How we ended up as adjusters
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How we ended up as adjusters - 10/3/2006 9:22:42 PM
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gordon1
Posts: 89
Joined: 9/16/2004
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Wanted to see how people ended up in this field as I have never met anyone who said " I want to be an adjuster when I grow up".
I'll start. I put myself thru college by doing construction inbetween semesters. I was majoring in pre-law. After college I needed a job & went on a ton of interviews. Only one person gave me a glimmer of hope, so I bugeed the hek out of him. He stopped taking my calls & several monthe went by. During this I was working in a cafeteria with my 4 year degree. One day he called me & said I have good news, you can get the job, BUT I need to know if you will take it within the next 8 hours. If you take it, you leave for 4 weeks of training in Georgia. Well, I quit the cafeteria & here I am 15 years later. Bounced around for a few years between mom & pops & figured I was getting used to help the companies play catch up when they got busy, but they would lay me off when the work was caught up. I continued freelancing & found some names of cat companies & sent out my resumes.As soon as someone gave me that all familiar glimmer, I hounded them like no tomorrow. On my 1st storm, I was one of 300 adjusters & made sure I was in the top 10 closers by the time it was over. My construction experienc & pre-law education seems to have been a good fit. I get a little of both worlds with the adjusting. Ok everyone, now it is your turn.
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RE: How we ended up as adjusters - 10/3/2006 9:57:01 PM
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Mattcatadj123
Posts: 28
Joined: 8/24/2006
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Ok here is my tall tell Gordon.... I graduated highschool with dreams of being a rodeo COWBOY I rodeod in highschool and when I graduated I hit the rodeo trail in the amatuer ranks and went pro... I had some bad injuries that stopped me.. So I was working a regular dead end job for a short time and ended getting back with my highschool sweetheart settling down and getrting married.. After marriage I felt that I needed to get into some type of a job that had a future so I fell into the electrical trade so I went on to get my journeymens licencse and running big commercial projects as a formen but was not satisfied I hated it so I started looking for something else to make more money... I ran into a guy that stayed home 6 months out of the year and I curiously ask him what he did for a living... He said he was a storm chaser etc..... So he told me the steps I needed to take to get into the trade and here I am..... Since then I have worked a few storms and still do electrical work in the off season....
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RE: How we ended up as adjusters - 10/3/2006 10:13:15 PM
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khromas
Posts: 611
Joined: 4/19/2004
Home base: Houston, Texas
Status: offline
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Gordon,
At 18, I was licensed into the ministry and my BA in Psychology was geared towards that. I was the President of the Baptist Student Unions at one of the largest BSU's in Texas and served on the state Executive Council for the Division of Student Work under the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Was the Youth Minister at a small church in Canyon Lake, TX while in college and it was there that I realized I was a 'little' more liberal than most Baptist minister. Decided that might not have been the calling after all.
Operated my own construction company since 1975 and finally closed it down in 1996 after frustration with the business and custom home-buyers reached a boiling point.
Obtained a JD from UH Law in 1992 with the intent of venturing into local politics in the Houston area. Ran for Houston City Council in 1994 and received death threats on my wife if I didn't drop out of the race. Stayed in but decided politics pretty much ****ed also.
While sitting around in the fall of '96 trying to figure out what to do, I received a call from an old childhood friend (almost a brother) who was a crop adjuster in West Texas. (That is a P&C icense in Texas) He had a call from someone about going to Florida to work hurricane claims and wanted to know if I wanted to go so we could use my construction experience. (No storm ended up hitting.) I had built an office building a few years before for a brother-in-law who was one of the largest SF agents in the Houston area so I called him the next day to ask about this "adjusting" business. He made a couple of calls and within a few hours, SF was calling me. Turned out Allstate was hiring also and they made me a better package deal so I went to work with them in Dec. of '96. Within 2 months of hiring on I was managing an ice-storm event with about 40 Pilot adjusters. Held a variety of positions within Allstate including the only re-inspector (QE) for the entire southern half of Texas. When I finally begged out of that position, they put 3 people doing what I had been doing solo.
Allstate made some corporate changes in 2003 that made me uncomfortable to continue working there so I left shortly after loosing my mother to cancer that summer. My wife and I took a 6 week driving vacation out through the west and 2 days after returning to Houston, I get a call from Billie Powers (who I have stll NEVER met in person!) who put me in contact with Bill Burke @ Pete N. Markos, Inc here in Newport News to work Isabel claims. Was going to work for him full-time but my wife's ad business in Houston came on strong and made it dumb to walk away from Houston.
