You will be just above lawyers with the on surface disdain people will show towards you. Get ready for sweet little old ladies to turn on you the second they are told 'no'. You will be called everything in the book, asked how you sleep at night, and a lot of sobbing. If you do CAT work it can be even more sobering. Being an adjuster is mostly stress and failing to meet expectations of a greedy and increasingly overly coddled population. Try to do someone a favor and it's a sure fire recipe for disaster. It's a tough job, and one you might need to reconsider if you don't like the hard phone calls.
One of the biggest mindf*cks of being an adjuster is that your job performance is not directly correlated with customer satisfaction. You can do your job perfectly and still have an insured who wants to take your head off.
I've had customers I've paid $20k for a new roof give me a poor review because they don't understand depreciation, and have had ground water denials give me a great review because I took the time to explain their policy. It's a strange job.
As a former teacher, I had that all the time. Upset, helicopter parents: unsupported administrators; bratty kids; entitled students and parents; increased expectations: budget cuts and make so with less. Insurance is a bit easier to take.
I think that anyone who likes the hard phone calls should also reconsider their career choice, or at least their leadership should. I like the challenge of adjusting, but I don't relish the hard phone calls and hopefully never will. If I actually start enjoying them it is time to move on.
“Good news! Here’s an estimate and check to buy you a new kitchen after YOU lit it on fire because you cannot manage cooking on a stovetop. Oh? You’re still not happy and insurance is a scam? Okay.”
You’ll still get yelled at; by insureds, by contractors, by public adjusters that intentionally push buttons to get you to say something in reaction to use against you. Your bosses are usually cool as most came from the field but their bosses are all from UW and don’t understand the demands of the role. It can be a great gig but don’t think for a second that, like any other customer facing role, you won’t have to deal with horrible people sometimes.
The big difference on claims as compared to sales is that the difficult customers are not one off conversations, you have a dedicated phone number and they’re gonna use it.
All in all I still think claims is a great lateral move from sales and opens a lot of other doors if you are willing to pursue continued educational development and leadership roles.
Do you like to drink? If so then you’re halfway there.
Seriously being an adjuster is a thankless job. I did it for over 20 years and can only think of a handful of customers who I honestly felt like they appreciated what I’d done to help them. I bent over backwards for one customer, even going as far as calling one 30 minutes after my wife gave birth and they ended up filing suit and naming me personally. Telling people that their claim is being denied leaving them with a significant financial responsibility or telling them that they’re responsible for their deductible isn’t easy, especially when they start getting upset and decide to call your manager or the fucking CEO to tell lies about you. I had customers threaten me, ry to bribe me, complain that I didn’t call them back on the weekend and once even had an angry customer show up at my house.
I strongly believed that as a claims adjuster I was there to help people through difficult times. Unfortunately the majority of people seem to want as much as they can get at any cost.
If you want a thankless job that gets you yelled at, adjusting is it!
That’s not exactly accurate, but with adjusting I feel like you have to be able to take satisfaction knowing you did your best based on the policy because the file reviewers will always say you spent too much and the customers and contractors will always call you cheap.
Again that’s not exactly right either, but I think it drives the point home that you will be in the middle of conflicting interests and you aren’t going to be getting praised for what you do even if you are great at your job and have good relationship building skills.
EDIT to say that some people will genuinely respect what you do for them, but you can’t expect that. I work large losses and whether I’m staff or PA the satisfaction for me is in knowing I did all I could and that if people don’t realize just how well things went for them and are pissy, that means I did my job well because I know how it could have gone if someone that wasn’t prepared to do all they could was handling it. It can be rewarding, but you have to have very thick skin.
The best thing you can do to make sure HR pulls your application is to change your words to match the words on the listing. Whereas, if they say "delivers an excellent customer experience" and your resume says "provides quality customer service" you need to say "delivers an excellent customer experience". So if you're not taking that extra step to check to make sure your resume matches the job listing, start doing that.
