<prompt> Human: Im 30. I worked at my job for 3 years, paying off half of my 180k student loans by working long hours, not buying anything, and living in a shit hole in a bad part of town.I was recently fired, with cause. I have 91k left from the loan. I dont have any good references, as I was the only one of my position at my office, and the bosses were not on the premises. Im trying to be vague, sorry if its confusing, but basically Im in an environment with one professional and a lot of less trained people with no college education who are mostly there temporarily.I think I want to do Teach for America-- Ive actually always wanted to teach. However, its 8 months from now that the program starts, and it doesnt pay that well for the first 2 years.In the meantime, I can find a few days of work each month, making maybe 800-1200month, maybe a little more.Should I seek unemployment, or will this give me some kind of black mark with future employers? On my CV I can still list that I worked through this period, since I will be working 2-3 daysmonth at a place where Ive worked for the past 3 months... so Ill avoid the appearance of a big employment gap.Sorry. Im terrible with this sort of thing, I tried googling but didnt find anything that answered my vague questions.  <response>: You can file a claim for unemployment and continue working. Depending on laws in your state, if you are approved for benefits, they will be based off a formula that looks at your last 6 to 12 months of wages. The amount you will be eligible for will be reduced by the amount you make any work you find, but you have some security in having a stable amount of cash coming in.Your employers are not allowed to know if youve filed for government benefits unless you offer that information. The gap in employment will be noticeable on a resume, so your idea of finding other employment sooner rather than later will help. Your best bet is to be honest in interviews as to why that gap exists. You dont need to say that you were fired or why theyre not allowed to ask you that or ask your previous employer that either, but you should be upfront that there were differences, etc, and that it has no bearing on your future potential performance. 