net-60, and even net-90+, so it isn’t necessarily a constant cash flow. Not to mention, the business is very cyclical. I’m not saying all of this to have a pity party - just sharing insight, as a lot of people think bloggers are swimming in money and that just isn’t the case. Oh and now that I live in California, my taxes are a loooot higher. Regardless, I’ve always had my blog alongside corporate positions (my employers have all known about it) , as I used it as a creative and helpful outlet.

When I wrote my blog post on What to do When You Lose Your Job last fall, one of my top tips was sign up for unemployment immediately. I didn’t and I wish I had. It was just such a crazy time; I didn't even think of it until my dad mentioned it, about a month after it happened. Once you apply for unemployment, your state’s workforce commission has to go through it and once it does, they then go to the employer that fired you, so they can verify everything. The company has 2 weeks to do this and mine waited until the very last day to discuss it. They tried to deny my filing, which then lead to the workforce commission reaching out to me on the phone, then going back to the employer, blah blah blah. So all in all, it took 3 to 4 weeks, andddd guess what? The workforce commission doesn’t back pay. You can’t request money until your severance is deleted, but that doesn’t mean you can’t file immediately. You have to log on and request money every 2 weeks in addition to filing, so don’t worry about severance pay or think it is in the way for you applying. Get it sorted out and just request when you need to. Who knows! You may have a new job by the time you are approved on the unemployment site. I only received 2 weeks severance, so by the time I filed and it was approved and everything, it was okay for me to request money. Again, even if you end up not needing unemployment payments, it’s okay! Better to be proactive than reactive. You only receive money when you request it / need it.

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IF YOU WANT TO GO STRAIGHT TO THE TIPS, SCROLL OVER THIS PARAGRAPH. These are extra details and relate to my personal story, so you might find them helpful!

Before I get into my tips, know that my only experience has been with the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), which can be found at twc.texas.gov. I did move states while still receiving benefits, which was quite interesting. I spoke about it quite freely in my Women in the Workplace newsletter that goes out once a month, but the long story short is that it was really confusing. Last November (2019) they stopped my payments and even said I owed them money back, stating that I never registered for work. I had no idea what that meant or even what I needed to do, and I thought I was diligent. I had been going on interviews and even working with recruiting agencies, so I had no idea what I had done wrong. I tried calling the TWC office several times, but it would just ring and ring, and eventually hang up. The week I received the notice was Thanksgiving and the local job office wasn’t answering phones either. The Monday after Turkey Day, I marched up the Culver City office and they literally had no idea what to do with me…hence why I tried calling ahead of time.. I tried talking to several different people in person and they finally told me to come back for a “job class”. So, I spent basically all of Tuesday (the very next day) taking this course, come to find out, because I had a degree, I didn’t even have to be there for most of it, because they were only testing if you didn’t. Oh and to verify the degree, you literally could just send a photo of it, so they received a picture of a plaque on my wall, but that’s neither here nor there. Just an interesting tidbit / look into the system. Later I would find out that I didn’t even have to go in person to this course and could have just uploaded my resume online and call it a day. I will say that it was nice that I went in person, as I could use their fax machine for free and at places like FedEx it costs something crazy like $1+ a page. My point for giving all these back details is that no one knew what I needed to do, so I had to continually ask questions and fight for myself. During this process, it would have been really easy to give up, but I had a good support system and kept at it. You have to keep at it, as you have to be your own advocate. I know… as if losing your job isn’t already hard. The system is even harder!