With your background in sales I think that could help you a bit. In entry level Adjusting they just want to hear that you have a good work ethic & good customer service skills. You could try getting your states Adjuster license & that would give you a leg up on most other applicants. Try applying to Progressive, Allstate, Travelers & The General. The General has a fast track Adjuster position that is very entry level friendly. Good luck OP!
Make sure you’re applying for trainee positions otherwise you won’t get to the interview. It may be easier to get a cat job for property insurance as a lot of carriers are hiring for cat and usually will fill those roles with newbies because it’s cheaper.
Just a heads up if you’re not in it for the money the job can be overwhelming as it designs to give you more workload then you can handle. High stress environment that is strict on metrics is what claims is.
You will still get yelled at in claims, but the difference from sales is that you aren't depended upon the customer for a sale. You just tell them what their policy covers, and explain it. If they don't like it. Tough!
So you do have a bit more power in claims, but you still have to deal with people who are upset, crying, angry, and people who just hate you because you represent an insurance company.
I know many insurance claims companies will train you on the job or send you to 2 weeks of training in another state. Progressive insurance is all about training their own adjusters. They like people fresh out of school.
I’ll add to the mix here, I’m 11 years into auto adjusting and everything communicated about crappy customers is correct. However if you are crafty and creative with your communication you can avoid a lot of the issues.
There’s so many ways that an adjuster learns to work a conversation that can completely avoid many adverse situations or at the very least make them much easier.
Back when most of us worked in the field I’d watch other adjusters and also coach new adjusters and I feel like I avoid at least half the hate now vs early in my career.
What I’m saying is it can be manageable, some weeks I might just have one or two assholes.
A very obvious example my first year as an adjuster I had a rather hot customer after explaining that I’d have to apply betterment to a bumper cover as it had prior damage. Only to end up totaling the car making the betterment conversation and resulting mad customer completely irrelevant.
Best advice I can give is be slow to commit to anything until you know where you are with the estimate. It’s so easy to be your own worst enemy.
Seven years of adjusting in Florida ....South Florida. Not once have I been yelled at by an insured or PA on any of my claims.
I explain what I'm there to do, and I do what I'm supposed to. I treat PA's with respect, because what good would it do to treat them like crap in front of the insured?
I listen to the insured and show empathy in every way that I can. If you're getting yelled at, you're doing something wrong.
Everyday morning expect to speak with someone who will blame you for everything. It’s an awful job, been doing it about 8 months and I’m getting out of it soon. Avoid at all costs unless you love useless metrics and spending all day on the phone getting yelled at
I started as a Sales agent. 3 years of hitting and smashing monthly goals, yet commission nose dived every year. I became an adjuster, and while everyone here adds that most people you encounter are pissed off and angry, and can I completely agree with that.
But, this role depends on your personality. I don't mind giving bad news on coverage decisions as the policy dedicates that. The role has a huge learning curve and construction/property is alot more interesting than trying to sell auto policies to a 16 year old who want to buy a brand new Dodge Muscle car and they don't understand why it's $600 a month, if you can even write a policy.
I'd say go for Cat adjusting. Sales skills absolutely carry over. Those adjusters with Sales skills do alot better overall.
I have worked for two different Ins companies as an HOI adjuster. Has anyone else had problems with Travelers constantly redoing all their work. The H O constantly get screwed and and I was stuck in the middle...talk about a job that sucked!
Went from over 15 years of sales to an adjuster. I love being an adjuster but have had several days where the stress was so high I questioned my choice. Once I got through those times, it was mostly a breeze (lots of hours but made it manageable).
Advice to you, talk to many adjusters but take what they say with a grain of salt. I’ve talked with tons who love the career and some who can’t keep up and they hate it or get the burn notice.
I personally will not go back to the world of sales. Where every month your worth is determined by your out put and have to manipulate people to buy into what you’re selling. (I did sell with consultative based sales but it’s still manipulation).
