| 10/08/2008 2:56 PM |
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I posted a thread about the adjuster school because I was considering taking courses to gain experience in xactimate. The adjuster school also offers job placement, which is my main reason for taking these courses. I got over 250 views from people and not one person has responded. This is a little frustrating, what kind of forum is this? That is a retorical question.
I am trying to get into an adjusting career, not just because there is a cat going on. But because I have done my research in this field for a while now and I am looking for a career. A job is easy to find, finding the right job is alot more difficult.
I am looking for a career and would love to hear from those experienced adjusters out there who wouldn't mind lending some advice for a noob. How can I get experience when NO ONE seems to want to hire a rookie? How did you do it ? What would you recommend ? Is there a claims service out there who will hire rookies. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Regards,
Ronl |
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| 10/08/2008 5:42 PM |
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I would do staff cats for a year or two to get hands on experience while making a guaranteed 80-100k for most carriers.
Its hard enough going from staff to independent, I can't imagine how difficult it would be to try and go into this wihtout knowing Xactimate inside and out, where to bend v where to stand firm, how to talk to the irate insureds, etc. |
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| 10/08/2008 8:35 PM |
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David,
Where can anyone get an entry level staff job with no experience for a guaranteed 80-100K/yr. I think you are way off with that remark. Just name one carrier who would hire a trainee with such a salary or guarantee.
No one is absolutely worthless, at the very least you can serve as a bad example.
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HuskerCat Veteran Member Posts:762  
| 10/08/2008 9:21 PM |
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I agree with you, Larry. That $ is way overstated, unless he's talking about the salary & toss in the company car, gas card, allowable expense acct items, employee benny's, etc.,, and then it suddenly can equate to the afore-mentioned. But you don't just come off the street with zero or minimal experience and land that type of position. |
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okclarrydVeteran Member Posts:954
| 10/08/2008 11:04 PM |
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It's not overstated. That's in today's government dollars.
Larry D Hardin
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| 10/09/2008 8:14 PM |
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"staff cats"
When I left, none of the full-time cat people at FIG were making less than 80k per year, and most were clearing 100. Base salaries were between 38 and 45, with a 195 per diem when deployed, 10-20% profit sharing, and overtime, it gets to 80 pretty easily. And yes, as of the time that I left, they were hiring people with little/no claims experience because their turnover is so ridiculous.
Staff daily doesn't pay anywhere near that well, but staff cat adjusters do very well.
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okclarrydVeteran Member Posts:954
| 10/09/2008 8:41 PM |
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Now that you 'splain it like that...................
When I was a staffy cat guy for The Hartford, I did pretty good as far as the salary went.
Let's see now.................add this to that, carry the eleven, add some to that..............
Naw, nowhere near $80K
Kinda nice thinkin' about it, though Larry D Hardin
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| 10/09/2008 10:53 PM |
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Posted By ronl nichols on 08 Oct 2008 02:56 PM
NO ONE seems to want to hire a rookie? I find that hard to believe with all the damages recently occurring in LA & TX. There is some vendor(s) that need the extra heart beats, or at least did. Maybe there full now with the Noobs. How did you do it ?Have a friend who went out on a limb, left his job of 15 years cashed out 401 k and went to one school after another. While attending a TX licensing course he met his/mine boss and kept in touch until he was hired. Shortly after i became interested started riding with friend on off days until learned the basics (always learning something new with this work), but learned what i needed at minimum. Met the boss myself bugged and bugged until a foot was in the door, and finally the last foot made it a few months later. What would you recommend ?Finding an Adjuster to ride with, even if you have to drive or go out of the way. Or do as David said and land a job as a staffy and learn that way. (A little scepticle about his salary figures though). Is there a claims service out there who will hire rookies. Yes, how do you think everyone else got in. Everyone starts somewhere. You don't just wake up one day and have the knowledge or skills. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Regards,
Ronl
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| 10/09/2008 11:16 PM |
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Hello is there anyone out there/ If you have experience or know anything about the Estimate Wizard I need thw know how. I have steps but they are very basic and somethings on the wizard are kind of hard to understand. How do you complete an estimate and do the calculations? |
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sbeau4014Founding Member  Member Posts:427
| 10/10/2008 1:35 PM |
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David,
With clearing a minimum of 80K to over 100K a year working staff, with benefits, 10%-20% profit sharing, insurance, paid vacations, $195 per day tax free per diem when deployed, employer paid w/c, E & O, a company car thrown in, equipment and all software provided at no cost, partial SS taxes and most likely a company sponsored retirement, the reason you left was again what???? Bet they only require the adjusters to work 7 to 7 when deployed and probably get regular paid days off during a storm for a trip back home for that mandated R and . If you are staff, I would venture to guess that FIG pays all the expenses such as hotel and food, or are those the responsibility of the adjuster themselves. I would advise any rookie/newbee to look into a staff cat position to start out for the training and experience. Don't count on making a fortune doing it, but a decent living can be had while getting your training. When you are on your own, you will realize that more income may come into your pocket while working a good storm (if you are worth your salt and fairly efficient), but an incredibly amount of that income doesn't stay in you pocket long. It is amazing how much goes to expenses and taxes, so you can make that money. It has been 13 years since I last ran a cat operation for a carrier, so I am out of the loop on pay and how they do it now in house. Any new person in this business would be crazy to try to do it on their own when a set up like that is available.
