[Jelkin]

(Original post by JohnnySPal)
Yeahhh someone at my work set up an evening of beverages and bowling. Woulda taken my mind off it all a treat, were I not travelling for hours on a train with nothing to do but be jittery and get myself worked up. Mash-up sounds good. Make sure the passers buy the failers lots of soothing booze.

Unfortunately the day after exams there is a traditional pub trip at lunch involving all actuaries, and the passers fit the entire bill! So I don't think I'd make them pay at the mash-up if I were a failer. Luckily Thursday is the day we get paid though

Sorry to hear about your train trip tedium. Maybe watch some hilarious stand-up or something if possible? Or play something addictive like Angry Birds.

[Kernel]

(Original post by Jelkin)
I think people should look at the date of the original post when they see that the thread is so long!

I keep meaning to get started on WBS so that I don't become one of those people who leaves them all until the last minute, but that's not going so well. I should just man up and get on with it really.

I reckon you should ask someone at work about that, or failing that email the Profession - I've wondered myself, as I'm fairly sure I will take more than three years to pass all my exams!

Results on Thursday This is a stressful week as I also need two people to move into my flat in a week's time as the other tenants dropped out You don't know anyone who fancies living in zone 1 in east London and has the budget for it do you? My flatmate is moving to Woking with his lady friend and I am moving in with other work types, but we are slightly concerned that we won't find anyone ... had two viewings this weekend but both cancelled as they'd found something else.

Do you have any other CTs to resit? If not maybe you should try doing something else in September (I would because otherwise I wouldn't get any study days!). That being said, if you haven't started already you might find it hard?

Hey, I might be interested in that place. I'm a fellow actuarial student, waiting on CT6 & CT8 results () this Thurs. Have a few posts buried in this thread somewhere in fact, and always find myself drawn back here every so often- usually around exam time, or exam results time!

Can you drop a link to the spareroom ad?

[JohnnySPal]

Diploma in Actuarial Techniques!

[Jelkin]

(Original post by JohnnySPal)
Diploma in Actuarial Techniques!

for you

And ... for me

Turns out I can do maths after all.

EDIT:

[Jelkin]

(Original post by Kernel)
Hey, I might be interested in that place. I'm a fellow actuarial student, waiting on CT6 & CT8 results () this Thurs. Have a few posts buried in this thread somewhere in fact, and always find myself drawn back here every so often- usually around exam time, or exam results time!

Can you drop a link to the spareroom ad?

Hey, hope your exam results were all right - those are two tough exams! I hear 8 especially is a bitch.

The ad is here: http://spareroom.co.uk/2318445 I think we're going to try to get short-term tenants now, because we can charge less rent and so get more interest.

[.ACS.]

Does anyone have an idea how feasible it is to change direction completely a couple of years down the line? For example, from pensions into GI?

I'm about to start my MSc Economics/Econometrics and will be applying for pension actuarial graduate schemes. I've already had experience within GI and I've spoken to a good friend about their experience in life, and while I found GI to be okay, I wasn't 100% sure it's for me. It certainly is more statistical then pensions, and I love stats, but I felt like I wanted a role which was more "finance"-related.

Now, I've spoken with people who've worked in pensions, and actually I did a third year applied finance module which emulates the work undertaken by investment actuaries and I thoroughly enjoyed that, so at the moment, based on that, I'd ideally want to go down the investments route (which I know is possible via pensions).

But hypothetically let's say I realised after one/two years that GI was more suited to me, how feasible is it to switch?

[JohnnySPal]

(Original post by .ACS.)
Does anyone have an idea how feasible it is to change direction completely a couple of years down the line? For example, from pensions into GI?

Guy in my team did exactly that. He didn't really suffer at all. He didn't have the experience you seemingly have, either. I'd say that you could probably justify a switch so long as you haven't reached the STs by then (both because those exams require you to specialise, and because that'll roughly mark the point where the drop back down to the bottom within a new employer would be really great).

