Washington State Unemployment Offices

If you have been recently unemployed and money is becoming tight, it is a good idea to apply for unemployment benefits. If you have been laid off due to your employer’s lack of work, you will likely qualify for unemployment checks. The amount you can get varies, but I am sure you know that when you have no cash coming in regularly, any amount helps drastically.
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If you are wondering where and how to apply for unemployment, you should visit one of your local state offices, or, http://www.esd.wa.gov/. Personally I recommend going to the website first, but if you would prefer to go to an office, read on.

The state of Washington does not have an entire office dedicated to unemployment. Instead, they have a number of general information offices, and they have a call in center. If you are looking to apply for benefits, file your weekly claims, or ask a question about benefits, you can call 800-318-6022.
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You can also visit one of the many WorkSource offices. WorkSource can help you with unemployment, and help you find a new job. Note that in order to apply for unemployment benefits in Washington State you MUST call the TeleCenter at 800-318-6022.
For Kitsap county, visit
1300 Sylvan Way
Bremerton, WA 98310.
For Clallam county, visit
228 W 1st St., Suite A
Port Angeles, WA 98362-2639
For Jefferson county, visit
207 W. Patison
Shold Business Park
Port Hadlock, Wa 98339
For Greys Harbor county, visit
511 W. Heron
P.O. Box 1136
Aberdeen, WA 98520
For Lewis county, visit
151 NE Hampe Way
Chehalis WA 98532
For Pacific county, visit
2601 North Pacific Hwy
P.O. Box 876
Long Beach, WA 98631
For Mason county, visit
2505 Olympic Hwy N
Suite 420
Shelton, WA. 98584
For Thurston county, visit
1570 Irving St SW
P.O. Box 9765
Tumwater WA, 98512

If your county is not listed here, visit https://fortress.wa.gov/esd/worksource/StaticContent.aspx?Context=WSDirectorySeeker. Once there, click on your county on the map and it will give you the office’s address, phone number, and other contact information.

If you are having trouble finding your location, visiting http://www.mapquest.com/ can help tons. MapQuest is a completely free, comprehensive database of directions. From the homepage you can type in your home address and the address you want to reach. You will then receive turn by turn directions to your exact destination, all free of charge! It is a phenomenal resource and you should use it whenever you need to.

I highly recommend visiting http://www.esd.wa.gov/index.php before you do anything else. The website is loaded with very helpful info, including the benefits you will receive when you are on unemployment, how to apply, etc. It also lists quite a few helpful tips on how to get approved, such as what you need to do before applying. You can also learn how much you will be receiving weekly from unemployment benefits. In my opinion using this website is much easier than going to a WorkSource office, especially since you cannot actually apply at the offices.

You can apply online by going directly to: https://fortress.wa.gov/esd/uia/icintro/intropage.aspx?lang=en-us and filling out the required information. This is the fastest and easiest way to apply besides calling the TeleCenter directly at 800-318-6022.

If you don’t want to waste your time, do some research first. Look around the Employment Security Department website and see if you will qualify or not. If you were laid off by your employer in a mass lay off you are pretty much a shoo-in for benefits. However, if you quit or were fired for incompetence, you will most likely not qualify, but you may, so you should still apply.

Fortress.wa.gov is a government website dedicated to finding work for unemployed residents of Washington State. At this site you can search through more than 15,000 jobs listed, all within Washington. You can do a basic search for jobs close to your residence, or you can do an advanced search, which will allow you to choose the zip code, job type, hours, etc.
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The site is entirely free, and designed to help struggling Washington residents. For employers, you can list your job opportunities and find high quality, hard working local residents to help you out. Whether you are looking for laborers, telemarketers, or something that needs a college education, you can find what you are looking for.

The site also offers a listing of government jobs in your area. There is no job more secure than a job with the state. State workers get fantastic benefits and great pay, and are virtually never laid off.
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To search for a job or look for employees, go to:

https://fortress.wa.gov/esd/worksource/Employment.aspx?CurrentPage=Employment

This link will take you directly to the search form. All you have to do is fill in your location and press “search”. Or, if you are looking for a more specific job, you can choose more options on the basic search screen, or click on “advanced job search” to choose from even more options.

There are many sites out there that will help you find employment. However, how do you know if they are trustworthy? If you use Fortress.wa.gov, you are using an official government website. Your resume and personal information is completely safe with them.

http://fortress.wa.gov/ offers many different links to other helpful sites. They have resources available for you use, all of which cost nothing. You can train for a new, higher paying job, or become an apprentice. Or you can get help properly constructing your resume. Resumes are very important. If an employer sees a well constructed, properly formatted resume, they are likely to hire you. However, if they see a sloppy, miss-formatted resume, they will most likely not hire you. The site will also help you properly construct your cover letter, which will also improve your odds of being hired.

When you register for http://fortress.wa.gov/ you will be able to store your resume and other personal info on the site. You may submit your resume to potential employers, or just search through job opportunities.

The state of Washington enforces and encourages fair treatment of employees. http://fortress.wa.gov/ contains links to several sites that provide you with labor laws, fair wages, and other info to protect your rights as a worker. While these resources are not actually on the site itself, the site provides links to many of the resources for your convenience.

The best link I found on http://fortress.wa.gov/ was a list of jobs in Washington State and how much they pay per hour. This would be very helpful for someone who is looking for a higher paying job but doesn’t know where to look. Also, if you plan to go to college soon, this list will help you choose what to major in, in order to make the most money. You can view this list at:

http://www.workforceexplorer.com/cgi/dataanalysis/?PAGEID=4&SUBID=146

Just click on the second link on that page, and you can view the list. You can also sort the list by clicking on the icons at the top. You can sort by per hour wage, average wage, etc. It is very helpful, especially in this tough economy, to see what jobs are still paying well. There are a lot of obscure jobs out there that pay much more than a normal job.