Top 12 Claim Adjuster Skills to Put on Your Resume
Breaking through the noise in claims adjusting takes more than experience. It takes a crisp mix of technical tools, sharp judgment, and steady people skills that translate on a resume and hold up in the field. Master these 12 skills and you signal readiness for tough files, tight timelines, and fair outcomes.
Claims Adjuster Skills
- Xactimate
- ClaimXperience
- Negotiation
- Estimation
- Documentation
- Investigation
- MS Office
- Analytics
- Customer Service
- Time Management
- Simsol
- Compliance
1. Xactimate
Xactimate is a core estimating platform for property claims. It helps adjusters scope damage, price labor and materials using market-aligned databases, and build clear estimates quickly.
Why It's Important
It standardizes pricing, speeds up estimating, and supports consistent settlements. Less guesswork. More accuracy. Fewer disputes.
How to Improve Xactimate Skills
Get formal training, then practice relentlessly. Build mock estimates from real-world scenarios. Learn keyboard shortcuts, macros, and preferences to shave minutes off every line item. Pursue Xactimate certification to validate your proficiency. Join peer groups, compare estimates with colleagues, and review closed files to see what could be tighter, faster, cleaner.
How to Display Xactimate Skills on Your Resume
2. ClaimXperience
ClaimXperience is a policyholder collaboration platform that helps adjusters share photos, videos, and updates, and manage documentation with insureds and contractors in one place.
Why It's Important
It tightens communication, reduces back-and-forth, and accelerates inspections and settlements. People feel heard. Files move.
How to Improve ClaimXperience Skills
Use mobile features in the field for faster uploads and live collaboration. Create clear templates for status updates and document requests. Build a repeatable workflow: invite, verify, guide, review, close. Track response times and completion rates, then tweak your touchpoints. Train frequently—new features roll out, and small tweaks can save hours. Gather feedback from policyholders to refine your process and tone.
How to Display ClaimXperience Skills on Your Resume
3. Negotiation
Negotiation is the art of landing a fair settlement that honors policy terms while addressing the claimant’s needs, all without letting the file drag on.
Why It's Important
It contains costs, reduces litigation, and builds trust. Strong negotiation means fewer escalations and faster, balanced resolutions.
How to Improve Negotiation Skills
Prep hard. Know your facts, coverage, and the claimant’s story. Listen actively and reflect back what you hear. Frame options around policy language and documented findings. Keep emotions low and curiosity high. Know your best alternative if talks stall. Find trades that matter to both sides—timing, scope, materials, payments—and aim for agreements that stick.
How to Display Negotiation Skills on Your Resume
4. Estimation
Estimation is calculating the cost to repair or replace damaged property, supported by scope notes, photos, codes, and current market pricing.
Why It's Important
It anchors the settlement. Good estimates reflect reality, reduce supplements, and keep everyone aligned.
How to Improve Estimation Skills
Stay current on materials pricing, labor rates, and building codes. Use trusted estimating software and keep your price lists fresh. Document every assumption; take crisp, well-labeled photos. Learn basic construction methods to avoid scope misses. Ask peers for redlines and conduct post-claim reviews. Communicate early with contractors to reconcile differences before they mushroom.
How to Display Estimation Skills on Your Resume
5. Documentation
Documentation is the full record of a claim—notes, statements, photos, diagrams, estimates, policy references—organized so any reviewer can follow the file without guesswork.
Why It's Important
It protects decisions, supports compliance, speeds audits, and strengthens your position in disputes. If it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen.
How to Improve Documentation Skills
Write clearly. Lead with a brief summary, then details. Use consistent naming for photos and files. Timestamp important actions and calls. Include diagrams and visuals when words aren’t enough. Keep information updated as facts change. Make your notes accessible and scannable; future-you (or opposing counsel) should find what they need fast. Ask for peer feedback on clarity and completeness.
How to Display Documentation Skills on Your Resume
6. Investigation
Investigation means gathering facts to validate coverage, cause, and extent of loss. You test stories against evidence and policy language until the picture snaps into focus.
Why It's Important
It reduces fraud, determines liability accurately, and ensures fair, defensible outcomes.
