Prelims

I'm at a coffee shop drinking a beer and enjoying the irony.  Just wrapped up a long day of studying for FM and I think I'll get to writing about how I landed an actuarial position.

I graduated in 2009 - probably the worst year for a new graduate to enter the labor market.  My first degree was in the social sciences and I actually managed to land a position in my field of choice.  I can't say exactly what that was - I'll call it organizational development, broadly speaking.  I worked in that area for 2 years doing long hours of non-analytical work for little salary.  The experience was really not transferable to insurance aside from soft skills (which I really talked up during my interview).

I decided to go back to school in 2011 to pursue a more rigorous degree and a better-paying career.  By that time I still had never heard of an "actuary" - I thought I might go to grad school for economics or do something with technology.  But I knew whatever I went for I'd have to have a solid background in math and with nothing beyond high school 'advanced algebra' I started there.  In two years I did everything from Calc I through Analysis with coursework in economics and computer science and some upper level probability and statistics.

I sat for P the first time in November 2012.  I don't exactly remember where I had heard of actuarial by then - I think I saw some literature hanging up in my department.  Anyway, I didn't prepare and got a 4.  I took it again in January after some serious, intensive study.  I used ADAPT and TIA, reached level 8 in ADAPT, felt ready and failed with a 5.  At that point I had written off ever getting into the profession with graduation so close, but nevertheless I registered (out of frustration and stubbornness) again for March the same day I failed.  I never found the time to study between January and March as I was taking a heavy course load.  I went in expecting to fail and not caring.  It was quite a feeling to finally see the congratulations message at the end of the exam - grades were recently released and I passed with a 9.  So either I was extremely unlucky in January or very lucky in March.  In any case, I got my resume together the same day.

I didn't think I would have much luck applying with one exam, no internships and so late in the season.  So I submitted my resume to the black holes for internship positions and emailed the directory about possible openings.  I applied to two full-time positions, one of them following a networking event at my school where an open position was mentioned.  I was surprised to hear back within a week about doing an on-site.

At the time I was more committed to being in a different city and taking any non-actuarial position I could get while passing more exams.  This was because of a girl whom I more recently broke up with, but was seriously dating at the time.  So I went into the first round of interviews not expecting much and not caring what happened - it was more of a practice run.  This must have been the right attitude because I easily connected with my interviewers and was pretty relaxed throughout.  The questions were not very hard - nothing technical, all soft stuff about how I approach work and coworkers.  I had some experience in a professional setting to talk about which was a definite plus.  I was asked a little bit about what I could do in Excel and Access as it was on my resume - I threw out some random words like 'joins' and 'record macros' and the interviewer (the database guy at the firm) was actually satisfied.  If he had followed up with nearly any technical question involving either joins or macros I might have been in trouble.  But I do actually have some surface knowledge of these programs through school, so I was not totally BSing.

My second round was similar.  I met with the higher ups at the company (a small company).  I think the decision had already been made and the purpose of this round was for the higher ups to give the green light.  I got the offer within a week following the second on-site.

Some things I will highlight which came up in the interviews and I believe contributed to my hiring:

• Luck - the greatest factor I am sure.  The opening came up at the right time for me, the applicant pool may have been weak, I had met someone at the above mentioned event who probably said I was serious and worth talking to.  Aside from luck though...
• solid GPA (got me in the door with 1 exam)
• professional experience in an office setting of a medium sized company (~700 employees) - I was able to talk about working on a team, handling certain types of situations with coworkers and clients, other soft stuff.
• Volunteer and hobbies - I volunteer in organizations doing things which are related to my hobbies.  So I was able to show I have a life outside of school as well as that I take on leadership responsibilities in groups.  If I saw an applicant with the typical volunteer activities (neighborhood cleanups, volunteering to tutor kids at the local public school, fundraisers for a relief effort, etc.) I would just think they were looking for filler on their resume and will cease all such activity once they get a job.  And that would probably be true.  Doing something you actually enjoy is more believable and says more about you, IMO.
• Asking the right questions - I have a philosophy on this which is similar to my philosophy on dating.  Go in with a lot of questions and don't seem too eager for the position.  Make them interview for you, particularly in the first round.  If you seem too eager they will think you will take any position, which means (at least, I would think this if I were on the other side of the table) that you are desperate for anything and will leave them as soon as the right position comes along.  The most difficult question I had in all my interviews was: if it was offered to me, would I take a pricing position instead of the R&D position I was interviewing for.  I answered pretty honestly: the market is tough and I would strongly consider it after hearing the details of said position, but I would probably not be as excited from what I know about traditional pricing/reserving roles as I would be to take a position in product development.  I don't think my answer was perfect, but I think 'yes, definitely' would have been the worst answer after all the interviewing for the position I was there for.  A 'no' would have ruled out an offer if they were actually thinking I was a better match for another position.  The point is that I said I would have to hear about the position first - fit matters to me and I'm not too eager to jump at anything.
• Access and Excel - I learned these in a formal setting, training opportunities that I sought out (as mentioned though, I will still have a lot to learn on the job).  They liked that.  Take some initiative and then talk about it.
• For the career changers: a good story about why you are changing careers!  Don't say you didn't enjoy it - say it wasn't challenging.  Definitely don't say it paid too little.  Say you wanted better opportunities for skill development and growth.  Then lead the interviewer into asking about the things you 'learned' which will transfer to an actuarial position.
• Dress sharp, come with multiple copies of your resume, arrive early - all that generic advice which I'm not going to repeat.  It all matters though.

My advice is certainly not to apply to only 1 or 2 positions as I did.  Also, the cold emailing of the directory actually bore some fruit - one actuary wrote back asking that I keep them updated on my exam progress, another that they would keep me on file and I should check back in periodically.  I would have nurtured those leads after passing another exam had I not gotten this position.

So that is it for now.  I'll post after my first day on the job and this will get more exciting when I can talk about work and what I learn on the job.  But I hope this gives some encouragement to the ho-hum candidates out there like myself - if you play up your strengths you might get lucky, despite having few exams, no internship, etc..

-Analyst