Which area of actuarial work is most interesting to you?

Hi everyone,

I am currently evaluating which area of actuarial work I'd like to go into. I just wanted to get some general opinions as to which area is the most interesting to you. For example, which area are you in - pensions, general insurance, life insurance, health, investment etc? Are you totally enjoying what you do at the moment, or are there times that you wish you had chosen a different area or job altogether? Any advice in choosing the 'right' area?

I'd also like to ask about the level of competition in these different areas also. Would you say competition in all the different areas are about the same?

Thanks!

 

I started in Pensions. Almost certain I'd have found insurance very dull (though without ever working in insurance it's hard to tell).

The only issue with pensions is the huge, DB scheme closing elephant in the room.

 

What are some of the reasons why you'd think insurance would be dull?

 

Just personal interest really. Not sure why, but I've never been able to get interested in insurance (even when I'm buying it). That is just me and my prejudices really. It's probably more interesting than I think it is.

What sort of things do you think you'd like to do? (Talk to clients / make computer models ...)

 

Ideally, I'd love to have a lot of diversity, changing between doing technical calculations and consulting with clients. I'd like to have days where no day is quite the same. Maybe throw in a bit of travel from time to time. That sort of sounds like pensions right ... minus the travelling part?

The thing is, I originally decided that I wanted to go into pensions and I know much more about pensions than I do other areas, however, the other day, someone said to me that it's rather difficult to change areas once you get into it, so it's made me doubt myself slightly now...

 

[Knowing nothing about insurance at all, and this is just my experience... ]

I think it is hard to switch into pensions or life or general insurance (what I think of as being the "traditional" areas) but I know several who managed to switch from pensions into investment.

The areas with most variation are probably the non-traditional roles. These are much easier to switch into.

Hate to break this to you, but my experience of working in a large consultancy appears to have this career trajectory:

First few years - spend all day pasting numbers into a model you do not yet understand, pasting the results into a draft report, which was then checked by the grown ups. Not allowed anywhere near the clients.

Next couple of years: checking numbers the juniors produced, and being taken to the odd client meeting. Probably the only time you get a mixture of client contact and maths.

Rest of your life: Spend most of the time talking to clients and writing reports. Occasionally doing a sense check on a valuation but generally relying on your minions for numbers.

You can get most variation if you work for a smaller company. Large companies have processes in place to ensure maximum homogeneity. Also, if you try to aim for a non-traditional role (often investment related) then there is often more scope for variation.

If you think you'd like pensions, why not go for that, work through the exams. While you do this, keep your eyes open in the Actuary jobs website for people wanting part / newly qualified for something less traditional?

 

Hey LazeLinePainterJane,

Thank you for the informative response!

For a moment, I thought the 'I hate to break it to you' news was going to be bad, but it wasn't bad at all. I'd have thought the first few years we wouldn't really be allowed near clients - maybe colleague shadowing at the most - and I'm perfectly happy with that.

I'm glad you said there may be more variation in smaller companies because I'm not really gunning for large companies anyway, but I'd take it if they were offering ...

I think I will definitely give pensions a shot. Other areas I was thinking of were health and possibly investment.

 

All are similar in a way

There is a pretty wide range of fields to cover for each of GI Life Pension and if you were trying to explorer all technical areas in each I'd think it would take a pretty darn long time.
I think it takes time and experience to figure out what is the most interesting as they are very similar (a job!) and very different.
If I were in GI, I would think that risk pricing was quite interesting but it will become quite monotonous once you master the risks - not the job of course because you will be hunted by the board and underwriters relentlessly.
In life Solvency ii and investment are probably the most interesting...