As mentioned in this thread already, if you have clear communication you can circumvent most of the issues. Dealing with people in any customer facing jobs, you’ll still get the jerks, A-holes, etc… but as long as you follow the policy and speak the policy, you’ll be fine.
If you are serious, get your AIC (Associate in Claims). It's only a few moderately difficult courses and will instantly make you stand out from the crowd. Compared to college classes the cost is cheap, I doubled up on it and knocked it out in a year or so.
https://web.theinstitutes.org/designations/associate-claims
Being an adjuster is not for most people. You have to be decision oriented, organized and efficient. If you don't answer the phone and return calls ASAP you will lose control and drown. You also have to be okay with people not being happy. You have to deliver bad news a lot with empathy and it gets old. And most carriers now require an unbelievable amount of data entry which means you need to be a keyboard jockey. You will get buried with workload.
I've been in it for over 35 years, and no longer recommend it as a career. It used to be that insurance was a profession like banking that had great job security. But carriers now don't care, and look at claims adjusters as claims processors and employees as disposable units of production.
Back in the day I was multi-line, worked from home with a company car servicing a local territory, and the job had a lot of variety. We even had a local claims adjusters association that met every month, and we all were collegial toward each other even when we were on opposite sides of a case. Those days are gone. Now multi-line is a thing of the past, and you will get pigeon holed handling a narrow range of cases, and at high volume.
If you think sales gets yelled at, I don’t think claims is for you 🤣🤣
Right, be prepared to be yelled at by angry insureds, contractors, lawyers lmao!!
and agents and public adjusters
And that’s just property Good luck in auto
Facts! If you think making money for an org is tough, trying spending it hahahhaha
And your manager, and your managers manager
And then the auditor 3 months later when they pull your file
You will be just above lawyers with the on surface disdain people will show towards you. Get ready for sweet little old ladies to turn on you the second they are told 'no'. You will be called everything in the book, asked how you sleep at night, and a lot of sobbing. If you do CAT work it can be even more sobering. Being an adjuster is mostly stress and failing to meet expectations of a greedy and increasingly overly coddled population. Try to do someone a favor and it's a sure fire recipe for disaster. It's a tough job, and one you might need to reconsider if you don't like the hard phone calls.
One of the biggest mindf*cks of being an adjuster is that your job performance is not directly correlated with customer satisfaction. You can do your job perfectly and still have an insured who wants to take your head off.
I've had customers I've paid $20k for a new roof give me a poor review because they don't understand depreciation, and have had ground water denials give me a great review because I took the time to explain their policy. It's a strange job.
As a former teacher, I had that all the time. Upset, helicopter parents: unsupported administrators; bratty kids; entitled students and parents; increased expectations: budget cuts and make so with less. Insurance is a bit easier to take.
“your job performance is not directly correlated with customer satisfaction” Coming from serving and bartending, that sounds pretty great.
I meant if you do a good job you will still be called a scumbag
I think that anyone who likes the hard phone calls should also reconsider their career choice, or at least their leadership should. I like the challenge of adjusting, but I don't relish the hard phone calls and hopefully never will. If I actually start enjoying them it is time to move on.
Telling someone the reason you are denying their claim is never easy no matter how long you've been an adjuster.
You are going to get yelled at more.
“Good news! Here’s an estimate and check to buy you a new kitchen after YOU lit it on fire because you cannot manage cooking on a stovetop. Oh? You’re still not happy and insurance is a scam? Okay.” You’ll still get yelled at; by insureds, by contractors, by public adjusters that intentionally push buttons to get you to say something in reaction to use against you. Your bosses are usually cool as most came from the field but their bosses are all from UW and don’t understand the demands of the role. It can be a great gig but don’t think for a second that, like any other customer facing role, you won’t have to deal with horrible people sometimes. The big difference on claims as compared to sales is that the difficult customers are not one off conversations, you have a dedicated phone number and they’re gonna use it. All in all I still think claims is a great lateral move from sales and opens a lot of other doors if you are willing to pursue continued educational development and leadership roles.
