The following post was received on 7-1-06 and remains on the site at this time:

"Did you try the Careers Forum- this site has excellent job opportunities as does www.greatinsurancejobs.com and www.claims-portal.com . We are also listing all of the trainee jobs we learn of at www.claimSmentor.com for our trainees that are newly licensed. This site does require preapproval for registration by sending your resume/cc of adjusters license to claimSmentorcom@aol.com. Preregistration is required as the site is only for adjusters or adjusting firms and carriers and we verify id as we don't accept membership under false id's as some forums do to keep it professional.

Deborah K Ward, AIC, II Founder- Dimechimes Corporation Founder www.claimSmentor.com"

If you go to "claimSmentorcom" you will find an operation which recruits "mentors" to donate their services to teach trainee adjusters . On the face of it, at least, this operation is philanthropic. So it does not appear to involve getting a job, it involves training to get a job.

I contacted this operation and had a brief email correspondence with their representative. This interaction led me to conclude that this operation was not something I wanted to get involved with. I will provide you with an excerpt from the actual statement from the "claimsmentor" representative, although of course you may wish to contact them directly:

"We require a resume and Id verification. That is because the site is closed to those who are Independents or staff adjuster trainees or new adjusters interested in either. The site is not open to contractors, public adjusters, or others who just work with those in our industry. We require the ID as we don't allow people to register with false ID's to keep the site professional and we all like it that way. That is why so many IA firms are agreeable to helping us with mentoring as we don't play games.we are here to help and we are trying to keep it professional.We want the trainees to prepare themselves for the serious business dealing in Claims and understand it for the true profession that it is. I have had no objections from but 1 or 2 who didn't want to supply ID which is fine. We don't want those who do have a problem verifying ID."

I would be interested in any information or experience you may develop from the "claimsmentor" operation of a positive nature.

I believe I can shed some light on Mr. Brooks' post.

As one of the creators of Claims Mentor I have some information that may find it very helpful for you all.  Mr. Brooks contacted us about becoming a mentor to help out newer adjusters.  In Mr. Books' first email to us he had mentioned that he was interested in being reimbursed for his time that he spent on mentoring.  I would like to clarify right here and now, that not one member on our site is directly reimbursed by Claims Mentor for their services they offer.  There may be indirect compensation but that is something that we cannot control.

The Progressive test sounds a lot like the test my first claims employer gave me. They try to make it as close to the real thing as possible. It’s an aptitude test, no preparation necessary or even helpful.

Adjusters are generalists. A jack of all trades. But able to bring reasoning to bear that specialists may not have. A premium on common sense judgments.

It’s an interesting job, at least in the field. I kept at it for a number of years. I don’t think I could have lasted in a "real job" for anywhere near that long.

Now I travel from courtroom to courtroom representing criminal defendants. Not a "real job" either. Too much fun to be a real job.

Quite a bit of pressure in both jobs, but that’s the price you pay for all the fun–in fact in a way it's part of the fun

EB