customer service representative

business development manager

sales representative

inside sales representative

escrow assistant

First American

What is the best part of working at the company?
I loved the people I served and being witness to the excitement of a family getting the keys to their first home!!! It’s a very huge moment in life that I got to be a very small part of!

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
It was a lot of work and daily tasks that i accomplished and got no appreciation from management (but then again I had the worst management)

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Toxic on a local mgmt level and oblivious to it all on the upper mgmt level. It was like a cliquey high school mean girls club that I wasn’t good enough to be a part of. Unprofessional and unsupportive. Overworked and underpaid— not respected or appreciated in any way.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Arrive at 8am and accomplish more tasks than any of my previous jobs combined. Answer  every call, greet every customer, receipt every escrow payment, scan to file, email every single party on transaction, notify officer/processor team, review all contracts, open a file/order for those contracts, assign closer, build physical file and deliver to assigned team, prepare any outgoing items for couriers, seat everyone accordingly for closings, get them snacks/drinks, notify officer of arrival, print postage for all outgoing mail, place supply order, track and receipt any abstracts,  take photos of the happy families with an array of silly signs post closing to celebrate their happy occasion — CHEESE!—, organize and balance in the system any and all payments received in the day and make electronic deposits, make copies, file accordingly, print calendar for next day closings and get organized and prepared as necessary, wave to all coworkers  as they leave in a pack at 5pm on the dot while they ignore my existence,  Finish all files and orders that weren’t completed during the day in between phone calls and walk in traffic, upload to system accordingly, clock out and work for free for a few hours to be in a comfortable spot at the beginning of the next day, repeat the above for approximately 5 years to be blindsided by an impromptu meeting that you had to move up your lunchtime for where you are told you are fired effective immediately because “they are going a different direction with that office” pick mouth up off the floor, fight back tears and ask if I did something wrong, and get the same response regurgitated verbatim “we are just going a different direction with this office” hang head , fight back tears of the days events (career ending destruction and under appreciation on a level I have never experienced) THE END!!!

Oversaw the operations of  the First American Service Desk in Santa Ana supporting proprietary title and escrow applications. Managed a team of 13 Service Desk Agents to resolve any and all issues that were reported.  

I was on call 24/7 7 days a week for more then 8 years. I had the privilege to work with and interact with every area of the company that utilized technology to accomplish their jobs contributing to the success of the Company.

A majority of my day was spent interacting with the command center and the development team on system issues that were reported by callers or proactively identified by the command Center through their monitoring of the IT infrastructure. I interacted with escrow and title officers, business Annalists, product managers, project managers, application developers, network operations, system administrators, security, regional managers, and upper management across the US and Overseas.  

I gained a lot of experience and knowledge about how a fortune 500 company operates from a IT perspective and how to manage a team to meet Service Level Agreements while keeping the customers who called pleased with the Service they received from the Service Desk.

Attended Weekly meetings with Change, Incident and Project Managers as well as Application Developers on existing issues or new enhancements being developed for the applications my team supported.

I enjoyed managing my team and worked at utilizing each person strengths as well as challenging them with projects that would help them grow in the areas where they could improve 

The hardest Part of the job was being on call whenever I was not at work. My work phone could and did ring at any time and it was my responsibility to facilitate getting the appropriate resources to address the issue that was occurring to resolve it.

A typical work day at First American - Mortgage solutions is filled to the brim of trying to work done with in the time given, while also trying to get daily guide lines. I've learned a lot while working for First American. I've learned that no matter how hard you work for them it still not enough. That as you put in 6 months of over time and help other departments and teams caught up on their work that your work will fall behind and you will be on you for not getting work done. Even though you've been stating your concerns about falling behind for months. I've learned that if you are asked to do too much in the day that you will need to learn how to say no, and try your best to explain why you can't take on more work. I've learned so great skills as to how to run formulas on an excel sheet. And also try my best to be a great manager. I the management will not care, you can bring up concerns and problems it will be disregarded for months until it becomes such a big issue that someone will end up getting the brunt of everything, but no one will ask for your point of view. The problems will escalate so bad that even the upper management will start to fight on the floor in front of their employees. The hardest part of the job is that there is a lot of work and expectations on people. But when you work so hard that you are breaking apart emotionally and mentally it is disregarded. And told to not bring in any emotion to work. The most enjoyable part of the job is some of the people that you will work with. Because they are under the same kind of pressure and know what you are feeling. They will try to joke and have fun, but know when to get the work done.