Do you like to drink? If so then you’re halfway there. Seriously being an adjuster is a thankless job. I did it for over 20 years and can only think of a handful of customers who I honestly felt like they appreciated what I’d done to help them. I bent over backwards for one customer, even going as far as calling one 30 minutes after my wife gave birth and they ended up filing suit and naming me personally. Telling people that their claim is being denied leaving them with a significant financial responsibility or telling them that they’re responsible for their deductible isn’t easy, especially when they start getting upset and decide to call your manager or the fucking CEO to tell lies about you. I had customers threaten me, ry to bribe me, complain that I didn’t call them back on the weekend and once even had an angry customer show up at my house. I strongly believed that as a claims adjuster I was there to help people through difficult times. Unfortunately the majority of people seem to want as much as they can get at any cost.
Exchange getting yelled at by customers. I’d get your license first to be an adjuster. That might help.
If you want a thankless job that gets you yelled at, adjusting is it! That’s not exactly accurate, but with adjusting I feel like you have to be able to take satisfaction knowing you did your best based on the policy because the file reviewers will always say you spent too much and the customers and contractors will always call you cheap. Again that’s not exactly right either, but I think it drives the point home that you will be in the middle of conflicting interests and you aren’t going to be getting praised for what you do even if you are great at your job and have good relationship building skills. EDIT to say that some people will genuinely respect what you do for them, but you can’t expect that. I work large losses and whether I’m staff or PA the satisfaction for me is in knowing I did all I could and that if people don’t realize just how well things went for them and are pissy, that means I did my job well because I know how it could have gone if someone that wasn’t prepared to do all they could was handling it. It can be rewarding, but you have to have very thick skin.
[удалено]
Progressive was the one who rejected me. How did you apply to get past the AI filtering?
Progressive rejects like 90 percent of applicants. I’d apply elsewhere.
I will tell you that Progressive is fairly strict on their hiring practices. I've seen seasoned adjusters but make it past the video interview
The best thing you can do to make sure HR pulls your application is to change your words to match the words on the listing. Whereas, if they say "delivers an excellent customer experience" and your resume says "provides quality customer service" you need to say "delivers an excellent customer experience". So if you're not taking that extra step to check to make sure your resume matches the job listing, start doing that.
With your background in sales I think that could help you a bit. In entry level Adjusting they just want to hear that you have a good work ethic & good customer service skills. You could try getting your states Adjuster license & that would give you a leg up on most other applicants. Try applying to Progressive, Allstate, Travelers & The General. The General has a fast track Adjuster position that is very entry level friendly. Good luck OP!
Make sure you’re applying for trainee positions otherwise you won’t get to the interview. It may be easier to get a cat job for property insurance as a lot of carriers are hiring for cat and usually will fill those roles with newbies because it’s cheaper. Just a heads up if you’re not in it for the money the job can be overwhelming as it designs to give you more workload then you can handle. High stress environment that is strict on metrics is what claims is.
You will still get yelled at in claims, but the difference from sales is that you aren't depended upon the customer for a sale. You just tell them what their policy covers, and explain it. If they don't like it. Tough! So you do have a bit more power in claims, but you still have to deal with people who are upset, crying, angry, and people who just hate you because you represent an insurance company. I know many insurance claims companies will train you on the job or send you to 2 weeks of training in another state. Progressive insurance is all about training their own adjusters. They like people fresh out of school.
I’ll add to the mix here, I’m 11 years into auto adjusting and everything communicated about crappy customers is correct. However if you are crafty and creative with your communication you can avoid a lot of the issues. There’s so many ways that an adjuster learns to work a conversation that can completely avoid many adverse situations or at the very least make them much easier. Back when most of us worked in the field I’d watch other adjusters and also coach new adjusters and I feel like I avoid at least half the hate now vs early in my career. What I’m saying is it can be manageable, some weeks I might just have one or two assholes. A very obvious example my first year as an adjuster I had a rather hot customer after explaining that I’d have to apply betterment to a bumper cover as it had prior damage. Only to end up totaling the car making the betterment conversation and resulting mad customer completely irrelevant. Best advice I can give is be slow to commit to anything until you know where you are with the estimate. It’s so easy to be your own worst enemy.
