I've taken it twice, in different states. If you sign up for unemployment, they will make you sit through an "orientation" seminar outlining what documentation is expected of you, how to use their website, they go over how to make a resume, job search basics, interviewing basics, resources for training/retraining for a different career. You would be surprised how many people have NO IDEA how to do the basics.
If you cold call potential employers, it's a contact. If you send a resume/cover letter, applying to a job posting, it's a contact. If you go on an interview, it's a contact. They'll ask you to document the contacts- keep a log of all contacts because they will audit. Saved emails acknowledging your applications and rejections...
How you get treated by the unemployment office depends a lot on your caseworker. Do/supply all documentation, answer their questions in short words, and don't expect any reasonable judgment or initiative on their part. These guys are Vogons. They don't THINK, they just follow their book. And many of them are burnt out, too- understandable, since they get to witness a constant parade of other people's misery.
In the initial stages of unemployment, you'll get some understanding if you don't take the first crappy job offered- if you have marketable education and experience, you have an argument for not taking that position selling knives or AFLAC. If you've got a few interviews in the pipeline for jobs in your field offering a typical salary, they'll understand if you're not taking a $10/hr job from a temp agency. The whole idea of unemployment is to buy you a little time to find a decent job.
As your unemployment wears on, though, they will want to see you casting your net wider- take a temp assignment or two, have some part time work, etc. In this shitty economy it is taking people a LONG time to find a decent job. The focus will shift from "finding a similar job and similar salary" to "take a less than optimal job if offered just to stay in the workforce" (and off government aid). Skills can atrophy and the longer you are out of work, the worse you will look to hiring managers.
Your unemployment benefits are basically a pot of money and time. There is a set stretch of time under which you can claim benefits. This is longer than the amount of time you can actually collect benefits If you take a temp job, that clock stops while you have the job. You're earning money, not burning unemployment benefit. It's put "on hold." If you've collected unemployment for three months, and you work 1 month as a temp, you still have three months left of the six months that regular unemployment lasts. Once the temp assignment ends, you can re-open your claim.
If you find something for only a few hours a week, they'll let you "keep" a small amount of the wage beyond your normal weekly benefit- anything left over just slows your rate of burn. And then if you're keeping that part time employment for a good while, you buy yourself more time for your claim on the back end because your burn rate is slower. So if you get $300/week in UI, and you're making $200/week part time, they might let you keep $100/week extra for working. The other $100/week will offset your unemployment benefit- so you're only burning $200/week out of your total pot of ($7200 in this example, being 6 months worth of the weekly benefit shown).
If you are honestly searching for (full time) work, go ahead and collect UI; it's what the program is for. Whether it would be too much hassle for you is your own call. Several years back my mother got laid off; she was burnt out by then and would not even pursue unemployment. She simply signed up for Social Security (not an option for you, I know). She said she didn't want to pursue work at the time, and so it was not honest to take the benefits and go through the motions.