Life vs General Career

Hello fellow actuaries,

I need your views on the below.

I am currently in pensions UK (3.5 yrs experience) and looking to switch to life/general (UK).

I have an offer for life ins role at senior actuarial analyst level - capital efficiency and one for general ins role at actuarial analyst level - reserving.

The Life role is paying me 4K higher.

I understand this would depend on my preferences, but having not worked in either profiles, it is difficult to decide.

I wanted your inputs on:

- Life or general - which is more interesting?

- which has more prospects in future - easier job change, remuneration as well technicality of work?

- Given that Life already recognises my past career merit, and I am offered the next band, I am inclined towards it.

But General insurance - reserving is a coveted role to get, and I feel I would learn a lot technically and future career prospects would be great.

Apologies for the lengthy post. I would appreciate inputs from Life/general/experienced in both to leave their comments and be constructive in criticism

Thank you,

Riya

 

Hi Riya

I moved from pensions to general about 5 years ago. I had worked in pensions for a similar length to you and after talking with a few people I was convinced and made the mode. I have always worked on the pricing side which I really enjoy. I had to take a small hit in terms of salary for moving but now I'm on a higher salary than many of my former colleagues in pensions and life so I certainly wouldn't worry about that. My job is way more technically challenging than the work I did in pensions and much more rewarding. You usually start by doing data preparation and analysis which will introduce you to SAS. As you get experience you will be start modelling and doing higher level analysis (assuming you start in Pricing). I loved the coding side to the job (and still do).

I can't speak for the merits of Life but I am thoroughly happy with the choice I made all those years ago. In terms of reserving VS pricing, I think pricing is generally considered more interesting but experience in either (and capital) is good. Salary is definitely higher in General. It's not unusual for a newly qualified in Dublin to start on €80k (I think that's pretty good!).

One thing I would say is the job is very different but hopefully your new employer will recognise this and make sure you are given all the training you need.

To sum up, I would definitely recommend general and, if you can get it, pricing.

 

I say lucky you to have an opportunity to change! In my experience work in this profession is so rigid. Some are open-minded enough to allow a change but most are so risk-averse they just want someone ready-made for the job who's done it before.

 

The reason for hard to switch is also because the job market appears to be more saturated comparing to few years back, I feel.

Would anyone agree?

 

Sure, many thanks for the timely advice entact , it helped a lot.
I have chosen to go for General... and excited about it!

Kind regards,

Riya

 

Hi Almost_there,

I agree with you on this, it is hard to change domain and there were obstacles.
But mostly it is self-doubt which is the hardest to overcome

Perseverance is key though. Wish you the best in your career!

Kind regards,

Riya