It's a shame your experience with GI wasn't great. Based on the actuarial exams I've done I really don't think I could stomach life or pensions. Investment sounds like a good crack though, going off the content of CT8. Could you not just go straight for investment roles and not bother trying to get there via pensions? Seems kinda unnecessary to me, but then I don't really know those practice areas too well.

[Mustard-man]

(Original post by .ACS.)
Does anyone have an idea how feasible it is to change direction completely a couple of years down the line? For example, from pensions into GI?

That example is feasible. There is a senior manager (i.e. one below director) at my company that made the exact same transition, specifically to Risk Modelling, Pricing. We've got a few experienced joiners from risk management, actuarial, finance, consultancy side of GI and IT, although majority are just jumping from pricing at other firms. I think such a transition is possible for GI more than any other since the mathematical analysis / calculations is not that taxing (as say Actuarial exams) and relatively easy to grasp, but of course there are more mathematical roles such as modelling or optimisation that are.

[CaligulazBaby]

..

[Chewwy]

the 6% discount factor is included in the "5yr advanced pay quarterly @6%"

this gives the discounted value of them from when they started being paid.

the v^5 @8% is there to then discount back to when the first cashflow of all the cashflows is paid (when rates are still 8%).

and the v^2 discounts further back to today.

[Chewwy]

In other news I had fun presenting a paper I co-authored at SIAS last night.

[CaligulazBaby]

..

[JohnnySPal]

(Original post by Chewwy)
In other news I had fun presenting a paper I co-authored at SIAS last night.

What when where who other-w-words?

I ought to get involved in the SIAS malarkey at some point

[Chewwy]

(Original post by JohnnySPal)
What when where who other-w-words?

I ought to get involved in the SIAS malarkey at some point

http://www.sias.org.uk/siaspapers/pa...SMeetingJuly12

[Jelkin]

(Original post by Chewwy)
http://www.sias.org.uk/siaspapers/pa...SMeetingJuly12

Nice one!

You guys going to the SIAS boat party? I'm not, I can't Sounds amazing though. Hopefully next year!

Bumping this thread to help out someone who posted in the main Careers forum ...

[wanderlust.xx]

Actuarial consultancies should really have more off cycle internships and work tasters that run against the yearly cycle. I'm sure there are plenty of able candidates who are willing to work like slaves, myself included.

[Jelkin]

(Original post by wanderlust.xx)
Actuarial consultancies should really have more off cycle internships and work tasters that run against the yearly cycle. I'm sure there are plenty of able candidates who are willing to work like slaves, myself included.

True, but it's so expensive to run interviews and assessment centres that they prefer to do them in a batch. It's kind of understandable while being frustrating!

[TomLeigh]

I've just spent about three hours reading this thread and what a remarkable read its been. I almost feel nervous to put in my two cents; J and J seem way too cool for me.
Well I guess I should introduce myself.

The names Tom (believe it or not) and I just graduated from UoNottingham with a first in Mathematics. Decided in first year that accountant wasn't for me because I wanted to use Maths in my career, not just number punching to make big bucks. So at the start of my second year I decided that teaching would be a sensible choice; I didn't think the finance world was right for me because I'm from a small town and don't know anyone n the field, and I knew that there would be a job waiting for me a Mathematics teacher, especially with my academic achievements to date. This said I applied and successfully got a place to start on a PGCE course this September. So I graduated in July and was sitting there holding my degree certificate thinking "Right, I need to be 100% sure I'm in it for good with this teaching thing" and had a look at my other options. This is when I found Actuarial Science.

So I hear it needs heavy Maths, and stats, which was my favourite part of my degree. The more I read the more I love it; the hours aren't as awful as expected for other careers, the work is varied, the work is technical, and I then come across terms that I've seen before in my favourite modules at uni (Stochastic Models, Brownian Motion, Ito Caluculus and Martingale come to mind) and I'm thinking omg this is made for me.