While at Allstate, I was the liason to Pilot for storms in South Texas and developed a relationship with the management there. They have a 2-year waiting period for hiring former Allstate employees and I wasn't real thrilled with working on Allstate stuff at the time anyway.
Sent my resume' to Crawford in January of '04 and they have kept me busy probably 99% of the time on branch assist and major cats since then. This gig in Virginia is just helping a friend - Bill - out. Got a call from the Crawford manager in Indianapolis the other day asking if I could come back there (spent 2 1/2 months there earlier this summer) but couldn't get there till the end of the week so suggested they find someone closer. Besides, I need the rest back home! Do a few daily claims back in Houston for a guy that opened a small shop there.
Did I think I would be an adjuster when I was little? Didn't even know what it was.
Would I change things now? Probably not.
My wife and I love the traveling in the RV and seeing the country and my income is quite substantial.
Few other professions allow that.
_____________________________
Kevin Hromas
_______________________________________
Definition of a LIBERAL: a person who is so open-minded that their brains have fallen out!
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RE: How we ended up as adjusters - 10/3/2006 10:48:19 PM
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dcmarlin
Posts: 145
Joined: 2/10/2006
Home base: Morrison, CO
Status: offline
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Like most, it wasn't my first choice. I just graduated from FSU in '84 and started looking for a job. I had a criminology degree and, at first, thought about becoming a cop in South Florida. I had a buddy who worked for SF and he suggested I check out adjusting. I really did not know what an adjuster was but knew that part of it was to investigate insurance claims. I believe at that time Barnaby Jones was on TV and he was an investigator so I figured it would be fun. GAB was willing to hire and train me, so I took the job. I enjoyed it and got to handle all kinds of claims. Plus, they gave me a company car so I was able to get rid of my Pacer. After working Hugo in Puerto Rico and St. Thomas, I knew I could make more money and, hopefully, have more control as a pure independent, so left GAB and worked for several smaller firms. Also spent a couple of years with a restoration contractor and as a staffer for Allstate. Really didn't care for either so went back to independent adjusting. Always enjoyed the independence and traveling part so, for now, it is back to the CAT.
< Message edited by dcmarlin -- 10/4/2006 2:44:28 AM >
_____________________________
Is there anything beer can't do! - Hank Hill
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RE: How we ended up as adjusters - 10/3/2006 10:50:30 PM
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NMBill
Posts: 8
Joined: 6/20/2006
Home base: Ruidoso, NM
Status: offline
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After being starved out of the teaching profession (English and Latin), I moved to Colorado and went "career hunting". A Denver headhunter got me a job with Liberty Mutual as a trainee. After being assigned to the New Orleans office, I was sent to Vale Tech for 3 weeks and bacame the property speciality adjuster. That year (1969), Camille hit and that was my first hurricane experience, next year it was Celia in Corpus Christi. Being a staff person isn't all bad since you don't starve getting experience. Then worked for Transamerica (property and casualty) in Colorado. Was an independent agent for a while (you had better know coverage if you want to avoid E & O problems. Then went back to claims with Cigna in Albuquerque and then to USAA in San Antonio (work lots of hail as well as Andrew and Georges) while there. Retired in 2002 (after 33 yrs in insurance) and worked for an excellent vendor in 2004 and 2005 (Citizens ...Wilma and Katrina). It was a wonderful cure for boredom and I was privileged to meet some of the nicest co-workers in the world while helping others. Hope that gives the newbies some ideas on getting there.
_____________________________
A ship is safest in the harbor.....but that's not what ships are for.
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RE: How we ended up as adjusters - 10/4/2006 12:52:56 AM
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racko
Posts: 241
Joined: 2/17/2006
Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: gordon1
Wanted to see how people ended up in this field as I have never met anyone who said " I want to be an adjuster when I grow up".
I like to tell people that it was just a bad accident...I was a college student/farmer's son. It was the early 80's, and the farming economy & interest rates were terrible. If you're gonna gamble on the weather, each had its ups & downs. Needless to say, I went into insurance (but the life/health/disabiltiy field). Made the switch to P&C in the early 90's when the Clintons' were talking National Healthcare. Scared I might lose my job at a small Midwest health ins carrier, so I jumped at a chance to be a P&C adjuster working out of my home. Since I had the medical background, I did a lot of Work Comp for that company along with the P&C.
