3 July 2018
In this blog, Chloe Hung, Amazon best-selling author, talks about some of the traditional to new industries you could work in as an actuary.
As a student wanting to become an actuary you have a wide selection of career choices after graduation. Most students end up working within the insurance industry as the largest practice area the IFoA’s membership works within. However, with the emergence of new areas of businesses actuaries work in and the change in actuarial roles, I’m sure we’ll see this shift.
Some students may decide they want a career within the life insurance industry instead of the general insurance industry. Some may prefer to venture into the pension/retirement industry within insurance. Some may also specifically want to work in the reinsurance sector since reinsurers deal with a larger clientele than insurers. Some may decide to do something entirely different, although typically this happens a little later in your career.
It’s not a must for you to know where to go after graduating. Many actuaries find their calling after a few years of working within the industry. The opportunities for a student are endless. If you’re about to graduate and don’t have a specific preference as to where your actuarial career should begin, start by applying for entry level actuarial jobs within the insurance sector.
If insurance is not really your cup of tea, you could consider other industries that are closely related to actuarial science and may be in need of actuaries, for example data science, risk management, finance and investments, statistics and so forth.
As more and more companies recognise the value of actuaries, the actuarial profession has started to expand beyond the insurance industry. This is good news for all students because we now have more career opportunities to choose from.
Having said that, it’s important to understand that the actuarial industry is very competitive. Be patient in your job search.
If you’re applying for full-time actuarial positions within the insurance industry and not getting positive responses from companies, expand your horizon and start applying for positions outside the insurance sector. Positions such as financial analyst, data scientist, investment banker, computer scientist, underwriter and so on can also serve as a starting point in your actuarial career. These positions can help build up some essential actuarial skills and will make it much easier for you to land an actuarial position, if that’s what you really want in your career.
Remember to not limit your career options.. As students, we have skills that are easily transferrable to other sectors, if we choose to work in a non-actuarial sector. Remember, as actuaries, we have superior problem-solving and risk management skills. These are skills that all businesses value and are willing to pay for. Utilise your actuarial knowledge and skills to design the career that you deserve and desire. Expand your horizon and you’ll see that the number of career opportunities awaiting you are endless.