The behavior of the newer Notaries doesn’t match the older Notaries on 123notary.com.
THE OLD NOTARIES
The old Notaries have been around for ten or twenty years.
Certifications
Many passed our certification test in the old days, but did not bother with the audit retest which consisted of a few Notary questions which are not easy, but you need to know it anyway. Older Notaries tend to be NNA certified which is the easiest of all the tests from prominent agencies, but they rarely pass the LSS, 123notary, or Notary2Pro tests which are hard.
Social Media
The old Notaries used to be very active on forums, linked in, facebook, but not so much on Twitter. But, in the past few years, the older Notaries got tired, died, quit, or stopped being so active on social media.
How They Maintain Their Listing
Additionally, the older Notaries do not do much with their profiles on 123notary. They let the profiles sit and collect cyber dust instead of asking for reviews. 123notary has a lot less online reviews than several years ago because people are not being proactive as much anymore.
THE NEW NOTARIES
The new Notaries are generally in their first or second year of business as a signing agent.
Certifications
Roughly 30-35% of the newer Notaries are LSS certified and close to 90% are NNA certified. A handful are Notary2Pro Certified and we get a trickle passing our 123notary online test as well every month. There seems to be more motivation to prove themselves so that they can make a name for themselves. This was not the case as much with newer Notaries even a few years ago.
Social Media
Newer Notaries seem to not do much on social media. NNA figured out how to get good interaction on their Facebook and a large proportion of the Notaries on there are new ones. The posts that good high quantities of interactions had yes/no answers. So, the quantity of the answers might look good, but the depth of the answers doesn’t compare to the veteran Notary crowd who have volumes to say. Not all oldsters are like this, but the people with long and thorough posts tend to have 15 years or more of experience, sonny.
How They Maintain Their Listing
Unfortunately, I have to get after most people to make their listing complete at least by my standards. A good presentation is life or death, but our Notaries don’t seem to have the motivation to do a quality job of their notes section on their own. This is sad. Even the people paying $400 per year need to be babysat in terms of their notes, reviews, and other aspects of listing maintenance.
SUMMARY
So, things have really changed. My wish is that people will put more effort into their career. I feel happier when people take life more seriously. I am not saying that people are not serious, but they tend to shirk what I consider to be reasonable responsibilities.