Farming is easier though, just you & the dirt & the sky. No outside stresses other than the banker. And if it's a good CAT year, life is good! But sometimes, both are bad economically...but I'll still take the farm. Fresh air; meeting the neighbors on the country road with the "finger wave" above the steering wheel; the big garden with fresh home grown veggies from May til Sept; fishing & hunting pheasants, quail, deer in the fall & going to the high school football game in your hometown population 450 but 600 in the bar afterward! I've been fortunate, seen the big city & worked some big storms... but it all comes down to home...the job was just an accident and you can love it or you can hate it. 46 years old & still don't know what I really want to do when I grow up! Probably a common theme for many of you......
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RE: How we ended up as adjusters - 10/4/2006 1:01:21 AM
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danandlea
Posts: 31
Joined: 3/15/2006
Home base: Denison, TX
Status: offline
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I started as a radio DJ in 1982 in Lubbock, TX and spent the next 23 years traveling to Amarillo, Seattle, El Paso, Tucson and North Dallas doing country and classic rock morning shows and managing stations. The corporate agenda and creative sterility finally got enough of my goat that I was ready for a change. I had married into a 4 teenager family and needed a higher paying job. A radio friend of mine quit a year earlier and had hooked up with a major vendor and told me everything that he knew (including income). I went to school, got my license, went to more schools and got SF, CEA, Haag certified, did OJT ride-a-longs, went to more cat camps and finally got "the call" in April to work hail in middle TN. I'm still here doing daily work running the cat property claims department. I work for an incrediblely supportive small vendor and look forward to doing this til I can't.
_____________________________
Work Hard...Play Hard
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RE: How we ended up as adjusters - 10/4/2006 8:41:42 AM
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jwg
Posts: 36
Joined: 9/12/2006
Home base: Texas
Status: offline
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After the oil boom went bust in the 80's, I left the family oil biz and started with Famers Insurance as an agent. Closed my agency after 12 years and being burned out, signed on with Farmers claims as an auto adjuster, after the nazi's took over Farmers I became an IA working local daily's, just about gave up on being a cat adjuster when Katrina hit, and now I'm a forum junkie on CADO waiting on "the call".
_____________________________
Its all just talk till something gets done.
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RE: How we ended up as adjusters - 10/4/2006 9:16:46 AM
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tonyd46
Posts: 36
Joined: 4/19/2004
Home base: Bacliff, texas
Status: offline
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Back in the early 70's I worked for a independant co in dallas who sold out to lindsey newsome and my buddy and i opened up C&D claims service right before alicia hit houston, from there its been adjusting ever since and i love doing it. And so does my wife who is my partner and administrater
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RE: How we ended up as adjusters - 10/4/2006 11:02:44 AM
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wstj
Posts: 1
Joined: 5/31/2006
Home base: Fort Worth, Texas
Status: offline
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This is my first post to CADO. I have been reading the posts from ya'll for awhile. My background has been a combination of engineering,(mechanical), construction and inspection. Started out in the engineering business in the late 70's and have been in & out of that since. I still do some commercial design & consulting work. Spent 30 years as a mechanical contractor and as an employee for a number of HVAC contractors. While in the engineering end I have performed many commercial Property Condition Assessments, (PCA), for many clients throughout the continental US & Hawaii. Everything from shopping centers, high rise office & condo's to college campuses, manufacturing facilities and airports. Was laid off in 2000 from a large national A&E firm due to the economy and everything has been slow since the economy has been somewhat sluggish. While consulting with an A&E firm in Virginia, I worked on contracts with the US governement for the BIA & BLM doing assessment of department owned facilities all over the country. I got my first taste of disaster work while working Hurricane Ivan for the SBA in 04 in Pensicola. My sister-in-law called me about looking into adjusting since it would be not that different from what I had done in the past, from an inspection standpoint. Now that I have my license in Texas & Florida, certified for SF, TWIA, Allstate thru Pilot and am on most of the IA's rosters. I would like to do commercial daily claim work in Texas as well as the CAT work. I'm just waiting for "the call".
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Wesley
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RE: How we ended up as adjusters - 10/4/2006 11:13:25 AM
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legcat10
Posts: 15
Joined: 8/15/2005
Home base: Plano, Texas
Status: offline
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Gordon:
I almost did.
My father has been in the business for about 35 years. I sometimes used to carry his ladder when I was a kid. However, I really didn't know what adjusting was. My dad knew a gentleman at Crawford that offered me a job as a trainee. My father said to run away - don't do it. He wanted me to be a lawyer! Anyway - I went to the month long training classes 3 different times and got a multi-line license. I worked all types of claims, did work comp and became an auto appraiser as well. I worked independent for 15 years before starting my own claim service. It's funny but now my father and I work together. I guess it was meant to be. My father said this business gets in your blood and that's why you love it and can never get away from it. He was absolutely correct.