To continue the saga above, after sending everything in at the end of November, I received a notice in January that they had received it and scheduled a hearing date. for mid January. They had a fax number listed and said if I had anything else to support my argument, to send it in. I decided to fax in my 30+ pages of jobs I had applied for as evidence that even though I hadn’t “registered for work” in the system, I had indeed been searching and speaking with local recruiting companies. During the hearing I almost had a meltdown (probably because it was 8:30 am Texas time /6:30 am Cali time) and I had to log on 30 minutes prior to the call to “get in line”. I was also pretty anxiety ridden, because at first they couldn’t find my extra fax sheets. They ended up finding them and it all worked out, but it was pretty crazy. Note if you have a hearing, it is best to send in ALL the information together, so it doesn’t go missing. Looking back, I should have sent in proof initially. Also know that they don’t tell you how they rule your hearing right then. They end up mailing you the decision, then posting it online. I honestly didn’t think they would reinstate my account - I just hoped that they would erase what they said I owed them. They ended up saying that it was a mistake not to pay me and forgave the fee. Note they don’t back pay, so I went through almost 2 months without payments and then had to go right back into waiting for payments every 2 weeks. As of early last month (March), I exhausted all of my unemployment funds, so I am no longer receiving them, but I am very thankful for TWC and the benefits I have been able to receive.

Anyway, that’s my story. I wanted to share it with you, because it is super confusing and can feel isolating, during this already lonely time. Here are some tips and steps to follow when requesting unemployment for yourself. Hopefully these will make the process easier, as it’s really hard to find anything that actually helps! Or it least it was for me. Good luck!

HOW TO APPLY FOR UNEMPLOYMENT AND WHAT TO DO NEXT

• Apply. You need to apply via your state. In Texas you can do this at twc.texas.gov, but in California it is edd.ca.gov. If you just search your state name and “register for unemployment”, the correct site should come up!

• Register for work. This is different than above anddd where I messed up. If you’re in Texas, you need to register on www.WorkinTexas.com, whereas in California, I had to do so on www.CalJobs.CA.gov. Regarding the California one, I just had to upload a resume and fax proof to TWC. Now, I don’t think you have to fax it in if they haven’t asked you about it…I think they just expect you to do it and then you have proof you did it if for some reason they inquire. I applied for unemployment in August and didn’t get a notice until December, so it probably takes awhile for them to check it. Get ahead of it and go ahead and do it. It was super easy! Once I knew what I had to do. Hah! If you don’t have a computer, you can go into your local office (can be found on the websites where you register for work) and use theirs.

• Search for jobs. It depends on your state, but you are required to have a certain number of jobs that you’ve applied to, in order to prove that you are in fact looking for work and applying for positions. In California it is 3, but I think in Texas I had to do 5. Either way, I applied to more than the bare minimum, mainly because I realllly want(ed) a job - still do! and it looks better to have applied to more. On average, I think I applied to 10 a week, but often had around 15+ applied to.

• Request payment. Via the Texas Workforce Commission you request and receive payment bi-weekly. I requested every other Sunday and then it was deposited into my bank account the following Tuesday. If you don’t request on time, you miss out on money for the payments for those weeks and they don’t back pay. Each week when you request, you have to ensure the information is correct and tally how many jobs you’ve applied to per week.

• Repeat requests for up to 18 months. The amount you receive per week is based on your last salary. You are able to request money up to 18 months after the first payment, but you might run out of money to request before that time is up. You are given an allotment of money for the unemployment period, so you may receive it all before time is up. Like I mentioned, I exhausted mine in early March, but I’m actually able to apply again in July. Doesn’t mean I will or that they will accept my application, but it is there if I need to. I also just received an email from TWC saying that they are reviewing recently completed unemployment cases and seeing if people deserve more money, thanks to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act)… which is cool, as I know so many people in need.

HELPFUL HINTS AND TIPS FOR THE UNEMPLOYMENT PROCESS

• Apply ASAP. I know it’ hard, as it was likely a traumatic experience, but the sooner, the better. You can wait a day or two (or even a week!) to update your resume, but please go on and apply quickly, so you can start receiving assistance as soon as possible.

• Register for work. You have to do this specific to your city / state. I went into a little more detail in the previous paragraph, but wanted to mention it again here. This is different than apply for unemployment and must be done!

