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Chantal
USA
2 Posts |
 Posted - 09/24/2002 : 10:31:56
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Hey all! I found this great site and would like to ask a question to all of you adjusters. I was a Personal Lines Manager/Agent and am now interested in becoming a CAT Adjuster. I have my CIC, CISR, ACSR and was wondering how I could find an employer that would hire someone without any experience in adjusting? I'm in the Dallas area but am open to anything. Thanks for your suggestions!
Chantal |
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zebraman
USA
3 Posts |
Posted - 09/29/2002 : 17:40:59
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Chantal,
If I May....
Let me throw out my past to perhaps help you a little.
I was an Investigator at the Public Defender's Office in Portland, OR.
I wanted to get into insurance adjusting because most of my investigative skills transfered and the caliber of people I would deal with would improve (however marginally).
I was counselled by a gray haired claims guy. I have followed his advice to the letter.
First, be careful who you start with. He advised one of the big three (Snake Farm, All(most)State, or Farmers. He also said to make sure that I would be given a chance to train as a multi-line adjuster. Most of the bigger companies will try to 'pigeonhole' you and put and keep you in a specific claims discipline. Only Farmers offered the opportunity to be Multi-line. They hired me as an auto adjuster. While I was in training, there was an opening for a multi-line resident adjuster in Central Oregon. I was given the opportunity to cross-train in 3 weeks. I rode with a liability adjuster and a property adjuster for 1 week each. I was thrown out in the field with a draft pad, a small clue, and thick skin. I made a lot of brain farts. My Supervisor told me to drive on and learn. I did.
So, the first part of the gray head's advice had been taken. He also advised me to jump with both feet at every training oportunity. I did. I went to every possible school or clinic. I joined the local adjuster's association. Took I-CAR. Took AIC and General Insurance classes. Also, I networked like crazy. When a local adjuster needed help, I lent a hand. We are a breed that takes care of our own. When a local body guy went on vacation or was sick, I helped out with admin. work or estimate writing. Spent a little time lending hands to contractors and cleaning guys. Learned a lot.
Next my grey haired friend told me that after about 5 years, I should go to a small mutual to learn how companies operate in their claims and management philosophy. I left Big FIG after 10.
Now, as a supervisor, I get calls from people like you about once a week. Here's what I will tell you.
Show your prospective employer how much get-up-and-go you have. Make yourself so that when someone in a claims department looks at you they know that you will immediately improve their bottom line. Don't wait for training. Go find it. Offer to ride with an adjuster you know. It may mean that you lose a week of vacation. It may be that you lose the vacation but decide that the profession isn't for you. Small price to pay. Seek out the local adjuster association. Collect business cards. Find out where adjusters meet for coffee or lunch.
I remember a neat lady who wanted to get into adjusting in the worst way. I was supervising a claims office for FIG in Sioux Falls, SD. She passed the JEPS (it's an aptitude test) with flying colors. She interviewed with gusto. My local manager was an old-line mysoginist. I knew he wouldn't go for her. To me, she was money in the bank. The manager told me, "I don't know about hiring women for this job." It was time to put my thingie on the table. I told him, "If she gets passed over for this job, and I get subpeonaed to testify, your remark will wind up in court." She was hired. As I suspected, she did the work of two men. Regional inspectors couldn't believe that this little woman could wrestle a ladder up to a roof and write a hail estimate. When they went out to look at ther work to see if she was doing it right, they found where she had initialed and dated a roof vent with a grease pencil to prove she had been there! Best hire I ever made.
So, Chantal, you want in. It's a neat profession if you have the aptitude. You see people at their ugliest and best. You make a lot of good, solid friends. You get the satisfaction of moving a lot of paper from one side of your desk to the other (that's a joke, by the way).
Do a little personal homework. Make some contacts and do the 'camel's nose under the tent' thing. Once you're in, you're in.
Good luck.
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CCarr
Canada
1200 Posts |
Posted - 09/29/2002 : 18:20:12
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Greg, I really, really enjoyed reading your post, more than anyone will imagine. I had one of those great gray heads as well, that let me hang onto his shirt sleeve and tell me similar and other "facts of life" relative to getting the right start in the claims world.
Chantal, I wanted to say something similar as Greg has done, in response to your post. But, I felt at the time it might not be understood, or seem "old". But what Greg has told you is so true.
Claims is a people business, and when a supervisor or manager recognizes a person of any gender that has street smarts, initiative, and a willingness to learn while being brave in their new vocation; well they are a must hire. The training and experience that follows as Greg has laid out, then blends with those intangible skills a person brings to their function; and it is a win - win situation for both the adjuster and their employer.
The very best to you as you pursue this endeavor. It is an honorable and satisfying profession. |
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Ghostbuster
476 Posts |
Posted - 09/29/2002 : 21:34:25
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The 'El Pointo Grande' being illustrated here is that all you aspirents out there need to pay your dues BEFORE you try to approach this level of the business. This is no place for raw trainees to be when the stuff finally hits the fan, which we all hope it will again someday.
Also, I hope all you aspiring souls have taken notice of the dearth of work oppurtunities Mother Nature is doling out. When the storms don't damage metropolitan areas, our bills don't get paid as fast as we would like to pay them. With that in mind, please reconsider the blessings of your real job with it's regular paycheck, group health plan, and the comradeship of your office-mates.
This reality check is brought to you as a courtesy of the Association of Those Who've Been There and Got the T-Shirt. |
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ChuckDeaton
USA
373 Posts |
Posted - 09/29/2002 : 22:39:13
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| Could we hear a hearty "AHMEN" for the truth spoken by Brother Ghostbuster? Pehaps from one of the congregation who hasn't made enough this year to pay the light bill. |
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j6407
USA
14 Posts |
Posted - 09/30/2002 : 09:20:03
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All good advise from the ones that answered your question. The hardest part of being a cat adjuster is policy interpretation. Anyone can write an estimate if they have the software. All you do is take measurements. When I have worked cleanup, most of the problems I encountered had to do with other adjusters that paid for things that are not covered, or denying coverage because they didn't know how to read the policy, felt or "assumed" that there was no coverage. All denials have to come from the policy wording, not assumptions.
With your background in personal lines you have 1/3 of the job (policy interpretation) under your belt. The other 2/3 is estimateing and dealing with people. In cat adjusteing,as in other lines of work, the one you help is the one that will come back to bit you. This is where people skills come in. They help you stay out of trouble most of the time.
Good luck in your endevours.As to the question of work.. Our job is feast and faming, Every storm brings out a new bath of people that think they can be adjusters because the money is good. Every slow season chases them out.
I've been at this for 17 years and enjoy the adrenaline charge you get from going to a new storm, and the "helping people" part of the work.I also worry about no storms. So far I have been able to pay the bills.
Juannonly
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Chantal
USA
2 Posts |
Posted - 10/02/2002 : 00:48:03
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Huge Thanks to y'all for your comments. I've applied with a couple of local Dallas insurance companies for claims/adjuster trainee programs and also spoke with Jimmy that owns the Adjusters school in Stephenville,TX. Jimmy offered to let me tag along as a "trainee" on his next CAT assignment. I'm attending my CIC update next week in Plano, TX and will be on the look out for adjusters and company reps. All I have to do now is find out where the local adjusters association meets (and oh yea' get an adjusting job). Thanks again for your suggestions and comments!
Chantal |
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i want to be an adjuster...
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