Happy Tuesday,
The claims industry is in a bit of a pickle.
Start with the good news. Jacobson and Aon just dropped their Q3 labor study, and 89% of carriers say they’ll increase or hold their headcount over the next twelve months. Forty-nine percent plan to actually add people. Claims sits in the top three staffing needs for the entire industry, right alongside technology and underwriting.
So the industry says it needs claims people. Loudly.
Now the other number. According to research from Glassdoor and Indeed, entry-level adjuster postings are down close to 50% since 2024. For comparison, entry-level jobs across the whole economy are down 15%.
The industry needs people. Experienced people, or so they say. But where are these experienced people coming from?
Nobody is born a senior adjuster. If the junior seat is where people learn complex losses, and the junior seat goes away, who fills the shoes of the retiring workforce?
Because that workforce is still retiring. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects roughly 21,600 claims openings a year for the next decade, and most of that is just people leaving the job. The seats keep opening. The question is who’s ready to sit in them.
Career Intel
If you’ve been sending applications into silence, you are not alone. I posted about a trainee role at a carrier recently that had nearly 250 applications on LinkedIn alone.
A couple of practical things.
Update your LinkedIn. Every recruiter I know lives in it, so use that. Professional photo, current job history, a clear bio that says what you do, and where you want to go. Basic stuff, takes twenty minutes, and it changes whether you show up in the searches recruiters are running.
Remember that applying is not the only way through the front door. Go to industry events. Meet real humans in insurance. Join RISE Professionals, get on a committee, get into communities like the Catalyst Community and Adjuster Insights. Shoutout to the Ignite conference later this week. Every one of those people can be a referral for you down the road, and you might make a friend or two along the way.
And stop underselling the experience you already have. This is the one I see constantly. Someone spends four years on the broker side or in an agency, then applies to claims calling themselves entry-level. You read policy. You handled clients. You managed competing priorities while people were upset with you. That is the job. Write it that way.
From the Desk
I’ve been building a resume tool. It’s not ready for the masses yet, but I want people to break it before I hand it to anybody. If you want to be one of the ones who tests it, just reply to this email and say so.
Road to 100 is sitting at 29 and it’s been there a while. That number was never about people I placed. It counts anybody this newsletter or the show actually helped. An interview, a license, a change in how you were running your search. If that’s you, hit reply and tell me. I have no way of knowing otherwise.
And I’m live today at 9 AM PT (11AM CST) talking through all of this, plus taking questions from whoever shows up. Come hang out.
Beyond the Desk
Four months left in 2026. I’m calling it the Great Lock In.
Four more months to do the thing you’ve been putting off. Sign up for the race. Call the friend. You know exactly what it is, you’re thinking about it right now. Go get it done.
Until next week,
🤘Josh 🤘