Being a claims adjusters has its pros and cons. Here we discuss some of the major challenges that adjusters face in their careers.

Claims adjusting certainly has its perks. If you are a people’s person with a knack for number crunching and possess impressive negotiation skills, then you could very well earn a sizeable income in a short amount of time. Having said that, it’s not always rainbows and butterflies and sometimes adjusting takes a toll on you both physically and mentally. Let’s have a look at 5 major challenges that adjusters face.

Handling Personal Life:

Being an adjuster, and being a catastrophe adjuster, to top it off, will lead to a limited number of working days in a year but we all know how tough those number of days can prove to be. One of the major challenges faced by adjusters is their personal life going for a toss. With a large number of claims coming their way from all over the country, adjusters have to be on the road on most days, away from their family. Being an independent adjuster with a family and kids growing up could mean missing important events like birthdays and recitals. There is a certain sense of abandonment that looms over one’s family.

Facing Emotionally Draining Situations:

As a catastrophe adjuster, one major part of the job includes meeting with claimants coming from all walks of life. These are people who are probably facing the most harrowing time in their life. As an adjuster, one is supposed to meet with people who are going through a whole range of unstable emotions. No matter how much of a people’s person one is, situations like these can be extremely draining. Handling grief and pain that others are facing requires a certain level of mental resilience. Adjusters too are human after all and being in such situations gets to them.

Time Management:

With adjusting, the better one is at it, the higher one’s claim count goes. As awesome as that sounds, having a large number of claims coming one’s way has its own problems as well. Managing such a high volume would require one to be extremely efficient and flexible. Time Management is a tough nut to crack for anyone. Multiply that by 10 and one get a claims adjuster. As a catastrophic adjuster, managing one’s time will prove to be one of the major challenges that is ever-present.

Operation Cost:

Being an independent adjuster gives you all the freedom in the world from a regular 9–5 job. However, when we talk about freedom, we talk about it in every aspect. As an adjuster, all the material and facilities that one requires for the job will have to come out of one’s own pocket. Whether it is traveling costs, transportation, accommodation or even equipment, a large part of your income will cater to these expenses. So with a sizeable income, there are major expenses as well. This turns out to be another major challenge for adjusters.

Physical Safety:

Being a catastrophe adjuster not only involves negotiating with claimants and building scoping reports. It also involves traveling to dangerous locations and risking your life while inspecting losses at sites that could prove to be perilous. As much as the technical, documentation-heavy part of being an adjuster is important, the job also involves a high risk to one’s physical safety, especially during CAT season. Therefore, this proves to be another major challenge that claims adjusters have to face.

Despite all these challenges, it is refreshing to work as a claims adjuster. In addition to the possibility of earning a great amount, one gets to help people recover from losses and rebuild lives. For adjusting is not just about securing one’s own future; it also means making this world a better place to be.