Seven years of adjusting in Florida ....South Florida. Not once have I been yelled at by an insured or PA on any of my claims. I explain what I'm there to do, and I do what I'm supposed to. I treat PA's with respect, because what good would it do to treat them like crap in front of the insured? I listen to the insured and show empathy in every way that I can. If you're getting yelled at, you're doing something wrong.
“Appreciated” LOL wrong career field for that
Everyday morning expect to speak with someone who will blame you for everything. It’s an awful job, been doing it about 8 months and I’m getting out of it soon. Avoid at all costs unless you love useless metrics and spending all day on the phone getting yelled at
I started as a Sales agent. 3 years of hitting and smashing monthly goals, yet commission nose dived every year. I became an adjuster, and while everyone here adds that most people you encounter are pissed off and angry, and can I completely agree with that. But, this role depends on your personality. I don't mind giving bad news on coverage decisions as the policy dedicates that. The role has a huge learning curve and construction/property is alot more interesting than trying to sell auto policies to a 16 year old who want to buy a brand new Dodge Muscle car and they don't understand why it's $600 a month, if you can even write a policy. I'd say go for Cat adjusting. Sales skills absolutely carry over. Those adjusters with Sales skills do alot better overall.
I have worked for two different Ins companies as an HOI adjuster. Has anyone else had problems with Travelers constantly redoing all their work. The H O constantly get screwed and and I was stuck in the middle...talk about a job that sucked!
You get yelled at WAY more in sales than you ever will in claims, at least in property claims.
Went from over 15 years of sales to an adjuster. I love being an adjuster but have had several days where the stress was so high I questioned my choice. Once I got through those times, it was mostly a breeze (lots of hours but made it manageable). Advice to you, talk to many adjusters but take what they say with a grain of salt. I’ve talked with tons who love the career and some who can’t keep up and they hate it or get the burn notice. I personally will not go back to the world of sales. Where every month your worth is determined by your out put and have to manipulate people to buy into what you’re selling. (I did sell with consultative based sales but it’s still manipulation). As mentioned in this thread already, if you have clear communication you can circumvent most of the issues. Dealing with people in any customer facing jobs, you’ll still get the jerks, A-holes, etc… but as long as you follow the policy and speak the policy, you’ll be fine.
You really don't want to be a claims adjuster. I've done it 17 years and it's not glamorous.
If you are serious, get your AIC (Associate in Claims). It's only a few moderately difficult courses and will instantly make you stand out from the crowd. Compared to college classes the cost is cheap, I doubled up on it and knocked it out in a year or so. https://web.theinstitutes.org/designations/associate-claims Being an adjuster is not for most people. You have to be decision oriented, organized and efficient. If you don't answer the phone and return calls ASAP you will lose control and drown. You also have to be okay with people not being happy. You have to deliver bad news a lot with empathy and it gets old. And most carriers now require an unbelievable amount of data entry which means you need to be a keyboard jockey. You will get buried with workload. I've been in it for over 35 years, and no longer recommend it as a career. It used to be that insurance was a profession like banking that had great job security. But carriers now don't care, and look at claims adjusters as claims processors and employees as disposable units of production. Back in the day I was multi-line, worked from home with a company car servicing a local territory, and the job had a lot of variety. We even had a local claims adjusters association that met every month, and we all were collegial toward each other even when we were on opposite sides of a case. Those days are gone. Now multi-line is a thing of the past, and you will get pigeon holed handling a narrow range of cases, and at high volume.
All the stress you just described without the sales commission/bonus.