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RE: How we ended up as adjusters - 10/4/2006 3:49:18 PM
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Janice_Toll
Posts: 78
Joined: 4/19/2004
Home base: Austin, AR
Status: offline
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I married into it! 
_____________________________
Janice R. Martin-Toll
You rest, you rust!
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RE: How we ended up as adjusters - 10/4/2006 4:46:44 PM
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mcmoore
Posts: 28
Joined: 4/27/2004
Home base: Leesburg, FL
Status: offline
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Pure dumb luck.
The apartment building I was living in was sold to a guy who also owned an adjusting firm. After a few beers, dinners, fishing trips and years of learning the business.......the rest is history.
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RE: How we ended up as adjusters - 10/4/2006 6:42:24 PM
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Storm Duty
Posts: 163
Joined: 8/16/2004
Status: offline
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I grew up in the auto body business. I was 3rd generation. After going to work one day and finding that the shop was robbed and I was out of over $50k in tools, back in 1991, and because my homeowner's didn't cover my "work" tools, I had to do something with my head and hands. I started with auto appraisals and went into business for myself. As things progressed, I handled everything from autos to motorcycles, boats, heavy equipment, and light residential and commercial losses. A friend of mine said that I should drop the auto and focus on property claims. That was in 1999 when Floyd hit Maryland and dropped over 400 local catastrophe claims in my lap. Business started getting too big for one man to handle, so I added staff and began concentrating on local Cat work and specialty losses. By 2004, I had 43 employees and too much time sitting at a desk, so I sold out, closed down, and concetrating on free-lance work. Perfect timing because all Hurricanes broke loose in Florida. One step at a time to bring me here and I couldn't be happier.
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RE: How we ended up as adjusters - 10/4/2006 8:45:57 PM
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ranger
Posts: 186
Joined: 11/20/2004
Home base: Bonham, Texas
Status: offline
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I graduated with a BBA - Marketing from NTSU and married. My wife was teaching third grade at an elementary school and I continued as an assitant manager of a supermarket. My only day off was Tuesday and I closed the store four out of six days. I was not happy with the only time for my wife and I could go out was Tuesday after school. I telephoned a friend from NTSU that had become a math teacher at Richland Community College and asked him what career was out there that you at least had Sunday off. He said a member of the English faculty had quit and gone to work for CNA and was very happy. I started trying to interview for all property and casualty jobs in the Dallas Morning News. I had worked as a brick layers helper after high school and I was told this was the experience I needed to become a claims adjuster. I was offered a claims trainee position with three different companies and I chose to go to work for Crum & Forster. They sent me to Tyler, Texas where I was trained to work auto, homeowners, farm & ranch, workers compensation, liability and bankers blanket bond policies.
When I went to work for Farmers Insurance Group they sent me to Pasadena, California for property claims training. After training FIG held a banquet in Pasadena where the CEO of FIG spoke. The CEO asked for those who knew in high school or college they were going to be claims adjusters to hold up their hands. There was three people out of the 250 that were there that held up their hands. The CEO looked out at these three people and said "LIARS!".
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RE: How we ended up as adjusters - 10/4/2006 11:37:46 PM
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LarryW
Posts: 207
Joined: 4/19/2004
Home base: Grand Bay, AL
Status: offline
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OK –Here is my story. As a farm-boy in a very rural area of Ohio during the 50s and 60s, I was subjected to few and far between opportunities for social interaction (other than going to school in a town with a population of less than 200). The typical highlight of the farming off season was being allowed to accompany my parents (on a rotational basis with my other three siblings) to a Grange Hall square dance on Saturday nights. It so happened that the gentleman half of one of the other square dance couples was a Nationwide Insurance Agent with whom my parents had been classmates in high school. At that time, this Agent also worked at Ford Motor Company in an assembly plant as an assembly line worker. His Nationwide agency was a sideline business in a very small town which his wife managed and was used to supplement their income. Well, as time went by our families became closer. During my time in high school, I reached the point of trying to decide upon a lifetime endeavor. I was pretty much at a loss until this family friend, whom I very much admired as one of the most successful businessmen I knew, suggested that I might want to consider the possibility of pursuing a career as a claims adjuster. I had no idea of what the hel- that might be, but I did inquire. This Agent tried his best to explain the job, but struggled in doing so. He obviously recognized his inadequacy and offered to arrange that I ride along with the Nationwide Adjuster who serviced his policyholders. Back then, adjusters worked territories and maintained schedules. As I recall, this territory was scheduled for Thursdays, the adjuster would show up in the Agents office on Thursday morning, accept new claim reports and commence his investigation of those claims. Such