Agents and adjusters (more towards adjusters)

I love my career as an adjuster. I can honestly say it's not where I pictured myself, but I can't imagine a better fit at this point. I'm a property field claims adjuster in TX, so 80% of my job is climbing on roofs inspecting for wind/hail damage. I also work water, fire, vandalism losses. My particular company has a completely separate theft department, so I don't work any of those claims. I currently work at the local office level, which means we have high volume, but low dollar claims ($50K and below). We also have mid loss and large loss departments which is my target career path.
Any questions you have, I'd be happy to answer them!

It depends on the state. In TX, you are required to be licensed. My company paid for my training and licensing. My company has one of the best training programs for adjusters in the nation. Not saying its perfect, but it's pretty good!

A little background about me... I was working in distribution management for a big-box electronics retailer. It was a good job, but I was working 4AM-4PM five to six days a week. And then coming home and getting on VPN. Wife was pregnant and said something had to change. So I quit my job and started looking elsewhere. Father-in-law suggested insurance claims. And here I am.
What I love about my job: I get to help people. My favorite claims are fires. Not because of the destruction, but because I get to help people through something so devastating.

Then there's also the fact that it's an 8 to 5 job. I get compensated for my overtime unlike my previous job. Also... Company car, company iPhone, and company tablet.

Ah, I've been trying to get into claims adjusting without a degree. So it seems like I'll have to know someone.
I looked up last night and you don't need a license in Nebraska. Although they recommended to get a license in one of those states to do CAT claims.

Typically the licenses you want are California and Texas since those are different from the other states. Then a license for another state (I think most of our CAT adjusters get a license in CO or NM, but don't quote me on that). Once you have these licenses you're pretty versatile if you want to get into storm-chasing.

Also, you've got the option of independent adjusting which may not require a degree. There are plenty of IA firms out there.

It's something that really is an option at this point. It's something i am interested enough to follow through and do it for long term. I did read about getting an Indiana license and using that, but definitely tough with a big family to get into CAT claims.
I will check the IA groups.

Personally, I enjoy agent involvement. I've called agents and specifically asked them to meet me on particularly difficult claims. There are many adjusters who see agents as adversaries, but I'm definitely not one of them. Sometimes it can be tough if an agent tells an insured that they're covered and then the insured views me as the bad guy. But I just view it as an education opportunity. If I get the agent on my side then the whole thing goes a lot smoother.

If you don't do this already, then I highly encourage you to meet your insured and adjuster during a claim. It helps you become more familiar with the wonderful world of claims and it gets the adjuster good face-time with you. And it shows the insured that the company cares about them.
And try to get a few different types of claims in. Fire claims. Water claims. Learn how your local claims office likes to handle water claims. For example, my company has a national contract with a water mitigation company. So whenever the agent recommends a company outside of this program, it can complicate things.

Learning the claims process and being involved in the claims will really help build your book of business because your insureds will really see that you're invested in them.

Okay one more...
Let's say you offer a settlement to a claim and the insured is unhappy with the amount. They contact their agent and the agent contacts you to try and get a better settlement on behalf of the insured. Maybe instead of $1000 they want you to settle for $1250.

Does the agent request have any bearing on how you will offer to settle the claim? Can the agent (advocating on behalf of the client) encourage you to offer a larger settlement amount to please an insured?

Typically no. Unless we are talking about agreed value settlement which only applies in certain cases. However, I always tell an insured that my estimate is not written in stone and that if their contractor feels that my estimate is not accurate then they can submit an itemized estimate and I will review it. I'm happy to explain my findings to an agent and explain how I came to my settlement though.

My experience with agents has not been good. That's probably because the agents I have dealt with tend to call up and try to tell me how to do my job. The agents I have dealt with have told the customer that a coverage works in a way that it doesn't, so I have to be the bad guy. Then the agent calls me and tells me I'm not doing what they promised the insured. As if I don't interpret policy all day.