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MedulusModerator Veteran Member Posts:786
| 10/10/2008 3:06 PM |
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My experience last year when I was looking at staff was that many companies were only considering inexperienced adjusters for their cat teams. Whether the rationale was that they could "train them their way" or get them cheaper, I don't know. I am not privy to the decision-making mechanism of this new Dilbert world. I suspect a part of it is age discrimination in disquise.
As an inexperienced person you are probably more likely to be able to land a staff position with some of the larger carriers than us old dogs (who, by the way, have more new tricks floating around in our brains than the Dilberts of the world can even conceive). I only know that, even though I am way over 40, my current company has saved more since they hired me this year than they will ever pay me in salary and benefits in the course of the rest of my career. I haven't saved that money by low balling the insured, or avoiding payments we owe. I have saved it by making sure the claims were handled quickly and efficiently. This has saved scads of money from unmitigated loss and curtailed the business interruption claims because the insured got up and running considerably faster. My company seems quite happy they went the experience route.
But for those who are looking at staff, you may find the larger carriers are very open to those without much prior experience. Steve Ebner CPCU AIC AMIM
"With great power comes great responsibility." (Stanley Martin Lieber, Amazing Fantasy # 15 August 1962)
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| 10/10/2008 7:06 PM |
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Let me start by saying THANK YOU to all of you who had a legitimate answer for me and this particulaer topic at hand. I really appreciate your responses. Thanks =)
NOW, This thread does not pertain to who made what and when; nor what advice you can give on certain software! So, to all of you who is cluttering my thread up with irrelavant answers to my original question, MAKE YOUR OWN THREADS PLEASE!!!!
Thanks again everyone,
Ronl
PS: I've tried getting my foot in the door with just about every vendor on CADO. No Luck =(
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StormSupportGold Member Member Posts:203
| 10/11/2008 2:04 PM |
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NOW, This thread does not pertain to who made what and when; nor what advice you can give on certain software! So, to all of you who is cluttering my thread up with irrelavant answers to my original question, MAKE YOUR OWN THREADS PLEASE!!!!
"Your Thread"???????? Geeze, Ronl, what are you thinking?
A little free advice............Get used to chatter in the threads, and don't get so testy when that happens! That's the way it is around here. Do the right thing, ALWAYS
~Meg~
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HuskerCatVeteran Member Posts:762
| 10/11/2008 7:53 PM |
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Posted By ronl nichols on 08 Oct 2008 02:56 PM
I posted a thread about the adjuster school because I was considering taking courses to gain experience in xactimate. The adjuster school also offers job placement, which is my main reason for taking these courses. I got over 250 views from people and not one person has responded. This is a little frustrating, what kind of forum is this? That is a retorical question.
I am trying to get into an adjusting career, not just because there is a cat going on. But because I have done my research in this field for a while now and I am looking for a career. A job is easy to find, finding the right job is alot more difficult.
I am looking for a career and would love to hear from those experienced adjusters out there who wouldn't mind lending some advice for a noob. How can I get experience when NO ONE seems to want to hire a rookie? How did you do it ? What would you recommend ? Is there a claims service out there who will hire rookies. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Regards,
Ronl
Maybe it's your presentation (initial post referenced above). Did you want some feedback or not...it seems you got some this time around? And would any kind of feedback be appreciated? I guess not, as you've made that point clear as the sole owner of this thread.
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Leland Advanced Member Posts:741
| 10/12/2008 3:45 AM |
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I don't know why so many people report such a difficult time getting a job. I suggested to my contractor friend that he work a cat so I gave him the names of all the big vendors I could remember and his wife called them all. One of them took him on, sent him to TX for training. Then he came back to california to get a trailer (dumb move!) and once he got 600 miles into the desert they called him and told him not to show up, they had enough people. So I gave him the names of every freindly adjuster I knew and he called them, and also the owner of the vendor I worked for in Houston. He got a phone interview which he flubbed and was turned down. With a follow up call and some humility he was back on the list and driving to Houston to be an assistant to another adjuster. Now that he is there he has renegotiated to get some of his own claims and the first vendor that turned him down says he's back on their list once he finishes his first assignment.
I have to wonder, do people that can't find work know how to look?
If that's you, I would ask:
Do you know how to talk on the phone? Can you present yourself in 30 seconds? Do you plan what you are going to say before you pick up the phone? Do you give up too easily?
Maybe somebody can post a sample dialog of the right way (and maybe the wrong way) for a rookie to call a vendor and get on the roster....
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| 10/12/2008 6:02 PM |
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Roni,
Following upon Meg's response: If you are that thin skinned, you probably really won't like the wonderful world of cat adjusting. You will understand what clutter really is when you realize how much you need to know to be a good adjuster.
No one is absolutely worthless, at the very least you can serve as a bad example.
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