CILA & working towards a role as a Loss Adjuster

Brummie85

Hey everyone.

Hope someone can give me some advice. I'm considering a career move towards a role as a Property Loss Adjuster. I currently work within property and equipment maintenance. I think there's a lot of knowledge that I can bring with me in terms of understanding buildings & services. The insurance side of things I would clearly need to work on, but I am willing.

I have looked into it and know that I'd have to work towards a CILA (Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters) qualification.

The CILA Diploma is equivalent to a HNC. I have a HNC in Construction & The Built Environment, as well as other qualifications in areas such as Electrical Services, Refrigerants, use of MEWPS, building mobile scaffolds etc.

Would CILA or prospective employers take these & my experiences into account when applying to study for the qualification & for vacancies?

Is it worth me joining CILA as a student now or should I register after finding a role?

Has anyone else here made a similar move and if so, how did you find it?

Chickenlips

You'd likely start off as a trainee or a claims handler, as a lot of what an adjusted does is interpret policy wording.

Knowledge in domestic and commercial buildings is useful, but not essential. A lot of companies hire based on general attitude rather than previous experience as there's long hours and a lot of learning involved.

It is not a job where you get a few qualifications and are an expert. It takes years to get good at understanding the policies and dealing with complicated claims.

It's worthwhile if you enjoy it. But, you have to really want to stick at it as there is a lot of driving, long hours, learning, and paper work. If there are floods ect you are expected to pack a bag and stay in a hotel for a little while to pick up claims. It's quite the commitment.

ReadingTim

Entry requirements and possible exemptions available for some of the exams are outlined here - perhaps read that website, as you don't seem to have looked into it very hard.

Brummie85

Chickenlips wrote: »

You'd likely start off as a trainee or a claims handler, as a lot of what an adjusted does is interpret policy wording.

Knowledge in domestic and commercial buildings is useful, but not essential. A lot of companies hire based on general attitude rather than previous experience as there's long hours and a lot of learning involved.

It is not a job where you get a few qualifications and are an expert. It takes years to get good at understanding the policies and dealing with complicated claims.

It's worthwhile if you enjoy it. But, you have to really want to stick at it as there is a lot of driving, long hours, learning, and paper work. If there are floods ect you are expected to pack a bag and stay in a hotel for a little while to pick up claims. It's quite the commitment.

Thanks for the reply. The travel, out of hours response and often daft hours during busy periods are nothing new to me. In my last job I was hitting 40k miles a year and a 13 hour day was a luxury.

I do appreciate the commitment and learning involved. I had a look at some previous exam papers last night that pose hypothetical situations and it made it clear that there's a lot of knowledge to obtain to do the job. I do like a challenge though.

Brummie85

ReadingTim wrote: »

Entry requirements and possible exemptions available for some of the exams are outlined here - perhaps read that website, as you don't seem to have looked into it very hard.

Hi Tim.

I saw that statement on the website. They also say this.

"The Institute will also consider entry based on other academic or professional qualifications depending on their relevance and level of study, including professional qualifications."

Perhaps I should have rephrased the question about my previous quals. I was asking to see how/if my qualifications would be considered in respect of granting entry. They advise to contact them, but I wanted to ask first.

FlameCloud

Good luck with it - I have been an adjuster for the last decade since doing claims handling for 2 years after university. In terms of timing, it took 8 years to gain the vital two qualifications (ACII ACILA) and from then on the later two (FCII FCILA) are largely time restrained.

ACILA is the big one - it opens up far more opportunities for travel with claims if that is your thing - in the last couple of years I've been to Florida and USVI for hurricane work, Thailand for flooding and New Zealand for earthquake work.

To get into the industry I'd look at the larger players before moving onto to specialise - Cunningham Lindsey (soon to be Sedgwick), Davies, Crawfords etc. They will tend to always have entry level domestic work available as a foot in the door, with people moving onwards and upwards into far more lucrative work with commercial stuff.

Brummie85

FlameCloud wrote: »

Good luck with it - I have been an adjuster for the last decade since doing claims handling for 2 years after university. In terms of timing, it took 8 years to gain the vital two qualifications (ACII ACILA) and from then on the later two (FCII FCILA) are largely time restrained.

ACILA is the big one - it opens up far more opportunities for travel with claims if that is your thing - in the last couple of years I've been to Florida and USVI for hurricane work, Thailand for flooding and New Zealand for earthquake work.

To get into the industry I'd look at the larger players before moving onto to specialise - Cunningham Lindsey (soon to be Sedgwick), Davies, Crawfords etc. They will tend to always have entry level domestic work available as a foot in the door, with people moving onwards and upwards into far more lucrative work with commercial stuff.

Thanks for the reply. Well done on achieving the FCII and FCILA. I can only imagine the amount of work and study that went into obtaining them.

I'm aware of Cunningham Lindsey. They dealt with a case a few years back involving a family car and a friend's house. I have seen them recruiting at the moment, but I will look at the others you mentioned.