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The last time I was lurking,............... I got arrested.

Happy Trails

Posted By Fred on 10 Apr 2012 11:36 PM
Somewhere recently I heard the phrase "Mentor Spirit". I believe that in any occupation you will find folks willing to help newcomers, and others who simply are not, for whatever reason. We learn pretty quickly who is worth listening to.

I am a new person to this field. I chose Adjusting after being in the Insurance Business as an agent, but simply can not consider spending the next twenty years in a cubicle making outbound phone calls.

I have also in my varied career, worked as one of the dreaded stormchasing roofing salesmen. Everyone comes from somewhere.

Most of the adjusters I have come in contact with have been 100% above board and quite professional and pleasant to work with. This is the reason I chose to make the move. I like working with people I can respect.

I have been very hesitant to ask questions of the more experienced folks in this forum, as it seems the answers that new folks get is "Search the Archives". Yes there are hundreds, if not thousands of posts, most with good advice, but it is incredibly difficult to find the specific information you are considering. We do search the archives. I do understand the often asked "I have a license, what next" gets old after the first fifty times heard. However, this type of response quite often will lead to the question unasked, and if someone is afraid to ask a valid question for fear of being ridiculed, then shame on us.

We are striving to become the next generation of Professional Adjusters, and forgive us if we do not know everything, and occasionally ask a common question.

I have been taking all of the training that is available to me on a limited budget, getting on all of the rosters that will accept a newbie and creating a network, both new and experienced.

I will also continue lurking and listening. After all, it is really difficult to listen when your ears are competing with your voice.

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1)I dislike the moniker "newbie"

2) I believe it is our duty as experienced adjusters to help the next generation of adjusters, PERIOD!

3) The only stupid question is the question never asked 

4) If someone does not want to help you, you wouldn't want to learn anything from them anyway

5) Technology has made it much easier to be an adjuster today than it was even 5 years ago

6) It is cheaper to teach a tech savvy person how to become an adjuster than it is to teach an experienced adjuster how to become tech savvy (Crawford 2010)

7) The adjusting industry will lose the bulk of its experienced hands within the next 2 to 5 years 

Thank you, I appreciate the encouragement. I was not aware of the need for people in the next 5 years or so.

Posted By Fred on 13 Apr 2012 12:11 AM
Thank you, I appreciate the encouragement. I was not aware of the need for people in the next 5 years or so.

Fred, #7 in regard to losing the bulk of our experienced hands for the most part is my individual musings. It would be within the realm of normal flow to lose X amount of experience per year. However, again just my opine but with the advances in technology and the influx of newly licensed claims professionals coming from all industries, those experienced hands will be less inclined to be willing to put in the effort and hours days weeks necessary to do their job effectively in return for a rapidly diminishing fee schedule.

That is not necessarily a BAD thing, for example: early computers were massive and prohibitively expensive, nowadays, computers are exponentially more powerful, smaller (IE laptops) and dramatically cheaper as the technology has been refined over the years. A typical laptop has anywhere from 2 to 8 GB and will cost anywhere from $300.00 to $1,000.00. A computer with that kind of processor speed and memory in the 1960's would have been valued in the millions of dollars. The home computer that most CADO members are using to read this very thread is far more powerful and capable than that of the computer module that took Apollo astronauts to the moon and back in 1969.

So in a roundabout way so goes those old school adjusters who back in the day (far back before my day) could respond to a hail storm with x amount of adjusters in a zip code at midnight and by the following morning have set the reserves, in becoming...obsolete.

As technology is refined, the cost goes down and that is just the way it......is!

I personally feel that this very moment in our beloved industry is very exciting and I am in awe with the dramatic leaps and bounds with technology.

It is now time for the OLD GUARD (not me), the very best of the best the industry has created (IE Tom Toll, Ray Hall, Chuck Deaton,Older than dirt,Luke Durocher,Roy Cupps, Ron Adams,Shaun Polunski,OKLarryD and hundreds of others) to pass the torch on to the next generation of claims professionals as the industry evolves. For some of our newer CADO members, some of the aforementioned claims adjusters above are no longer with us (IE. Tom Toll, Ray Hall). However their words are forever archived right here on CADO and their legacy will continue to exist long into the future.

For the new folks, just devote a few hours and read these guys posts over the years, that is a learning experience unrivaled from any current certification or course. 

