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Posted By The Hobbs on 11 Jul 2011 09:18 PM

I am new to this field.  I have family that does it and so I got the certifications and classes needed to get going plus some.  I find it almost ridiculous that every IA Firm out there requests that you have _____ years of experience.  I was just wondering how in the hell do you get actual adjusting experience if no one wants a newbie.  I know that when 3 hurricanes hit at the same time you will hire me...but until then I wait.  

And yes I did request from my family members to do ride a long for the storm, but they informed me that their firm really frowned upon me being along for the ride.  I would need to gain experience by helping with the claim and watching  over his shoulder can only help so much. 

Just curious why in this field there is really no program or anything set up to get good new guys involved in this business.  If I was an IA Firm I would love some sort of program that would give me good IA's and weed out the bad ones.    Maybe I am just missing something...Any thoughts?

CAT100,

Whilst I am well aware that getting someone to give you a shot in the business is IN FACT a Catch-22  in to get a job you need experience and to get experience you need a job.

Where I begin to disagree with you is with your statement "I find it ridiculous that every IA firm requires __years of experience !"  I also find your statement of "  I know when 3 hurricanes hit you will hire me.....but until then I wait?" dripping with sarcasm.

Before I begin, understand that this is NOT a personal attack on you, this is constructive criticism. If you take offense to it, well toughen up and get a thicker skin..........trust me you will need too in this industry !!

1) Your first issue that must be dealt with is your attitude and sense of entitlement. It needs to go out the window...PERIOD . If you maintain this attitude, you may find that even when we get 3 on top you will still be sitting home by the phone.

2) Why IA firms require x amount of experience is simple. When an adjuster is deployed to a risk, they are representing the carrier and how the insured views the adjuster is how they view the carrier. You carry an enormous responsibility as an adjuster and quite frankly,an adjuster with no experience is NOT qualified to be put in that position. Up until about the turn of the 21st century, adjusters who held certifications in ANY discipline were in fact experts of said discipline.As it stands now, we have 10's of thousands of rookie adjusters that are loaded to the gills with all the certifications and classs and then some..... .How can someone be deemed an expert on something they have never done? All of these certifications indeed have a place but I believe that place is NOT with rookie adjusters. Not one of these certifications will get a new adjuster a job.

3) In regards to new folks getting a shot, it is often said it's not what you know but who you know. That statement rings true. Having friends and/or family in the business is by far the best avenue to getting established in this industry. I was amazed to hear that whilst you do have family in the business, they turned you down. I have NEVER heard of that happening ! Now, even with them saying no to you riding along with them, you should sit with them and learn how to label photos, how to write a narrative, how to prepare a concise estimate (XM8/Integra-Claim/SIMSOL). That knowledge is priceless for a new adjuster

4) I am not sure how many IA firms you have applied with but I am pretty sure it's not around 150 to 200. Right here on CADO is a list of over 140  IA firms complete with address/phone #'s/email addresses 

Your words "Just curious why in this field there is really no program or anything set up to get good new guys involved in this business ?" tell me you haven't looked very hard. There are programs and projects that are listed right here on CADO in the classifieds / forums that discuss how and what to do to take advantage of these opportunities.  You could simply google mentor programs/ Apprentice projects or utilize CADO's search engine and other Adjuster sites search engines as well.

I am aware it's hard very hard to break in the industry. But it's NOT impossible and I have given you multiple avenues with the above information. 

In closing my friend, over the next 2 to 5 years the industry is going to lose the bulk of it's experienced adjusters to retirement, attrition and a multitude of reasons. What that means is many IA firms/Cariiers are now actively recruiting newly licensed adjusters and will expand those programs and projects. Simply put, now is a good time to be a rookie adjuster as never before.

Hang in there my friend

Robby Robinson   

I have yet to see a firm besides the big players where you MUST have 3 years experience.  I had the same problem you did though, even with experience as a staff adjuster.  Most people come to this from some other type of job where they're used to sending out resumes then sitting and waiting for the phone to ring.  Adjusting hasn't worked like that for me.  It's more like selling yourself constantly.  Yes I send out resumes but I follow them up with phone calls and e-mail updates.  I got about 10k in work in Joplin simply by sending out an e-mail to everyone on my list that I was headed to Joplin and would be available on site to handle claims if needed.  One needed me and it worked out.  Unfortunately it worked too well right after that and 11 firms contacted me to give me work from the follow up storms in the great lakes states right after Joplin and I ended up overbooking the *$%& out of myself.  This is a very bad thing to do in this business - probably worse than not working so don't do it.  Been paying for that mistake with a whole lot of 4 hours of sleep days for about a mont now.  I just now got it to the point where it's whittled down to the very small select number of folks in the same area I really enjoy working for.  I'd like to pretend there's some "tactic" to getting work as an adjuster but the real answer is to just be relentless about it.

Posted By Tim Wieneke on 14 Jul 2011 12:35 AM

I have yet to see a firm besides the big players where you MUST have 3 years experience.  I had the same problem you did though, even with experience as a staff adjuster.  Most people come to this from some other type of job where they're used to sending out resumes then sitting and waiting for the phone to ring.  Adjusting hasn't worked like that for me.  It's more like selling yourself constantly.  Yes I send out resumes but I follow them up with phone calls and e-mail updates.  I got about 10k in work in Joplin simply by sending out an e-mail to everyone on my list that I was headed to Joplin and would be available on site to handle claims if needed.  One needed me and it worked out.  Unfortunately it worked too well right after that and 11 firms contacted me to give me work from the follow up storms in the great lakes states right after Joplin and I ended up overbooking the *$%& out of myself.  This is a very bad thing to do in this business - probably worse than not working so don't do it.  Been paying for that mistake with a whole lot of 4 hours of sleep days for about a mont now.  I just now got it to the point where it's whittled down to the very small select number of folks in the same area I really enjoy working for.  I'd like to pretend there's some "tactic" to getting work as an adjuster but the real answer is to just be relentless about it.

 

Tim,

What you did to obtain work in the Joplin area was classic thinking outside the box and from that extra bit of effort you ended up not with the problem of NO work but Too much work for one person. Whilst overextending yourself to a multitude of IA firms is a subject unto itself, you in fact are now on the radar screen to x amount of IA firms who sees you as an individual in a sea of faceless newly licensed adjusters. You have been tested and proven yourself to be an asset   to these firms as opposed to the default scenario that rookie adjusters are a liablity and a risk to IA firms because they are in fact UNTESTED.

I sincerely hope we get a response from cat100, with the right help this guy/gal can go far.

 

Robby Robinson