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Ghostbuster
Registered User
Username: Ghostbuster
Post Number: 316
Registered: 12-2000
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, July 26, 2002 - 7:35 am: | 
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To Mike and all other aspiring souls, the best place to start in this, or any other venture, is at the beginning of the yellow brick road. Seek out a carrier staff position where you can learn the fundamentals in a structured, day to day, on the job process.
Please realize that before you can fly, you must learn to crawl. Adjusting has a heirarchy just like anything else. Storm Troopers, to use an antiquated term, are the acme of the profession. Those folks that try and make the jump to this level without paying their dues in the trenches of claims do a disservice to themselves and do great harm to the rest of us.
So, Mike, start on the yellow brick road in Munchkinland and pay your dues by learning the business one day at a time, one loss at a time. There are many adventures ahead. |
Michael Burrows
Registered User
Username: Mburrows
Post Number: 1
Registered: 7-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 25, 2002 - 9:28 pm: |
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I am just breaking into the business and would like a little advise if at all possible. I understand that you just can't go to a school and know it all. Experience counts towards everything. I am an ex police officer so I know that all the school does is help you pass the test. So I guess what I am getting at is HELP!!! I have experience as far as office work goes and little body shop and construction experience. Any advice on who to talk to or contact please let me know. |
Tom Strickland
Registered User
Username: Toms
Post Number: 44
Registered: 12-2001
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 11, 2002 - 3:41 pm: |
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Gil,
go to another area and post and watch the posts fly your way
good luck with your endeavors
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Gil C. Newton
Registered User
Username: Newt
Post Number: 2
Registered: 7-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 11, 2002 - 2:42 pm: |
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Looking over the dates on this forum it looks like the tree is falling and no one is there to hear it. |
Gil C. Newton
Registered User
Username: Newt
Post Number: 1
Registered: 7-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 11, 2002 - 11:56 am: |
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I am new to the adjuster field, got as much training as I could in the past few months. I have 12 years exp.in my own building co. ,commercial and industrial.I have 10 years as founder of an environmental pest control company.
Both of which were very successful. I have exp as forman of a mfg plant building modular homes. (trlrs)That lasted three years. I have 2yrs Purdue Univ. in the study of entomology and wood destroyig organisms(mold,termites,beetles,rot etc).I have not put my hat in the ring just yet and thinking about the chances. I have Tx AL fla
lic. Farmers cert auto&property xactimate cert.
I need practice on my xactimate I am woking on that.Any of you old timers got any input for an intense "ole dude" with ears. |
JimLakes (Jimlakes)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2001 - 4:32 pm: |
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Steve,
I am glad that you have jumped into the conversation about this issue. You perhaps have asked some questions and brought out some answers that many would like to hear.
First let me say that I in NO WAY resent or oppose new adjusters coming into this business. I am sorry if I gave you that impression. I am sure that Ghostbuster and many others feel the same way. I have personally never met Ghostbuster but would be willing to bet that he would be one of the first to jump in and help a new adjuster on a storm site when they were in need. As most, ALL seasoned adjusters would. I don’t think you ruffled any of our feathers.
I think the thing that stirs up more controversy about this subject is that there are MANY new adjusters that think just because they go to a school or obtain a state license they ARE ADJUSTERS. The best example of this fact is that the State of Florida has probably the hardest test and once passed you ARE an adjuster, according to them. WE all know, however, that all the tests you could possibly take DOES NOT MAKE YOU AN ADJUSTER. It takes experience and dedication and a lot of hard work. Most all, good adjusters started out as construction workers, body shop workers, or staff adjusters. I was fortunate in that I have been all three. Moreover, I am not saying you can’t be a good adjuster without being one of those; it just makes it a lot easier if you have that experience.
Jim Flynt and I have talked about this subject many, many times in the past and how we wish we could afford to have a school that really taught adjusting and not just answers to a test. It would be very simple to start a school, charge a high fee, and give everyone attending a diploma. BIG DEAL. It would be very hard to teach someone things that took 20 to 30 years to learn by others in a short week or two. This I believe is part of the problem. A lot of adjusting cannot be taught; it must be obtained by experience and hard work.
The same questions were asked in an earlier forum. If you should have doubts as to my sincerity please, look, at my answer to Chris on the “How Do I Get Started?” thread.
If you are determined to be a “good adjuster,” work hard and learn all you can and you will succeed. Set your goals high and when you reach them, set more. I have been at it many years and have never reached the “mountain top.” Why? If I did, I would probably just fall off anyway.
Jim Lakes RPA
National Catastrophe Director
RAC Adjustments, Inc.
866.241.6574 |
JimLakes (Jimlakes)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, July 28, 2001 - 6:07 pm: |
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Chris,
Ghostbuster and the others have good suggestions as to where to start.
