Happy Tuesday.

Not a single hurricane has formed in the Atlantic this year. That is a record, and if you make your living on catastrophe it is also the whole explanation for the year you have been having.

We go live at 9AM PST (11AM CST) today on LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.

Market Pulse

Five named storms in the Atlantic in 2026 and not one of them became a hurricane. The old record for the latest first hurricane was September 11, set in 2002 and 2013, and we are past it.

This side of this industry runs on catastrophic weather events. No event, no deployment. The work is still out there but it is scarce, and you can see what people are doing to find it. Independents are taking on more complex files, picking up daily claims work, driving a lot further than they used to, and saying yes to regional deployments they would have passed on two years ago.

A lot of people are not waiting it out at all. I am seeing independents move to staff jobs for the floor it puts under them, and I am seeing people switch lines entirely. Auto, commercial, general liability. That is where the volume is right now.

If you are hiring, that population is worth a serious look. You may not find someone with the exact skill set on paper, but you are looking at experienced, licensed investigators who know how to handle people on the worst day of their year. The question is not whether they match the job description. It is whether you have a way to upskill or reskill them into it. Most companies do not, and they lose out on good people because of it.

None of this is permanent. The season runs through November 30 and one big storm changes the whole picture in a week.

Career Intel

Someone asked me what tools recruiters actually use to find candidates. The honest answer starts with the thing that is not a tool.

It starts with network. Mine and yours. When people know you and trust you, candidates come to you and you are not starting cold on every search. That is the single biggest advantage in this job, and it is available to you too. Conversations are the whole game. Measure those, not applications.

Then come the tools. Sourcing platforms, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, AI sourcing, a CRM to keep it all straight. Useful, but they find people. They do not make people answer.

And then there is LinkedIn, which deserves its own paragraph. Almost every piece of software in this space is parsing LinkedIn data in some form. That means your profile is not a formality, it is the record every tool is reading. Use a professional photo. Write your skills out plainly instead of assuming people will infer them. Put your actual job history in there.

Then go look at your own profile and ask the real question. If you were a recruiter trying to fill your dream job, would you find you?

From the Desk

I passed a year in business recently and I have been honest with myself about what it has cost. The hardest part has not been the work. It has been the bigger picture time math. Staying active, keeping up with friends, being present with my wife, actually living in this city I love, all while doing social, client work, invoicing, taxes, travel, and business development. The business is heating up in the best way, and sometimes that has meant other parts of my life slowed down. Not looking for sympathy. Just being straight about it, because I post plenty of the good stuff.

What has not changed is why I am doing it. I want a community of people who want to level up their careers, whatever that means for each of them, and I want the best companies in this industry showing up to hire them.

Beyond the Desk

Some of my best friends in the world are all going to meet up the Austin International Half on January 17 and we are going to have a party at the finish line. I want you there. It’s a great time to set a goal for the new year, or non-runners can even just come cheer on some friends.

Team name is Running Kru. More details here: spurs.run/1443178

You can’t cheat the miles, only put in the hard work, and I would love to actually meet some of you in person instead of through a screen. If you are thinking about it, hit reply and tell me.

Until next week,

🤘Josh 🤘