A typical day is fast-paced, you need to be highly organized, and deeply analytical, able to prioritize tasks, urgent closing files and coordinating with escrow offices to ensure upcoming transactions are on track.
A large portion of the day is dedicated to focused research—diving into public records, conducting comprehensive title searches to build chains of title, and auditing legal or tax documents for hidden liabilities. Interspersed with this deep analytical work is constant, collaborative communication: providing updates to clients, drafting endorsements, and reviewing documentation side-by-side with title officers to ensure everything hits compliance standards before recording.

What I've learned, I Learned
This role provided me with a masterclass in real estate law, legal documentation, and investigative research. I learned how to meticulously analyze tax records and property data to spot risks that others might miss. Beyond the technical skills, I sharpened my ability to manage high-stakes compliance standards and learned how to translate complex title information into clear, responsive communication for anxious clients and escrow partners.

The culture is built on teamwork, mutual respect, and a shared commitment to accuracy. While the work requires some independent focus, there is a strong sense of team work because everyone understands how interdependent the closing process is. It’s an environment where diligence is valued, and coworkers willingly step in to help one another problem-solve tricky legal documents or meet tight closing deadlines.

typical day:
check in with office for anything I needed to follow up with, make calls to customers , close loans inside office if needed, visit existing customers and several 'cold calls' each day, always focused on growth, made appointments with potential new customers seeking new business, discussed customer concerns with internal staff to insure satisfaction, planned next day's activity for time management,

learned---daily business is guided by making certain the customer understands his relationship with the company will be handled honestly, to the best of our ability, will always right the wrongs, and we will serve with pride

immediate manager was very good to me.  allowed me to work my territory without a thumb pressing down.  always available for providing ideas, suggestions, and willing to assist.  kept each other informed of competition, market issues, etc.  very good relationship

very good staff (internally) to provide assistance to customers and me.  it takes a team......there is no "I" in team.  

most enjoyable part of job.....knowing a customer is completely happy with service beyond his expectation, followed by a recommendation to another potential customer.

hardest part of job-----acceptance of losing a client for reason beyond any control.......when every customer is treated with 'kid' glove and offered a very fine team to assist, this hurts.  as a follow up, I would always visit to hear the real reason for leaving, apologize for any inconvenience may have been caused and thank them for the business given to me.........never burned a bridge with any customer, they just may call again.

Don't believe the facade (red flags) FA created to attract potential employees.

For example: 
The "Southern plantation" style structure visible from the 55 freeway looks... nice. (I hope you catch my drift here.)

Being "voted" as one of the Fortune 100 "Best" companies to work for 3 years in a row (you'd rather be placed on Glassdoor's prestigious list.) FYI: FA has been dropping lower on that list every year. Who knows if they paid "a fortune" (no pun intended) to be on that list? 

The performance of their stock looks nice but...

1) It's tied to the amount of money saved by laying off 20% of their workforce before Christmas of 2018. (Google "TheLayoff First American") It's also tied to the wealth of FA's CEO, in case you weren't aware.

2) Low-balling new and current employees. FA hires new employees as temps for longer than 3 months, so they pay them minimum wage (or slightly above it, to be fair), don't have to provide benefits, and can fire the temps at any time without consequence to FA.

3) Paying at or a few cents above minimum wage, "promising" wage increases. The last 2 wage increases were a slap in the face of all the hardworking employees willing to put in long hours to make up for all of the work FA keeps piling and piling on to their employees. Maybe if they didn't lay off 20% of the workforce, then they wouldn't be in this mess?

4) Outsourcing all of the work to cheaper states and/or cheaper countries like India.

Last, but not least, because I could go on and on: Team leads/Managers take all the credit.

Work hard, work harder, and harder, and harder, and harder...

The company was great to work with under the old CEO who understood insurance sales, agents and the process to get a lead converted to a sale.  The new management is more interested in micro managing the expenses and productivity than fostering growth, relationships, and genuine sales production.  They are more interested in meeting promised goals than actually doing the work to increase revenue, regardless of source.

