Getting any old job in the actuarial profession

[DevonMatthews]

I'm now 24 yrs old and a Maths graduate, currently studying CT1+CT2+CT3.

Im wondering if after i (hopefully) sit these exams and pass in septemper, if i will be able to start with any old entry level job in the industry, and what kind of firms i should be looking at applying with. Like do these subjects by themselvs carry any weight whatsoever when applying for a job? Because i've been thinking to get a job in the field i need atleast 3 years more worth of studies ontop of this.

 

[bystander]

Lots of consultancies use milk rounds at universities and you may have missed the boat for their major intakes but you do get ad hoc vacancies.

There will be vacancies at insurance companies and these often just arise over the year though the big ones like AVIVA tend to do bulk intakes around Aug - Oct.

The fact that you are studying independently will be much to your credit and passes will definitely help. Have a look to see if there is an actuarial society near you (there's a link somewhere in actuaries.org.uk). Go along and you may make contacts.

Yes you could try getting 'any old job' and then persuade them to let you on the trainee scheme.

Your choice is directly contacting companies or using recruitment consultants.
There are pros & cons to each.

Do think hard about what skills you have that will help in the career eg in your
interests/personality as this could suggest whether you want to be a 'back room' person, or longer term would enjoy an actuarial role where you work with people in wider fields/depts/companies etc.

Age isn't a barrier and with people going travelling these days, you really aren't that unusual.

Go for it!

 

[geoff97531]

Having had a few actuarial jobs, all of my previous employers would have much preferred me to send them a speculative CV and cover letter (tailor both of these properly for each application), rather than go through the recruitment consultants that I did. This is fairly obviously due to the large fee employers have to pay consultants (I have heard it is something ridiculous like £10k??).

If you say what city you are wanting/willing to work in maybe some kind souls would point you in the right direction of employers looking for junior people...

 

[jrpfinch]

I entered the profession at 26 having worked in Electrical Engineering. I wrote speculative letters, applied to graduate schemes and used recruitment consultants.

I found that the most interesting and best paid roles came through one particular recruitment consultancy. The problem with many graduate schemes is that they lump you in with and pay you the same as 21-year-olds with no experience.

I cannot advertise the good recruitment consultancy here (against house rules), but suggest you take a look at some of the those advertised prominently in The Actuary. Unfortunately, I found many recruitment consultancies hopeless. They just forwarded your CV onto employers - no value-add at all.

 

[CA2 student]

I cannot advertise the good recruitment consultancy here (against house rules)

Is it? The rules only seem to say no advertising. As long as you don't work for the recriutment agency, I would say it is a recomendation rather than advertising. Tell us

 

[jrpfinch]

I think discussing the strengths and weaknesses of particular recruitment agencies on these forums is a bad idea. This will encourage consultants to register here and post stealth advertisements.

I think the best thing to do is send a CV to as many as possible and judge for yourself.

A good consultant will be long-term greedy. They will work hard for you even if you have no experience because you may return in future when you become more valuable.

 

[colinth1]

It's also quite difficult to judge the ability of a recruitment consultant based on an individuals experience. You may consider them to have provided poor service, but maybe they just had better candidates available and so didn't spend their time on you.

 

[DevonMatthews]

Hi guys thanks for the input here, i've found a few actuarial recruitment firms near me.

My question is can i start applying for any job with an actuarial firm after having completed 2-3 Core technical subjects, or do i have to have the whole lot before i actually get considered by an employer?

I'm stuck now between deciding to have faith that these actuarial studies will get me a job (soon), or enroling in a masters degree in risk managment which starts in july and lasts for 1 year and sitting actuarial exams at the same time so i can increase my qualifications base and get a job a bit sooner so i can have some experience.

I appreciate any input

 

[geoff97531]

I'm a gambling man but if I was you, I'd back myself to pass at least a couple of them and that should be plenty to get your foot in the door to get a number of job interviews. Once you get a job and have a year's experience you'll find it's not hard to move job to another company if you don't like it; and in my humble opinion it will put you in a better position than if you do the risk management course and still have no job experience another year down the line.

You could always send a CV and cover letter now to a few companies asking if they will offer you a (temporary?) non-studying role and do your studying in the evenings and weekends. Actuarial work can be seasonal so this may appeal to some employers. If you make a good impression they ought to offer you a proper role in say 6 months and if not it will still count as job experience. Don't be afraid to try that route rather than graduate schemes - I started my actuarial career that way and I know a few others who did too.

 

[jrpfinch]

My 2p:

I would focus on applications and not worry too much about any more qualifications - Masters, Institute or otherwise. How you interview and your life experience to date are much more important to any potential employer.

If you don't have any luck with the job interviews, sign up for a couple institute exams and get a job that you are enthusiastic about and will seem interesting in an interview; it needn't be finance or actuary-related.

If you're bent on doing a further degree, I would do a Maths, Economics (focusing on Econometrics) or heavily-quantitative Finance degree - as these will be useful if you go into any cutting edge Actuarial work later on.

If the Risk Management Masters doesn't get you exemptions then it's not going to add much on top of the Institute exams. If it does get you exemptions then bear in mind that many employers perceive the Institute exams to be tougher. In any case, the Institute exams plus ActEd tutorials are much cheaper!

 

[DevonMatthews]

Thank you for the advice, i'm just a bit unsure about investing all my time in this course, my friend has been telling me this course will "Get me nowhere", thats why i've been looking into some postgratuate courses, just incase passing these CT's infact gets me nowhere. I found a graduate diploma in Applied econometrics The core studies are as listed below. Would this course be a good course to complement CT Subjects + Math degree?

ETF9121 Data analysis in business
ETF9200 Econometric analysis in business
ETF9300 Financial econometrics
ETF9350 Econometrics for financial markets
ETF9480 Business modelling
ETF9700 Mathematics for business
ETX9000 Business and economic statistics
ETX9520 Quantitative methods for risk analysis

 

[geoff97531]

To be honest, they do look to be relevant useful subjects just from their names - some of them may even get you exemptions from the odd CT. However, the extra cost of going back to uni would be better spent on just doing the rest of the CT's I reckon. Also, it does seem a shame to be forking out all the money yourself - you want your employer to be paying for them if at all possible.

I think your back up plans are a good idea - actuaries are generally a risk averse bunch so you seem like you're on the right track but it is worth sending your CV off to employers (whether they are recruiting or not) as a job in the industry is really what you want rather than lots more expensive education that's going to end up costing you a lot.