I might add the following. If you do not know anything about construction or policy it will be hard to just start with any vendor with no experience. I would recommend that you first go to one of the companies that your father sells for and try to get on as a staff adjuster and let the carrier train you. I started in a body shop and went to Allstate. I will be eternally grateful to them for the training I received during my (10) years with them.
You can of course go to Vale Tech or one of the other adjuster training schools. Short of that, the only other thing is to hook up with a good Cat adjuster and let him train you, Like Ghostbuster or John Durham. Ha. Ha. Of course, these methods are not very profitable for some time, no learning period is.
Chris, it is just like any other profession. You must stick with it and learn as much as you can each and every day that you pursue it. And always have your ears and mind open to those that have “been there, done that.” Sometimes you can learn as much from the bad ones as well as the good ones, so that you don’t make the same mistakes they do. If you have a doubt that “good adjusters” are not needed, look at the article I posted under “How True It Is.”
John, as far as you are concerned, if everyone worked like you, the only thing I’d have my hands full of is a golf club or something else besides the telephone. Thanks for the JOBS well done.
Good Luck and Be Careful,
Jim Lakes
National Catastrophe Director
RAC Adjustments, Inc.
866.241.6574 |
John Durham (Johnd)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, July 27, 2001 - 6:28 pm: |
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Hey GB, Jim Lakes has his hands full with me, please do not send any more problems to him.... |
Ghostbuster (Ghostbuster)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, July 27, 2001 - 1:34 pm: |
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Now, Now...Claimsranger. Let's not go scaring the poor boy off with the harsh realities just yet!
You, me, and the fence post all know that we DO NOT work 16 hours a day, 7 days a week. In fact, we tend to work 18 hours a day, 7 days a week. And about this mental health examination bit, the mental institutions are overcrowded enough without having us to check-in all at once like we do at the motels at storm sites.
Why? Why do we do this kind of work? I'm always reminded of in 'Smokey and the Bandit" from 1977, when Jerry Reed asked Burt Reynolds that question and he replied, "Son, we do it for the money, we do it for the fun, and we do it for the glory. But mostly, we do it for the money."
And has for that vile suggestion that I am a TEXAN. I'll have you know, every morning I wake up and remember the Alamo! |
Claimsranger
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, July 27, 2001 - 6:57 am: |
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GB, honest to god, you have to be a TEXAN!! In Talking with Mike Wardlaw in the recent past, Farmers was/is just fired or recalled their entire middle mgmnt claims supervisors. Noticed they need a few according to to the jobs postings. You can't just throw money at a claim to close it. 'Cept 23 mill south of me a few miles and turn the industry upside sideways and shake it till all the loose change falls out. Anyway, to get started in this business. First off, see a shrink!! Then find a mentor and get ready to work till you drop. Get every certification you possibly can and sign up with everyone on the roster. On the work part, if you think I'm kidding, figure 16/7, 110 degree heat, and people with guns, all BS aside. Find a mentor. A Jim Flynt or a Ghostbuster or someone with the money and patience(we all have both) to teach you this dangerous profession. And if you father has been an agent for 30 yrs? Don't ask him a thing, cause he can't tell you, that is why they need us! IMHO |
Ghostbuster (Ghostbuster)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 26, 2001 - 10:43 pm: |
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Well, Bryan...If you like Farmers, then you might oughta hitch your wagon to Wardlaw or Eberl's or NCA. Personally, I worship the QUICKSAND that Farmers stands on, but, Hey, thats just me. Diferent strokes and birds of a feather and all that sort of thing. Or, you might call Pilot to join the Good Hands party, or any of the crews doing the chores for Big Red. And, don't forget the regional independents toiling for the small stock companies scattered around the country. There can be lots of steady work from these folks, too.
Hey, Jim Lake... ya got any ideas on this topic? |
Bryan Caraway
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 26, 2001 - 8:51 pm: |
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Hi my name is Bryan and I am a recently licensed adjuster. I went to the ICTC school of adjusting and I learned alot, but I am still unemployed. I am Farmers Insurane Certified and trained on PATHWAYS. I have been traing with a c.o.d. shop.
I need some advice from the experienced. Please!!
E-mail bccatadj@aol.com |
Kile Anderson (Kileanderson)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, July 11, 2001 - 11:36 pm: |
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Chris, what kind of work do you want to do? Property? Auto? I have a few numbers. Email me kileyander@aol.com |
Chris W
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, July 11, 2001 - 2:14 pm: |
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I need help. My father has been an agent for one of the big 3 for 30 years and I'm very interested in becoming an adjuster. Does anyone know where I can go? Contact for Worley, Pilot, Eberls? |
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