Most of the old company trained adjusters  were trained by reading other adjusters closed files. When you set down and read several hundred files that were closed by top adjusters with many years experience, your have a jump start on the job you have under taken.

Then set on the incoming field desk for a week and see the work flowing in with recommendations to pay and the reasons why. This is seeing the good and bad work first hand.

The IA vendors should be doing more training at the applicates home . The student should ask questions and question why this was done etc. The cost would be UPS back and forth and the quality of work would  improved or the students would wash out.

If I was a vendor sending adjusters to California on these fire losses..... I would take two of my best files from 2003 and email it to the adjuster and tell  that person it must measure up to this standard of work.... these losses are not like any other work unless you have done it before.

I love to arrive and have the Vendor hand me a sample of what they expect. Elimates the trial and error of the first couple of weeks.

I would absolutely love to have an example in hand of what is expected from each carrier. Fortunately, when working for my primary vendor I have usually handled files for the majority of their clients in the past and know very well what they want.

Of course, some carriers (which we will not mention [state farm] ) change their requirements from day to day. That may not be fair since I haven't done any work for the afore-not-mentioned carrier [state farm] in the past several years. So maybe they have changed the practice of changing file requirements [i doubt it] from day to day . I apologize if I have demeaned the unmentioned company [state farm] . And, in their defense, there are generally good reasons for being fluid in the midst of a catastrophe and responding to the needs of the insured [or executive whim] in an interactive manner.