How to Improve Investigation Skills
Prepare a checklist before every inspection. Observe first, conclude later. Take wide shots, then close-ups; capture serial numbers, measurements, and moisture readings where relevant. Ask open-ended questions and pause—people often fill silence with helpful detail. Cross-verify with invoices, weather data, and prior claims. Keep up with local statutes and policy forms. Build relationships with contractors, engineers, and vendors you trust for specialized opinions.
How to Display Investigation Skills on Your Resume
7. MS Office
MS Office (Microsoft 365) covers Word, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, PowerPoint, Teams, and automation tools that keep claims organized and moving.
Why It's Important
It’s the backbone for reports, data tracking, scheduling, email, team collaboration, and repeatable templates that save time day after day.
How to Improve MS Office Skills
In Excel, learn pivot tables, lookup functions, and conditional formatting to track aging, reserves, and trends. In Word, build templates with styles, Quick Parts, and content controls. In Outlook, set rules, use categories, and block time for deep work. In OneNote, keep a notebook per claim with sections for notes, calls, and attachments. In PowerPoint, craft clean visuals for briefings. In Teams, centralize chat, files, and meetings by claim or project. Automate repetitive steps with Power Automate for routing, notifications, and file handling.
How to Display MS Office Skills on Your Resume
8. Analytics
Analytics turns claim data into insight—spotting patterns, predicting outcomes, and flagging anomalies that deserve a closer look.
Why It's Important
It improves accuracy, speeds decisions, and helps control leakage. You see risk earlier and act sooner.
How to Improve Analytics Skills
Clean your data first; garbage in, garbage out. Track consistent metrics: cycle time, severity, supplements, reopens, dispute rates. Use dashboards to trend results and drill into outliers. Learn basic data analysis—filters, pivots, charts, and simple models. Partner with SIU or analytics teams for fraud triggers and scoring. Most important, close the loop: adjust workflows based on what the data actually says.
How to Display Analytics Skills on Your Resume
9. Customer Service
Customer service for adjusters means clear, empathetic guidance through a stressful moment. You keep people informed, set expectations, and follow through.
Why It's Important
It drives satisfaction, reduces complaints, and keeps conversations productive—even when outcomes aren’t what the claimant hoped for.
How to Improve Customer Service Skills
Set a communication cadence from day one and stick to it. Use plain language. Offer timelines and next steps, then deliver. Practice active listening—reflect, clarify, confirm. Document commitments and recap after calls. Train on empathy and de-escalation techniques. Gather feedback with short surveys and update your approach based on what you learn.
How to Display Customer Service Skills on Your Resume
10. Time Management
Time management is triage and rhythm—prioritizing, batching, and moving files without letting details spill through the cracks.
Why It's Important
Deadlines get met. Policyholders get answers. Workloads stay sane.
How to Improve Time Management Skills
Rank tasks by urgency and impact; tackle critical path items first. Break large claims into smaller actions with target dates. Block time for estimates, calls, and reviews. Batch email instead of living in your inbox. Limit interruptions during inspections and complex write-ups. Use a simple dashboard to track aging and touch every file on cadence.
How to Display Time Management Skills on Your Resume
11. Simsol
Simsol is a property estimating and claim management platform that helps adjusters scope, price, and document losses with structured workflows.
Why It's Important
It speeds up estimating and keeps file documentation tight, which reduces rework and disputes.
How to Improve Simsol Skills
Complete formal training modules and practice on sample claims. Customize templates and preferences to match your common loss types. Keep the software current for pricing and features. Compare estimates with peers to spot gaps. Share feedback with your team and refine standards as you learn.
How to Display Simsol Skills on Your Resume
12. Compliance
Compliance means aligning every action with laws, regulations, policy forms, and company procedures while treating customers fairly.
Why It's Important
It safeguards policyholders, protects the carrier, and preserves the integrity of the claims process.
How to Improve Compliance Skills
Stay current on regulatory updates and policy changes in your jurisdiction. Take continuing education seriously—ethics, fraud awareness, state-specific rules. Use checklists and file audits to catch gaps early. Document rationale for coverage decisions. Adopt tools that standardize notes, letters, and approvals. When in doubt, consult compliance or legal early rather than late.
How to Display Compliance Skills on Your Resume
