Editor’s Note:The following profile highlights a veteran who works at Assurant. Committed to filling its ranks with talented members of the military community, Assurant is a Hirepurpose client. Learn more here.
This week, we spoke to Brian Ferland, an employee of Assurant Specialty Property and a member of the Massachusetts Army National Guard, who works as a field claims adjuster out of Rhode Island.
Field claims adjusters are responsible for planning, conducting and documenting in-field, on-site residential property investigations to determine the cause of loss and determine and explain policy coverage to customers. These roles are ideal for service members who have the ability to work with a degree of autonomy and decision making without requiring constant feedback from a supervisor.
Many of these roles allow employees to work from home when not conducting an insurance assessment. Assurant also provides a substantial benefits package to field adjusters, including a company car and education tuition reimbursement.
Ferland says he gained experience with claims serving as an Army finance officer in Afghanistan from January 2007 until February 2008. One of his responsibilities was to disburse funds to agents responsible for making solatia and condolence claims. However, his experience in the hospitality industry provided him with the necessary experience working in customer service.
Ferland has undergraduate degrees in culinary arts and food marketing, as well as a master’s degree in teaching from Johnson & Wales in Providence, Rhode Island. He says, “My experience and formal education as a teacher has definitely contributed to being able to assist my team in training new hires.”
Ferland learned about Assurant through a military job fair and had it not been for the Army and a deployment as a finance officer, he never would have considered a career in insurance.
His favorite part of his job as a field claims adjuster is knowing that people call their insurance company when something bad has happened, which gives him opportunity to help them out. In some ways, Ferland believes he has continued his commitment to serving his country and its people through this role.
For service members interested in the field of insurance, Ferland offers this advice: “Take a couple of classes in construction and building, improve your computer skills and start reading trade publications” because any knowledge in construction and contracting is very beneficial for an adjuster who needs to be able to read, understand and put together repair estimates. Further, reading trade publications can help to keep an adjuster up to date with what is going on in the industry.
Assurant is a premier provider of specialized insurance products and related services in North America and selected international markets. It has four key businesses — Assurant Solutions, Assurant Specialty Property, Assurant Health, and Assurant Employee Benefits — and partners with clients who are leaders in their industries to build leadership positions in a number of specialty insurance market segments worldwide. Currently, Assurant is on the search to fill field claims adjuster roles all over the country.
To find field claims adjuster opportunities with Assurant, please visit Hirepurpose’s jobs site.
Lauren Katzenberg is the managing editor of Task & Purpose.