If you’ve been trying to advance your career as an Insurance Claims Adjuster and are currently stuck in neutral, you can’t keep blaming the bad economy. As you may have discovered, the job’s not easy.
As the only contact between the insurance company and often angry, suspicious clients, you’re “where the rubber meets the road” in this business. If you want to move up, you’ve got to do some soul searching and sharpen the skills and adopt the virtues of today’s highly successful adjusters. It all boils down to 7 attributes:
- Improve Your People Skills. Let the customer vent. Smile even when talking on the phone. A little empathy goes a long way. Be cordial, patient, and professional. Wil Kirk, an experienced adjuster at USLI says, “We all commit a dozen negligent acts every day. Our job is to clean up the messes for those unlucky enough to have the negligent act harm someone or something.”
- Manage Your Time. If you’re an independent adjuster handling catastrophic claims, you must be a master of time. If your desk is stacked high with hundreds of claims, you can’t afford to waste time or get bogged down with one claim. When a catastrophe strikes, every claimant will expect you to be "Johnny on the spot." You must learn to manage expectations, multi-task, and use time most efficiently.
- Boost Your Computer Proficiency. This applies mostly to older people who have just entered the business. If you aren’t up to speed on the latest Word, Excel and PowerPoint programs, take a class to improve your computer proficiency.
- Don’t Go to the Dark Side. As an independent adjuster, you have the power and freedom to accept bribes, contractor kickbacks, and other nefarious dealings. Resist the urge to “go along to get along.” Even the appearance of unethical infractions can eventually short-circuit your career.
- Apply Your Policy Knowledge. Learn to apply the content of a policy to the context of your client’s specific insurance claim. Go beyond the formulas, rules and regs and use your intuition, conscience, and judgment to determine what’s fair and equitable in each claim.
- Sharpen Your Technical Knowledge. Bring yourself up to speed on vehicle mechanics or house construction. To make a client “whole” again, you’ll need to become an expert in what it takes to restore a house, car or boat to its previous condition.
- Eye of the Tiger. Some days you just want to give up and go the perfunctory route. You’ll do the minimum just to get by. Resist the urge. Adjusters face a gauntlet of daily challenges—language barriers, unresponsive claimants, software glitches—especially when catastrophic events strike. Nothing shows upper management that you’re ready to move up like meeting challenges head on without complaining.
Ready to move up? Want that promotion? Be proactive. Sharpen your adjuster skill set and adopt the virtues of today’s highly successful adjusters.
Image courtesy of stockimages/FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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