Welcome to The Communications Bringing Claims Professionals
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AssnNewsNet March Profile: Carol Galloway is so shy that she had to force herself to talk to people in the early days of her career as a liability adjuster. She is one of the adjusters who approached the claims process from the side door - through a clerical position years ago where she learned the process from that perspective. |
 Carol Galloway |
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As I have captured the stories of people who embrace and love the work in claims handling through the years I have found a common thread in that these people - all women - seem to be very respectful of the work, and admit to being a little more dedicated to the job that they do. I don’t usually editorialize in these pieces but I have wondered if promoting people to do the work that they were already familiar with through their support job wouldn’t eliminate a large chunk of the training that someone fresh out of college with not much of an idea of the job or procedures needed to succeed. It would seem to create loyalty as well if that counts at all in today’s world. It’s a path I don’t hear of carriers taking much these days- in fact if they do it at all I would be surprised. Perhaps monetary issues come into play; maybe good clerical people are scarce; as Brian Cahill of Liberty Mutual said a while ago “A college degree is an indication that the candidate will follow through on a task to completion,” he said. That makes sense, but all of the people that I have spoken with who started working for a carrier in a clerical position and then took on adjuster duties are dedicated to their job in a way I don’t hear as much from the folks who stumbled upon, rather than went after, their career. Whatever the current situation, that was Carol’s route from her start at Fireman’s Fund. She then went to Royal Insurance as a clerical supervisor and did some subrogation work reviewing files as well. When there was an opening for a liability adjuster, Carol was quietly ready to take on the duties. At the third party administrator GAB, Carol worked on a program that she enjoyed as she adjusted claims within the specialized policy that outlined the coverage for Artisan Contractors and their diverse book. Her background remains in commercial insurance and liability. Carol currently handles bodily injury and auto liability. “We get claims for a piece of walnut shell that broke someone’s tooth to multi-million dollar Agricultural equipment claims so it’s always interesting.” Carol said. She reports a period of five years at each company she worked for until she landed at her current employment at the multi-line Meadowbrook Insurance “Most of the companies I worked for either were consolidated into another entity or went out of business,” Carol explained “the by-product of this reoccurring job search was there was always a new challenge and more learning that had to be done to do the new job that I found. I enjoyed that part, familiarizing myself with the new procedures required of each position fit perfectly with the way I’d learned all the previous duties. I found that changing companies kept me from stagnating in a job as I was forced to examine the ‘why’ of the process.” “Adjusting claims requires constant learning. The internet is a huge resource but there are also seminars to familiarize adjusters with new case law and state laws that are very important to keep up with. We rely on attorney firms to help with the learning process since they are involved on a daily basis- and so are we - we have to be.” Carol says. Working she admits, can get out of hand- she has to force herself to maintain a schedule of personal time so that she doesn’t get carried away with the work side of her life. In her off hours, Carol loves the excitement of Thunder Valley casino, the quiet of gardening in her yard, the exercise of bowling and the challenges of training her puppy.
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