How many job applications does the RAV require per month?
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In short
Federal law contains no number — your canton and your RAV adviser set it. In practice, Bern requires at least 8 applications per month (explicitly already during your notice period), St. Gallen at least 12 written, verifiable efforts, Zurich usually 10 to 12. If you don't want to look yours up: twelve a month puts you on the safe side almost everywhere.
This answer can contain errors and is not official advice. What your RAV or unemployment fund says is binding.
More important than the number: the duty starts before you are unemployed (Art. 17 AVIG requires you to avoid unemployment), and the proof must be filed by the 5th of the following month — late means the efforts do not count at all (Art. 26 AVIV).
- Bern: at least 8 per month, already during the notice period.
- St. Gallen: at least 12 written, verifiable efforts.
- Zurich: usually 10–12.
- Deadline: the 5th of the following month — late means not counted.
- Insufficient efforts = suspended benefit days (Art. 30 AVIG).
Why federal law names no number
The AVIG sets no minimum. Art. 17 para. 1 AVIG requires something different — that you do everything that can reasonably be expected of you to avoid or shorten unemployment. What counts as reasonable is filled in by the cantons and by your RAV adviser, which is why Bern, St. Gallen and Zurich differ without any of them being wrong.
In practice the number that applies to you is not in federal law at all. It is in your cantonal guidance and in what your adviser agrees with you. Ask at the first meeting and write the answer down — that is the figure you will be measured against.
The duty starts before your first RAV appointment
The most expensive common mistake is waiting until you are registered. Art. 17 para. 1 AVIG ties the duty to avoiding unemployment, not to registering, so the search is already running during your notice period. Bern says so explicitly and expects its eight applications a month during that time.
If you let the notice period pass and start on your first day of unemployment, you have nothing to show for those months — and that cannot be reconstructed afterwards.
The deadline matters more than the count
Under Art. 26 para. 2 AVIV the evidence must be submitted by the 5th day of the following month. Efforts filed late do not count, even where you genuinely made them. Twelve applications reported on time are worth more than twenty that arrive on the 6th.
Submit as you go rather than collecting at month end. If the 5th falls on a weekend, confirm with your RAV what applies instead of assuming.
What happens if you fall short
Insufficient job-search efforts lead to suspension days under Art. 30 AVIG — days on which no daily allowance is paid. The entitlement itself survives; the money for those days does not.
How many days are imposed depends on the individual case and cantonal practice, and we deliberately do not quote a general scale here. If a suspension is threatened or already imposed, raise it directly with your adviser and keep a record of what you actually did.
Canton figures from official cantonal pages (August 2026); articles from AVIG/AVIV.
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