Not all agents are bad but I have had more bad experiences than good since many of them try to throw me under the bus for not delivering on something they promised in ignorance or through a downright lie. I'm more than happy to explain processes to an agent as long as they aren't calling up and demanding I do something I'm not supposed to do.

And the insured almost always decides that I'm lying and their agent can do no wrong because their agent is their neighbor or friend from church. And I'm just the big bad insurance company sitting behind a desk denying claims.
what many people don't realize about adjusters is that we like paying claims to people who honestly suffered losses. We like to help. It makes me happy to help someone repair their car or to give someone 15 grand for broken ribs. My job is not to deny claims but to find ways to pay them. (of course that might be different for adjusters at non standard companies)

Yeah... There's definitely a difference in my job (property) vs. many other lines of business. My job is very concrete in what I can and can't pay for. However, other lines of business, the settlement is somewhat subjective.

I've had my share of agents that have tried to tell me how to do my job and I'm just patient with them and explain why I came to the settlement that I did. Most of the time they back off when they realize that I am pretty good at my job. But you definitely can't win them all. I've learned which agents I can and can't count on.

I treat my job the same way. My management has the stance that the adjusters are the advocates for the customer and not for the company. It's our job to pay the customers back for all the premium dollars that they've spent with us. I'm very liberal in my findings as well. I almost always give the insured the benefit of the doubt. But sometimes there's something that just doesn't feel "right" in a claim and I trust my gut on those.

I am a bodily injury adjuster and I love it. Like others have said, it's not something that I thought I would be doing with my degree but I love my job. I get paid well for arguing with attorneys. Being an adjuster can give you a somewhat cynical outlook about people but I was something of a cynic before I started this job.

My company also requires a college degree for the adjuster level positions. My job consists of investigating auto accidents, rendering a decision on the fault and evaluating and negotiating injury settlements.

It's not all rainbows and unicorns but it fits my personality and it's a stable career with plenty of jobs and job security. Also you can make very good money. I have friends who make 6 figures with 10 plus years of experience. I'm not quite at that level yet, but I make way more than I ever did at my first career choice.

Protip: if you do decide to become an adjuster, think about moving to Phoenix. Not that there aren't adjuster jobs all over the states but Phoenix has the single largest pool of insurance companies in the united states. Companies here have to offer more because of the stiff competition to hire and keep good adjusters. There are always jobs available here.

I'm an outside auto adjuster/appraiser.
I've never met anybody who started out in insurance as a career choice, they just sort of ended up there. Good benefits, usually decent hours. If you work outside then most companies consider you "non-exempt" under the FLSA so you get paid for overtime.

I've found the job to be pretty easy. It's nice being outdoors when everybody else I know is in a cube farm.

I volunteer for catastrophe work so every so often I get sent to work in some other state doing disaster work cleaning-up after tornadoes or hailstorms. It feels good to help people at times like this, breaks the routine, and feels a bit like a vacation even though you're actually working.

I worked for 2 years as an inside property adjuster, and then I switched to APD (auto physical damage). I would suggest getting into adjusting before an agent, as you get a better grasp on policies and what handling claims is actually like. I think maybe I'd entertain the idea of being an agent one day, after I maybe get into BI or something.

I would think about the line of business you want to get into and look for open positions in your area. I would advise against "temporary" adjuster positions, as generally (in my experience) these are roofing contractors who are looking for people to chase storms and sell new roofs to people who might not need it. I'd look into standard vs non standard companies and think about what you want to learn more about. I found property insanely interesting and diverse (property fraud is way easier to attempt than auto fraud, and I found that part of my job to be very interesting), whereas auto is generally pretty straight forward, not a lot of investigation. More just administrative stuff, repetitive accidents, and a higher volume, but also quicker turn around. It depends on the pace you are looking at. PM me if you have any questions. I worked for a very well known carrier when I worked in property, and now I am working at a smaller carrier doing APD.