So I've done a LOT of research now, read pretty much the whole actuaries website, inside careers, wikijobs, about 30 employers, and I've decided that I definitely want to work in consulting (I'm very much a people person and love the idea of many projects at once). So I'm thinking well what do I do now? I didn't do an internship obviously, and I'm due to start my pgce in four weeks so I decided I would email actuarial companies asking their advice and if they would consider me a strong candidate. Suffice to say they were incredibly helpful, and really I'm not at any disadvantage since I have the relevant academic background (but clearly that's not essential as this thread has realised) and my grades are fine too. I was advised to continue with the pgce, and I'm going to do so for FOUR! reasons:

Firstly, my husband is American and while we plan to stay here in the uk, teaching here or abroad is still a career that I could likely embark on post middle age.
Secondly, I don't have anything to do for the next year, my contract is signed with my graduate friends and I'm pretty much at the limit of my student overdraft so relying on this student loans payment.
Thirdly, and this one has already caused an uproar in another thread, but I'm in receipt of a £20,000 training bursary which means a mortgage on a house for my husband and I which is hard to turn down. Whether the bursary was offered or not I would be doing the PGCE.
And finally, I understand that a key skill of an Actuary is the ability to communicate complex ideas to a wide audience, in simple ways, which is the fundamental job of a teacher, so I can't help but think this qualification is only going to improve my employability/work ability.

So, so far I've applied to KPMG for their Graduate Entry 2013 scheme in Pensions - Consulting scheme. I applied and took the SJT (scenario) test, and was asked to sit the aptitude tests which I found out this morning I passed (really wasn't sure if I was going to or not, only answered ~60% of the questions) and have a telephone interview at some point.

I did have a question, if you've even bothered to read this far: I initially applied to the insurance position, and beforehand rung their HR because it stated they required a GCSE grade A in English (I have a B), only to get rejected the next day, despite being advised to apply anyway, so I called and apparently it wasn't a wise move to apply for that position (great advice but it's in the past!) and was allowed to move to the Pensions role which only requires a B (she was quite nice about this and said it wasn't a problem at all).

Now I hadn't picked a preference because honestly I didn't find sufficient information that made me think "oh god I MUST work in GI/life/pensions and not another" but thought Insurance would have more variety and was more technical and just applied for it anyway, but I feel that my academic profile and more importantly my interview skills will prove to them that I most probably am able to be considered for the Insurance role, so is it worth voicing this opinion or just leaving it and working for pensions? Like I said I'm not entirely fussed and with Auto-Enrolment coming in I suspect that it will become more popular again despite what you guys have said previously. I don't exactly want to come off disinterested with Pensions but since my next stage is Telephone Interview I would most probably be interviewed by someone n pensions that doesn't want to hear that it's not my first choice!

if it helps these are my academics: GCSE A*A*AABBBBBBBD (A*=Maths/ICT A=Science)
A Level=AAA in Maths, Further Maths and Chemistry (A* wasn't available in my year mind) and then my First class degree in BSc Mathematics

So... After all that, nice to meet you and good luck in your future exams.

[JohnnySPal]

(Original post by TomLeigh)
...

I did have a question, if you've even bothered to read this far: I initially applied to the insurance position, and beforehand rung their HR because it stated they required a GCSE grade A in English (I have a B), only to get rejected the next day, despite being advised to apply anyway, so I called and apparently it wasn't a wise move to apply for that position (great advice but it's in the past!) and was allowed to move to the Pensions role which only requires a B (she was quite nice about this and said it wasn't a problem at all).

