Happy almost 4th. Short week for a lot of us, so I’ll keep this one tight and useful. Here’s what I’m seeing.
MARKET PULSE
Something came up in a thread I started in the RISE community last week, and the response told me it’s bigger than I thought. A lot of experienced claims people are looking to move into risk management.
It makes sense when you think about it. Claims teaches you what went wrong, over and over, on file after file. Risk management is the other side of that same coin. It’s about stopping the thing from happening in the first place. So the migration isn’t people running away from claims. It’s people taking everything claims taught them and pointing it forward.
If you’re feeling that pull, you’re not alone, and it’s not a crazy idea. The path is real, but it runs through credentials and connections more than job applications. Which is a good segue.
CAREER INTEL
The thing nobody wants to hear about moving up.
The honest answer about advancing in claims is that the things that actually move you forward usually aren’t easy. And that’s the point.
You build a career by doing hard stuff. Taking the work your coworkers won’t. Learning the skills nobody’s making you learn. Designations are the clearest example. ARM, CPCU, AIC, the alphabet soup. They aren’t easy, they take time and energy and sometimes your own money (many employers will pay for these though), and a lot of the work happens after your actual workday is done.
That’s exactly why they carry weight. When a hiring manager sees them, they know what you were willing to put in. As the market gets more competitive, those separators matter more, not less.
If you’re hunting for the easy button, I’ve got bad news. But if you’re willing to do the hard thing, the door opens.
FROM THE DESK
Road to 100, and a thank you.
We’re at 24 on the Road to 100. The mission this year is to help 100 claims professionals level up their careers, and that’s not just people I place. It’s anyone this show or this newsletter helped get an interview, get a license, or make a move. If that’s been you, hit reply and tell me. I want to count it, and I want to hear it.
A few folks are in interviews right now as I write this. Good luck out there this week. Go get it.
BEYOND THE DESK
The race
Saturday morning I run my first marathon.
Eleven months ago I left a good job to build this thing, and running has been wrapped up in the whole journey the entire way. It started as the thing I did to decompress and turned into the thing that taught me to believe I’m capable of more than I thought. The training cycle was not clean. I lost time to an ankle injury at my peak and tweaked my hamstring last week, to the point I wasn’t sure I’d make the start line. I’m happy to report the hammy is about 90% there, so we are officially a go for Saturday.
The biggest thing I’ve learned is that doing hard things gets easier when you surround yourself with people who also do hard things. If you’ve got your own hard thing you’ve been putting off, this is your nudge. Go start it.
However you’re spending the holiday, at the grill, on the lake, or watching the fireworks, I hope you get a real break with the people you care about. Have a happy and safe 4th of July. And to everyone working the holiday weekend, the adjusters, first responders, and crews who don’t get the day off, thank you.
Until next week,
🤘Josh 🤘