CMS Interview Flashcards
Tell Me About Yourself
I have been with CIC for over 5 years and am currently a senior claims specialist. I have been on the elite cat team for 3 years and have been on 12 storms. I started in property insurance 13 years ago straight out of college and have worked for two other major carriers. I have always wanted to be a large loss adjuster and I think my experience and skills would fit perfectly for this position.
Where Do You See Yourself In Five Years?
I’ve wanted to be a large loss adjuster ever since I started my career 13 years ago. My hopes are that this role would help me gain additional policy knowledge and maybe someday I could use these skills in an HQ position.
How Do You Imagine A Typical Day
I imagine my typical day would not start much differently as it does now. I would manage my ongoing claim files. As a new claim is received I would make contact with the insured and make an assessment of what is needed immediately. I would coordinate with any necessary experts and would book a flight to meet on site with the insured and experts. I would then return home and manage the file as best as possible.
What Is Your Typical Day
My typical day begins with reviewing my task files. I will make phone calls and update the files as needed. I will respond to emails and update those files accordingly. If I have a new claim, I will make contact and set an inspection. If I have an inspection, I will meet with the insured and any contractors. I will take notes and then give the insured a timeline or process for where the claim file will go from here.
How do you manage your claim load?
I proactively set up tasks to follow up with my claim files. I try to set 30 day status updates on Mondays. For the rest of the week, my tasks consist of action items i.e. call insured to follow up on contractor estimate. Ideally, any active claim file should be touched twice a month. I try to put the ball into the insured’s hands instead of them waiting for me to respond or provide them with information.
Are You Comfortable Traveling?
Yes. On the Elite Cat team, I have become very comfortable traveling. I have worked in group settings while on storm duty and have also worked solo on several occasions. I am comfortable with either situation.
How would you deliver bad news?
As a claims adjuster, sometimes delivering bad news is part of the job. What I try to do is be honest and forthright with the customer as soon as I see a potential issue. I advise them that there may be a coverage issue but I won’t be able to make that decision yet. I feel it is a lot easier to eventually break the bad news if the insured is not blindsided. I like to read over the policy language with the insured and I will always send a denial to the agency so they are aware of the situation.
What are your weaknesses?
Public speaking has always been a weakness of mine. In the future I would like to take some online classes to help me get comfortable speaking in front of crowds. I would also like to take some classes or read some books to help me better utilize all the functions in Outlook.
What are your greatest strengths?
I think I am very empathetic with customers and can connect to them on a personal basis during their losses. I also pride myself in my property knowledge and estimation abilities. Even the most experienced of my team members come to me when they have questions. I have never turned down a claim no matter the size. I love this job because every day is different and a new opportunity to learn.
What do you consider the toughest aspect of this job?
I think the toughest aspect would be familiarizing myself with policy language that I am not accustomed to seeing. However, I think this is something that I would quickly catch on as I have in past situations.
What about your current job makes you prepared for this position?
I think I have been working toward this job for the past five years. I have been trying to position myself by taking on larger and more complex claims. I have built strong relationships with many different vendors that assist on different aspects of the claim process. I have joined the elite cat team to demonstrate that I am capable at working in high stress and high capacity situations while being unsupervised.
Describe a time with a hostile client who is unhappy with your assessment?
A tornado claim that I handled in Nashville. The insured was not happy with the assessment by myself and the accountant in regard to his BI payment. I was able to work with the insured, the agent, and the accountant to schedule a meeting to discuss the policy coverage and how it applied to this situation. In the end the insured was happy with the outcome.
What is your approach to managing stress?
This job can be stressful. I think it helps to keep a defined schedule and organization within your claim files. It also helps to block out certain times of the day to dedicate to returning phone calls, answering emails, and working claim files. I like to workout to relieve stress and also play with my dog.
Tell me about a large fire that you have handled.
I handled a claim for a vacuum repair company. He owned a 3 unit building in which he was the occupant of one of the units. A fire started in one of the tenants units. I contacted the insured and met with him on site and reviewed the damages. I informed him that we would have a C & O come out to inspect and determine the cause and location. I was able to contact Homelink to search for an alternate working situation for the insured. Unfortunately the insured did not take us up on this offer. I worked with Young and Associates to get an estimate completed on the building. I worked with the insured and national vendor to assess his damaged contents. I also had an accountant from Meaden and Moore contact the insured to review BI. The insured was able to locate a contractor and we were able to come to an agreed cost of repairs.
Tell me about a large commercial tornado loss that you have handled.
In Nashville I had several large tornado losses that exceeded $500,000.00. One was for a manufacturing firm. They constructed parts for automated machinery. I worked with the insured to get an accountant involved. I contacted a building consultant to inspect and estimate the building damages. I contacted an engineer to inspect the building for structural integrity. Luckily the building was sound. We issued an ACV payment relatively quickly. There were some hiccups with the BI coverage as the insured was not interpreting the policy language in the same way that we were. After several discussions with the insured, accountant, and agency, I decided it would be best to set up a conference call to go over the policy language and see if we could get everyone on the same page. We were successful in doing that and settled the BI portion of the claim. The insured ended up being able to get the repairs completed for our ACV payment and no further payments were issued on the building.
Tell me about a large residential tornado loss that you have handled.
A claim I am still handling from this incident is for a residential home that was completely destroyed. Luckily nobody was hurt in the home. I worked with the insured to find an alternative living situation immediately through Homelink. I advised her that I would be contacting a building consultant to review the loss and provide us with a rebuild cost. I also got her in touch with a contents specialist to help her create a contents list for items that were in the home. The insured has had some issues getting the home rebuilt. We were seeing little progress at one point and I then placed the file onto a weekly diary to ensure that movement was happening. The insured eventually was able to find a builder and the home is currently under construction with a POR ending in September.
Tell me about a time you went above and beyond for a customer
I had a recent claim with an insured during the Texas freeze. I met him on site and worked with him to locate a mitigation company. After I was wrapping up my inspection, the insured let me know that his business partner was upset that he hasn’t been contacted yet. I advised him that I would look into the situation and see who was handling the file. After speaking with the storm manager, I was told that his business partner’s claim was being handled by an adjuster that hadn’t arrived in town yet. I asked him to reassign the file to me since I already had a relationship with them. I called his business partner on site and set a same day inspection on his home.
What interests you about this position?
I have always been passionate about helping people in their greatest time of need. That is one of the things that I find most fulfilling about storm duty. As an adjuster, I see myself as the face of the company. When things get tough for a policyholder they are counting on me to live up to the promises that they have paid into. This position will allow me to apply all the knowledge that I have acquired over 13 years to the most difficult and challenging claims.