The upper management has put downward pressure on the insurance agents to squeeze blood from a stone and discard legitimate leads and policy acquisitions.  The office is a factory with more than enough leads going in, but so much waste and mismanagement that the sales production will never meet it's full potential.  When a staff member out of fear of firing, chooses to make a call to a cold lead with 0% chance of sales over responding to a bird-dog with a sure-to-buy request for evidence of insurance... you have serious problems with your priorities in the department.

The sales floor is a call center, counting calls, leads, e-mails, tasks.  it is activity over productivity.  Qualified leads are squandered, cold leads are shifted around and solicited multiple times.  It is not a positive work environment for any staff member threatened with write-ups for the smallest of excusable actions and threats of firing for asking for a raise after years of devoted service.

This is not a place I would recommend to my peers.

Pros: 
- The pay isn't awful
- Work from home sometimes
- Days off/pto is pretty good
- Laid back atmosphere
- Performance reviews were awesome
- Great for women and single parents
- Excellent cafeteria with great prices

Cons:
- Always felt pay was lacking, based on tenure not skill level. Be mediocre and keep slow progression to earn good pay
- The pay structure makes no sense, some people earn a bonus & others don't with same level, ask for a bonus in the salary up front
- Terrible communication top down (ie great starting from the lower mgmt, awful as it went up)
- Benefits are average, it was enforced that benefits are great but I've had great & I can tell most people there are just naive
- Insurance is pretty high & you have to wait 30 days until insurance starts, that's so old school mentality
- Engagement is going down & it's noticeable
- Ideas are talked about but it never goes anywhere seriously
- Job security is weak (be wary of 'exciting changes that are coming' as a phrase as it's used right before every layoff)
- Management lacks vision
- Little change for advancement
- It was said that special treatment was given to single moms over married couples or single people, financial special treatment. Yes, that was said to several people.

Overall, there's definitely a big smoke cloud you have to see through but it was a good experience for what it is. No one really micromanages you or critiques very much so just do some good work here and there and you'll make it through ok if you want to try it out.

A typical day might be to follow up on tasks that were not finished the day before. I wore many hats where i had many responsibilities in purchasing of new equipment, researching expired warranties on equipment statewide. Analyzing the cost of repairs versus buying a new copier, printer or fax machine.

I worked well with my superior who knew that I was dramatically cutting overhead costs and would get the job done.

I designed marketing and educational material for sales staff and and industry clientele increasing orders and awareness of our company products and services.

The most satisfying part of my job was creating a new inventory management system as well as setting up websites where employees can order their supplies, printing online, eliminating waste, duplication and printing errors. Renegotiating with vendors in reversing overcharges and reducing cost of services and supplies.

Being a photographer for 18 branches and creating the first four color photographic company newsletter for the state of Utah. This task was a great challenge in gathering employee data information as well as creating fun and interesting articles.

I loved alll of my co-workers. The hardest part of my job was the merger of Associated Title to First American Title in 2001.

A typical day at First American included taking about 60-80 incoming calls from mortgage customers or from local property tax authorities. It may also include following up on previous calls received, when one call resolution was not possible. 
I learned much from my time there. I learned how to handle an escalated call, how to work on multiple databases at once, how to manage time more effectively, and how to train a co-worker following the conclusion of the classroom training. 
Escalations, outbound follow ups, and the post classroom training were all by far my favorite parts of the position.
The management staff were all committed to two things. First, the success of the company. All management should have this first on their minds, and the team at First American did this well. 
Second and equal, they were committed to the success of the employees. Promotions from within, using skills the employees possess but were not hired to utilize, encouragement when the employee fell short of the standard established by the company were all common place.
The hardest part was hearing a customer say they were going to lose their home, and there was nothing I could do about it. 
The most enjoyable part of the job was being able to exceed the expectations of the customer, thus creating loyalty to the mortgage company, and increasing employee morale when the customer actually commended an employee.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Customer service representative 2 salaries reported	$15.00 per hour
Business development manager 1 salary reported	$95,000 per year
Sales representative 3 salaries reported	$89,313 per year
Inside sales representative 1 salary reported	$80,000 per year
Escrow assistant 6 salaries reported	$19.80 per hour

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