was my ride along experience. Calling upon policyholders and claimants, driving a company car and having no boss looking over your shoulder as you perform your duties seemed the perfect job. I WAS HOOKED. The problem was that I absolutely knew that I could never adequately perform that job and that I would be a dismal failure if I ever tried. I was one of the most shy people you can imagine. Did I want to be an adjuster? HellYes. Did I think I could be? HellNo. Well as I graduated from high school at the ripe old age of 17 in 1968 while the Viet Nam war was raging, I decided it might be a good idea that I attend college. The local draft board had pretty much informed my eleven month older brother how the options worked. He chose the Army, I chose college. I took a student deferment and enrolled. The following year, President Nixon devised the draft lottery, which I agreed to subject myself to (You had to drop your student deferment to do so). I drew a very high lottery number and did not have to worry about being drafted. Well, here I was in college, but had no idea what I wanted as a career, but I had discovered that I really enjoyed business, accounting, finance and economics courses. I declared finance major and struggled through with a degree from The Ohio State University. As I approached graduation I interviewed with all the large multi-national companies who recruited on campus. It became quite evident they were not interested in talking to someone who did not have a 3.5 or above GPA (which I did not have). Back then society did not insist that everyone have access to a college education and parents were not expected to assure or assist in such endeavor (which my parents chose not to participate in). There were no federally guaranteed student loans and I found it necessary to work full time while attending college. I graduated having paid my way with not debt. Not a bad deal looking back on it. But I did not have that big GPA. Nationwide Insurance company was a rather large employer in the Columbus Ohio community and I harkened back (pretty much out of desperation) to the Insurance Adjusting exposure I had encountered previously. A revisit with an old family friend, a couple phone calls and Walla, I had an interview with the local claims manager of Nationwide Insurance Company. Having been called back for 3rd and 4th interviews, a job offer never materialized. Sitting at home one evening while awaiting Nationwide to make a decision, I received a phone call from the local Claims Manager of USF&G Insurance Company informing that he had been given my name from the OSU Business College placement office and just wanted to inquire if I had ever entertained the idea of pursuing a claims career. Well, I was hired the next day and told to report to work on Jan, 2 1973. Two weeks later Nationwide called to inform that I had been accepted for employment with a pay rate of 35% more that I had accepted with USF&G, I turned down the offer because I had made a commitment.
So, in a manner of speaking, yes I did desire to grow up to be an insurance adjuster. Of course had the Chase Manhattan Bank, Caterpillar or DuPont offered me a job at the time of graduation from college, who knows, I would probably ended up as an adjuster anyway.
Ranger,
Had I been in attendance, the Farmers Insurance CEO would have been an idiot from my perspective and I would have figured that he considered me an idiot. Further, I would not have appreciated having been called a Liar.
_____________________________
Larry Wright
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RE: How we ended up as adjusters - 10/5/2006 8:51:20 AM
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mark1965
Posts: 25
Joined: 11/7/2005
Home base: granbury tx
Status: offline
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I have been in the automotive a/c business for twenty years......just need a change....
And i still don't know what i want to be when i grow up...
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you can do it....
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RE: How we ended up as adjusters - 10/5/2006 10:04:01 AM
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sbeau4014
Posts: 167
Joined: 4/19/2004
Home base: Wherever The Wind Blows, USA
Status: offline
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I graduated with a BS in law enforcement and was offered a job with the State of IL where I did my internship, but knew I would be moving out of state with in a year or two and would have to quit that job, so I decided to take a week to two to think things out and rest from finishing up my college career. A good friend was working for GAB and said they needed a couple adjusters in the office and at that time I asked what an adjuster was. After he explained his job, I applied and was hired. I have never had any regrets of getting into the business. Worked for GAB exactly 5 years and got a lot of experience and education with them, but wanted to try the staff side and concentrate on property claims. I went to work for St Paul Ins. and worked in claims handling and claims management for about 18 years or so. Once the kids were grown and on their own, we decided to sell the house, get the big truck and 5th wheel, quit our day jobs and hit the road doing cat work part time and traveling part time. Been doing that since (except changed to the motor home route instead), and we love every minute of it. I have trained a couple people that actually got BA degrees in Insurance, and ended up going thru our training program, but neither one of them aspired to be an adjuster when in college. They took the job to get their foot in the door with the carrier. I've known a lot of adjusters in my day, and can say that I only know two that grew up wanting to be an adjuster. Both of them had fathers that were GA's with GAB and you might say it was in their blood. I think both fathers wanted their kids to follow in their footsteps, which they did (with GAB no less).
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