Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I am about to get my degree in May, and I am considering going in this direction.
anyone work in this industry? what is a typical shift like? what is the current job market like? are there entry level jobs with growth potential available?
They are three slightly different fields, and there is also a big difference between personal lines, commercial lines, and surety.
In the long run you'll make more money and have less headaches on the commercial or surety side. If you get into surety you'll likely have a job for life with the company you get in with. But it can be difficult to make a career change because it's so specialized.
It can be easier to get into the personal lines or ABL side. It's also a lot more headaches and a lot less black and white in my opinion.
Major claims adjusters in commercial lines can rake in some big bucks.
Often you'll start in a call center, and it's shift work, answring call after call takign reports. From there you'd become a claims technician, processing basic cut and dry small claims. For example insured Joe Smith backed into a parked car, the owner of the parked car submits a claim for $800 which is substantiated by the estimate photos and police report, you click a button and the claim is paid and closed.
You would eventually work up to senior claims adjuster managing large claims such as a total loss house fire.
On the commercial side you would probably specialize and manage claims for diverse types of insurance ranging from business interruption to product liability to ocean cargo to standard form fire.
On the commercial side you could also look into risk management.
Appraisers do just what it sounds like. After a loss, they determine the cost to make the insured whole.
Generally speaking, examiners will look at both the adjuster and appraiser report before making a payout. Some companies use the titels examiner and adjuster interchangeably.
Interesting. The field was recommended to me by a career counsellor. May I ask which degree you're getting that you think will help you?
The school I graduated from (the University of Michigan) offered an Actuarial Science program. To get certified is supposedly pretty rigorous, but it's a very good program. I'm not sure how many other schools offer it, though, so you'll have to look into it. Mathematics and/or Statistics would be a couple of other good options I imagine. Be leary of some of the Business/Management/Marketing programs, because I've seen a few that don't place much emphasis on math, but instead focus on theories. And in this field, it'd probably be an asset to have some good quant/math skills.
They are three slightly different fields, and there is also a big difference between personal lines, commercial lines, and surety.
In the long run you'll make more money and have less headaches on the commercial or surety side. If you get into surety you'll likely have a job for life with the company you get in with. But it can be difficult to make a career change because it's so specialized.
It can be easier to get into the personal lines or ABL side. It's also a lot more headaches and a lot less black and white in my opinion.
Major claims adjusters in commercial lines can rake in some big bucks.
Often you'll start in a call center, and it's shift work, answring call after call takign reports. From there you'd become a claims technician, processing basic cut and dry small claims. For example insured Joe Smith backed into a parked car, the owner of the parked car submits a claim for $800 which is substantiated by the estimate photos and police report, you click a button and the claim is paid and closed.
You would eventually work up to senior claims adjuster managing large claims such as a total loss house fire.
On the commercial side you would probably specialize and manage claims for diverse types of insurance ranging from business interruption to product liability to ocean cargo to standard form fire.
On the commercial side you could also look into risk management.
Appraisers do just what it sounds like. After a loss, they determine the cost to make the insured whole.
Generally speaking, examiners will look at both the adjuster and appraiser report before making a payout. Some companies use the titels examiner and adjuster interchangeably.
Woohoo! A fellow student of Economics. Depending on your program, I think this is a good starting point as well. The reason I say it depends on your program is because some of the weaker Econ programs do not focus much on math and quantitative skills, but rather on theories and models. If you were required to take classes in Stats, Calc, Financial Econ, etc., then you should be well prepared.
The school I graduated from (the University of Michigan) offered an Actuarial Science program. To get certified is supposedly pretty rigorous, but it's a very good program. I'm not sure how many other schools offer it, though, so you'll have to look into it.
Actuarial science is a very different field than claims adjusting or appraising.
Actuaries look at statistics to determine rating. They figure out what the probablility of a loss is based on a number of statistical probablilities, and that is put into a table that is then used to determine rates.
For example, a customer walks into his agents office and wants to buy a policy for car insurance for a Buick driven 10,000 miles a year by a 60 year old male with good credit and a clean driving record. The agent simply looks at a chart (actually a sries of charts) that are developed by the actuary and quotes a rate.
On the other hand for something more complex like many commercial policies, and underwriter would work with an actuary to determine if the policy should be written at all and what the premium needs to be based on the exposure.
Woohoo! A fellow student of Economics. Depending on your program, I think this is a good starting point as well. The reason I say it depends on your program is because some of the weaker Econ programs do not focus much on math and quantitative skills, but rather on theories and models. If you were required to take classes in Stats, Calc, Financial Econ, etc., then you should be well prepared.
From what I understand, its not a particularly math intensive job.
I took stats and calc in college, but am not particularly good in those areas
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