• Keep great records. This is what saved me when I had my hearing. It’s VERY annoying when applying to jobs, but not only is it necessary when receiving unemployment benefits, but it’s interesting to look back on. I’ve applied to 400 jobs since last July, which is crazy. I use AirTable to house all my info, but even excel works great! TWC has sheets you can print off, but I wanted mine to be electronic and typed. If I needed to, I could always fill in their desired paper! Do whatever works for you, just make sure you keep track of the date, the job title, the company and result of activity. I also included a link to the job posting. I updated the listings to “interviewing”, “no offer”, and so on, which is kept in the history on AirTable. It would be really easy to make a table in Excel and do something similar. When I faxed all my records in, they took them in my format, no questions asked; however, it might have been different had they been just auditing me.

• Set alarms or calendar reminders. Like I mentioned, you have to be on time or you miss out on money. It doesn’t disappear from your allotment - it is just prolonged until you receive it. I had a reminder that went off every other Sunday morning.

• Save everything. When you request money, you get these online receipts. I downloaded and saved them all, so I could have them for my records. It’s good to do this for all of your TWC things though. You never know when it might come in handy.

• Remember taxes. When you receive the money, you can elect to have them take out taxes on it; however, it may or may not be enough money depending on your tax bracket / household income, so keep that in mind for tax season. Our taxes are going to be insane this year, seeing as I worked for 2 different employers, have my blog, have unemployment, AND moved. Nick also worked for 3 different companies last year, so taxes are just on my brain, though the deadline has been extended until July thanks 20 COVID-19. (This was published 04/01/2020.)

• If you move, update your address. Updating your address is super easy and is data you have the option to update each week when you request funds. If you move to a new state, don’t forget to register for work at your new local job seeking office! You don’t have to do this if you just move cities, but it is important to still update your address, as they mail a lot of documents and forwarding takes longer and doesn’t work half the time. Even though I moved to California, Texas continued paying my unemployment. I was able to find that out pre-move, so I didn’t think twice about needing to register elsewhere. Now that I know though, and want to make sure you know too! The hardest part about all of this, is information is really hard to find and confusing to understand.

THOUGHTS ABOUT THE UNEMPLOYMENT PROCESS

• Know the websites are awful. They work pretty much like you’d expect a government website to run. They were pretty bad when I was using them, but I know they have gotten a lot worse, simply because so many people are using them right now. I would say try to shoot for off times like night, as less people are using them, but I know a lot of them are using those times to do updates that are duly needed. Doesn’t mean you can’t try during this time - just know it may still not work. I know people in Texas and California where this was an issue. I didn’t have much luck with the phone lines either. The only time I was able to successfully get someone on the phone was when they called me, left a message, and I called them back. The other times, they literally hung up on me because the phone lines were too full. Yes, that is what the final recording said - more than once too! For Texas Workforce Commission their phone number listed is 1 (800) 558-8321; however, I know people who have had success calling 817-420-1685 and/or 866-274-1722 to file over the phone, which expedites your process!

• Be nice. While the system is annoying, I worked with nice people. Sure they may have been stern at times, but they were never rude or short with me - they are literally just trying to do their job within the guidelines they have been given. You catch more flies with honey. Remember that! I know it is a stressful time, but always try to be a little nicer and give grace. You’re not actually mad at them - you are mad at the system.

• Read the fine print. So much fine print!! It’s all confusing. I had to have Nick help me with several things - try to have a second set of eyes on everything if you can.

• Don’t be ashamed. It may make you feel bad to do it, but you have literally had taxes pulled from all of your previous paychecks that fund this sort of thing AND your employer pays unemployment tax too. Unemployment is there to help you.

Any other questions? I know it is a lot, but the whole process can be a lot. I tried to include helpful hints and details, but feel free to reach out if you want to know something I forgot to mention! As always, check new rulings and do your due diligence to do it correctly, and you should be good. Praying you find work soon and the unemployment money helps in the meantime!

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