Robby,

Great message in the wake of all the mudslinging I have seen lately.  It is refreshing to see words of encouragement from members of the adjuster community rather than the criticism I have witnessed recently by some of the so called "experienced adjusters".  Apparently, there are only two people in this entire business who were born into this world as adjusters, and they seem to feel that none of the rest of us have a right to learn the business.  Keep up the good news.  See you out here soon!

I believe most of of old f*rt adjusters have no problem with new people coming into the industry. Also I do not know an old f*rt adjuster do does not or has not taken productive time in the field to help someone having trouble with the learning curb. But for most of us adjusting is in our bloodsteam. What gets our back up is people who see this as a cash cow, and we have seen a lot of this in the last while. Do crappy work, grab your money and run. They show no concern (or empathy) for people whose lifes have been turned upside down. If you have no more feeling for this job then how many $$$ you can stuff in your pocket then it is my opinion you do not belong. (there have always been people in the business who only care about the money and not about doing a good job). But since 04 and the begining of the adjuster mills with a get rich sales pitch, the numbers have increased. We have always been pond scum to the companies and they now have even a lower opinion of us. Give another 10 years most of us old f*rts will be dead or lock in a care homes. I wonder if cat adjusting will still be around and what it will look like. Robbie people like you can be a major influence on the future.

Posted By stormcrow on 28 Apr 2012 12:48 PM
I believe most of of old f*rt adjusters have no problem with new people coming into the industry. Also I do not know an old f*rt adjuster do does not or has not taken productive time in the field to help someone having trouble with the learning curb. But for most of us adjusting is in our bloodsteam. What gets our back up is people who see this as a cash cow, and we have seen a lot of this in the last while. Do crappy work, grab your money and run. They show no concern (or empathy) for people whose lifes have been turned upside down. If you have no more feeling for this job then how many $$$ you can stuff in your pocket then it is my opinion you do not belong. (there have always been people in the business who only care about the money and not about doing a good job). But since 04 and the begining of the adjuster mills with a get rich sales pitch, the numbers have increased. We have always been pond scum to the companies and they now have even a lower opinion of us. Give another 10 years most of us old f*rts will be dead or lock in a care homes. I wonder if cat adjusting will still be around and what it will look like. Robbie people like you can be a major influence on the future.

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Well said Stormcrow!! I indeed hope to influence enough folks to get the "BULLS**T get rich quick dog and pony shows from certain training vendors" out of their head and let them know that the 6 figure incomes are the fruits of years of experience and hard work.

Just today on one of my satellite groups on LinkedIn, a vendor East Coast Claims Academy posted in my group "There is a massive shortage of adjusters!! Claims adjusters needed right now!! Make $1,200.00 a day. Carriers are now putting together their rosters for daily claims!!

It is vendors like this that feed into the "Cash cow" "Get rich quick" schemes. Rookies need to know that the knowledge required to get licensed in our industry is NOT the end of the learning experience, it's only the beginning

Robbie,

I've never passed a torch but I pass gas every now and then......................

Happy Trails

I too was a car/truck salesman...from 93-2005.  I got my license online and it didn't teach me squat!  You can make it, but you have to bust your ass.  I didn't know anything when I started.  It took 3-4 yrs before I started getting sent out.  I will advise you of this though...

1- get an xactimate demo disc, find "search" start estimating your own house/ apt.  draw the rooms on paper. then put em in sketch.  Do it the same way every time...clockwise, right to left...ceiling wall floor.  a bathroom ceiling looks like a living room ceiling.  do the outside too..siding, doors, ROOFING..you might wanna get a job selling roofing. 

2-get a copy of the state farm home owners policy..its close to everyone elses..learn it back and forth.

3- don't blow all your money going to schools till you get some grip on what goes on.

4- you will need 3-4 months worth of expenses...hotels 60-100 a nite depending on where you go.

5- be ready to be gone from home for 3-4 months at a time once you  get good at it.

6- you CAN make it.  You have the negotiation skills needed...and you WILL need em!  wait till some ctr gets on your butt about scope and money.  just remember..they are not named insured!  

7- find a house you can climb on the roof and draw it up..start w/ the highest part, draw the outline first, then add valleys ridges.  If you come up to a roof that makes you nervous..don't climb it!  I wont!

8 study hard, go to cc.education.com and get your license.  go to home depot and get familiar w/ components of a house..theres only 30,000 or so.  Roofing is the main component...siding. framing etc. 

9- dont get discouraged...get some knowledge and maybe when a hurricane hits, you will impress mgmt. cuz you'll have a clue and they will eventually call you out for hail work.

10- good luck and God Bless..contact if you need anything else

ruddy@ruddysroofing.com