The very heated topic of discussion over on the facebook pages for notaries these past couple of days has been about what they call ride alongs and shadowing. A very informational and detailed blog post was written by an esteemed fellow notary signing agent and was posted on facebook as to why ride alongs and shadowing should never take place. I was shocked to see how many notaries out there were in total disagreement with this and actually got angry because they don't see anything wrong with it. There was even a lot of cussing going on by one poster, which didn't surprise me considering the source.
I personally do not agree with ride alongs and shadowing for several different reasons, and sadly our industry is being infiltrated by too many people that think this is a "side hustle" as I have seen it referred to as. They are inexperienced but yet willing to give their opinions on something they know nothing about. If they want to be a notary signing agent they need to go get some training from someone who is certified to train and not try hooking up with some random notary down the street to go on a ride along. These new notaries were prepared to argue their cases till the cows came home. One of these brand new notaries, who admitted she had never even performed a loan closing, was all in favor of ride alongs and shadowing and tried to find fault with the advice several seasoned notaries tried to give her as to why this is not a good idea.
First of all I don't know any reputable lender, title company, or signing company that is going to allow a notary signing agent to drag another person along to a signing for all of the obvious reasons that every seasoned notary signing agent is fully aware of, and secondly, why on earth would you want to train your competition? And who are all these people that think ride alongs and shadowing are such great ideas? Where on earth did they come from? Are they experienced notaries who have hardly any business and are trying to make extra money taking their competition along on signing appointments or are they newbies so desperate to get into this business they think riding along and shadowing will get them business?
Of all the crazy comments over on these facebook pages, one poster said she makes them sign a non-compete before she takes them out. A non-compete . . . how is that even going to protect her from the notary she just trained to be her competition? Once that notary puts their name out there on all the notary websites, all those companies are going to be contacting them directly to do signings and that poster is never going to know that her competition is now signing for companies she once signed for.
So in conclusion, I think ride alongs and shadowing are a terrible idea for everyone involved. I would suggest new notaries sign up for training courses from people who are certified to train, rather than placing your future career as a notary signing agent in the hands of someone who may not even know what they are doing.
How does my Notary Rotary family feel about this hot topic? Please share your opinions.
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