Now I hadn't picked a preference because honestly I didn't find sufficient information that made me think "oh god I MUST work in GI/life/pensions and not another" but thought Insurance would have more variety and was more technical and just applied for it anyway, but I feel that my academic profile and more importantly my interview skills will prove to them that I most probably am able to be considered for the Insurance role, so is it worth voicing this opinion or just leaving it and working for pensions? Like I said I'm not entirely fussed and with Auto-Enrolment coming in I suspect that it will become more popular again despite what you guys have said previously. I don't exactly want to come off disinterested with Pensions but since my next stage is Telephone Interview I would most probably be interviewed by someone n pensions that doesn't want to hear that it's not my first choice!

if it helps these are my academics: GCSE A*A*AABBBBBBBD (A*=Maths/ICT A=Science)
A Level=AAA in Maths, Further Maths and Chemistry (A* wasn't available in my year mind) and then my First class degree in BSc Mathematics

So... After all that, nice to meet you and good luck in your future exams.

Your story sounds very familiar - I got to the point of even writing out a personal statement for a teaching course application. Suffice to say I don't regret my choice, even if I was always adamant that I'd never work in finance!

I don't have a great deal of time, so I'll throw a few quick points (sorry if this is incoherent - I haven't proof read it!):

• These 30 employers you emailed. Did you throw in any hints that you'd be game for an interview? You'd probably want to be careful to not come across as being a cheeky beggar, but if you built up a strong rapport with any of them then you might be in with a shout?
• You're a good lad for knowing the maths that appears in the CTs in that much detail! Those four things you mentioned are all very much based in investment rather than pensions/insurance so you might want to consider that when you're looking for roles. I'd say that investment and non-life are the most technical, though I can't say with certainty as I've only ever worked in non-life (I'm basing my opinion on what appears in the nine CTs).
• With regards to your interview, that's a tough one. Ideally you'd decline and look for an insurance role, but ultimately a job's a job and you don't know whether another good opportunity will come along. What I would say is this: you needn't worry about specialising until you get to your ST/SA exams, but believe me I can't believe I'm now through the CTs. It comes surprisingly quickly! While moving from one area to another isn't massively difficult (I see recruitment agencies advertising for life/pensions -> non-life/investment quite a lot), you might not be able to gain enough actuarial experience to start in a new area without having to start on the very bottom rung of the ladder. Like I say, it's a tough one and you probably ought to sit down and think through what you want to do/are willing to do.
• You could always start in a pensions role with the intention of transferring? Might be worth asking about the long-term opportunities to move around the business (emphasis on long-term - a good way to get declined is to show immediate intent to bugger off!)

[TomLeigh]

(Original post by JohnnySPal)
More great information

Thanks for your input Johnny!

I emailed the employers basically telling them my stance, because I was in the state of mind of panic that everyone was doing the typical start of third year apply, get the job, and have a 2 month break between uni and their job and so I was worried that doing the PGCE was a bad idea. [I didn't hint at wanting to interview exactly but I did get across my academic history and passion for wanting to be an Actuary, which combined with my extensive email should at least make an impression.] At that time I also thought to myself "I'm gonna be no good at interviews if I've only just thought about this" but I've had nothing to do for the past month and have done so much research and prep that I'm actually pretty prepared as it is (competencies, check! aptitude tests, check! current issues in pension/insurance, check! just got commercial awareness to scratch up on!)

Now that I feel like I have just as good a shot as all the third years, my plan is to wait until September when applications open up, dedicate September/October free time to doing the applications and hopefully interviews and ACs, and then hoping I can secure a job for after my PGCE. I do like the idea of the recruitment agencies, but this doesn't seem very appropriate for me seeing as I'm going to be doing the PGCE over the next 10 months and so I'm now pretty contempt on doing the graduate entry route.

Yeah these terms I just threw out there are ones that I've read on forums and websites that were in my modules Stochastic Models and Mathematical Finance; I wasn't really sure how they fitted in to the different area of Actuarial Science but the fact that there's some familiarity there definitely relieves me a bit.

I've never really looked at the CT exams; after reading this post I did consider trying to do CT1 but given that the PGCE is incredibly intensive and that I come from a highly numerical background, I decided to leave it. (This was also a question I posed to the companies I emailed and for the most part all of them told me they didn't have any preference if I had already completed a CT exam seeing as I've already demonstrated mathematical capabilities)