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In January 2006, the French public employment service (ANPE) implemented the “Suivi Mensuel Personnalisé” (SMP), a new massive follow-up programme to monitor and counsel job seekers. The programme starts four months after their registration and consists in interviewing them every month. This paper evaluates the effect of SMP on registered unemployment spells. Using a difference-in-differences method, we find that SMP shortened unemployment spells to a significant degree, by between 5 % and 12 %. The impact was greater in 2007 than in 2006, and for long-term recipients of unemployment benefits. Unemployment spells were shortened thanks to higher job finding rates and higher deregistration rates.