The Day I Realized Experience Requirements Were a Joke

This episode reveals the misconceptions surrounding the experience requirement in independent adjusting, challenging the notion that prior experience is essential to enter the field. It discusses various paths for newcomers, emphasizing mentorship, training, and resilience as critical components to successfully breaking into the industry. 

• Addressing the myth of mandatory experience 
• Personal story of training a friend for adjusting 
• Frustrations faced when new entrants are overlooked 
• Opportunities during catastrophic events for beginners 
• Importance of mentorship and training programs 
• IAPath's model for helping newcomers succeed 
• Alternative certification options for aspiring adjusters 
• The critical role of networking and connections 
• Encouragement for listeners to pursue their paths in adjusting

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:16

Hey IAs, welcome back to the Independent Adjuster Podcast. This is your host, chris Stanley. Thanks for joining me today, and I want to talk about if experience is really needed to get started in the independent adjuster industry and whether that is just a big fat myth. You know, you'll see, on most job posting websites you need experience at least two years experience or five years experience or three years experience and that can be kind of frustrating for somebody who's new and a lot of times it feels like you are just literally being blocked out of an industry that it feels like you should be able to get into, that it feels like need people, that it feels like there's opportunity in. And you know I get it.

Speaker 1: 1:00

When I first started IA Path, I had a friend who wanted to get in this industry. Trained him how to do the job. He wanted to have this amazing job, like I did, looking at wrecked cars and helping insureds get back on their feet. He worked at a coffee shop and he was a manager at one of these drive-thru coffee shops and he had been a pastor before and so he had a lot of good skills. He was really a good people person. It would have been amazing in this job. So I trained him how to do the job, took him on a few days scoping and writing, show him how it's done, had him do a few cars for me. He did good. I thought he'd be able to make a good appraiser and an adjuster. And so I was getting ready to move away out of Denver, colorado, and so I told him hey, why don't I give you my book of business? Because these companies I work for have nobody else to take over this work and I think you could do a good job. And he was all for it, super excited. I promised I would mentor him, answer his questions the way my father-in-law, super excited. I promised I would mentor him, answer his questions the way my father-in-law did me.

Speaker 1: 2:03

And so I told the IA firms hey, I'm leaving, but I have a replacement for you. Here's his name, you can contact him, I'm going to be behind him answering his questions. And they said, nope, he doesn't have enough experience. And so that really chapped my khakis. I was really, really mad and I'm not mad at the individual who said that, but I was mad at the industry that that was the mentality that there's somebody who wants to work for you, somebody who can do the job. They'd never seen him do it. They had no idea if he could do the job or not. I was promising he could do the job, but then they're like, nope, we're going to make a broad stroke judgment that if he hasn't been doing it he can't do it.

Speaker 1: 2:47

So that's my experience with the experience requirements prior to IAPath. My father-in-law, on the other hand, when I first got started man, it must've been seven years before that he trained me just like I did. This other guy mentored me, promised to answer my questions, introduced me to company, got me work. So I knew it was possible. Until when I started IAPATH, that became kind of the thing like can we get people work the way my father-in-law did me? And so over time it became more and more a model after what we had done.

Speaker 1: 3:21

And so now to answer the long-winded question or this is a long-winded answer for your question do you have to have experience to get started in independent adjusting? No, but yes, okay. So there are a few different scenarios in which you can get started working as an independent adjuster without experience. I'm going to walk you through each one. As an independent adjuster Without experience, I'm going to walk you through each one. The first one is If you happen to have a license and there is a major catastrophe, a Hurricane Katrina type event, hurricane Irma or Harvey, which happened in the same year, back to back, basically Um, and there are thousands of adjusters needed overnight, they will give new chances to new people.

Speaker 1: 4:05

These new people get an opportunity. You can go out, get a shot and less than 25% of people who get deployed on storms like that actually make it and make money. So I'll see whether that's worth the risk or not. I think those are crazy odds. I've heard that number from multiple IA firms that are catastrophic IA firms. I've heard from my other sources and myself we kind of think it's between 25 and 50%. But even if it was 50% flip of a coin, whether you make money or lose thousands of dollars, for me that's not okay. And if you go on a catastrophe and you don't do good, you're usually not going to get called back for that firm. So all your eggs are in that basket. No, you're there.

Speaker 1: 4:47

So that's number one. That's one way you can get work is in that capacity. Whether it's auto, whether it's property, whether it's some kind of desk deployment, doesn't really matter. There's that kind of scenario. It's a catastrophe. They're willing to give a shot because, guess what, they're desperate. Okay, sink or swim at that point.

Speaker 1: 5:02

Number two second scenario is more like what happened with my father-in-law, where he vouched for me, trained me, all that, and got me in with a company. He was able to convince them that hey, he knows what he's doing and you should take a chance on him. So that is what we do for people at IAPATH as we train you. Number one what we do for people at IA Path is we train you number one. Number two certify that you know what you're doing. Number three help you get work and then, as you get to work, help you handle that work. And we wrap all that up in what we call a safe path guarantee that you will get work or we'll pay you $1,000 a month till you get work. So that is kind of how we have remolded that path of knowing somebody on the inside who can get you a job in mass. Now, we're not the only company who does this. We're the only one who has a guarantee like this.

Speaker 1: 5:49

There are fantastic companies on the property side who have similar certifications, who help you get started without experience. Now, I would not call them an EXP-free path because there's no guarantee and you, frankly, you need a hurricane to get started. But if you check out MoCat in Missouri, they're in-person, property, residential training companies. They'll teach you how to do the job and a lot of IA firms recognize their training and certification and will waive experience or at least rank you higher than everybody else if you've been through their training. The other one is Matthew Allen of Adjuster TV. He has a fast track to deployment certification top notch. It's similar to ours, how it's all done online and it will help you get in with different IA firms and get those experience requirements waived and get you ranked higher on those lists. So, depending on which way you want to go in this industry whether it firms and get those experience requirements waived and get you ranked higher on those lists, so, depending on which way you want to go in this industry whether it's auto, whether it's property there are options.

Speaker 1: 6:49

So do you have to have experience to get started in independent adjusting? Yes and no. We can help you and others can help you get started without experience. If you have an uncle at XYZ Catastrophe Company, maybe they can help you get started. If you don't have that uncle. That's where IAPATH comes in. I'd love to be your uncle to help you get in this industry, but if you need help, reach out to us 844-4-IAPATH. So no, you do not need to have experience to get started in independent adjusting. Till next time, keep walking your path and claiming your life. Get out there Path.