Actuarial Job Market in UK

Hi!
Can anyone tell me about the scope of Actuary in UK? What are the job prospects for those who have just graduated in BSc Actuarial Science, getting some exemptions? I heard that the job prospects for Actuarial trainees are not good but they become better once u have fully qualified as an actuary. Can anyone comment on that???? Thanks

Reply 1

Brown Patrick Bateman

10

I got your PM, I've added you.

The job market's pretty good right now, since an increasing number of mathmos seem to be rushing off into the world of quants in IB, or accountancy, whilst the demand for actuaries is arguably stronger than ever. Once you've graduates there'll be 28 hour working weeks (+ studying for the qualification) where the pay's decent, and then once you qualify it looks promising.

Reply 2

alro

my dad's an actuary and he always says that they prefer to employ people with pure maths degrees instead of actuarial science graduates but saying that they do seem to take a lot of trainees each year.

Reply 3

lgs98jonee

2

Jools

I got your PM, I've added you.

The job market's pretty good right now, since an increasing number of mathmos seem to be rushing off into the world of quants in IB, or accountancy, whilst the demand for actuaries is arguably stronger than ever. Once you've graduates there'll be 28 hour working weeks (+ studying for the qualification) where the pay's decent, and then once you qualify it looks promising.

could i join the investment and financial society too?

Reply 4

Munna

OP

Thanks for adding me Jools. And thankyou for the replies.

my dad's an actuary and he always says that they prefer to employ people with pure maths degrees instead of actuarial science graduates but saying that they do seem to take a lot of trainees each year.

Yes thats what i have heard. Thats why it concerns me, because i have applied to all the universities providing Actuarial Science degrees and i havnt applied for any of pure maths degree. I wonder why this is the case because apparently actuarial science graduates should have better training for the jobs than Pure maths graduates. Can you ask ur dad why they give preference to pure maths graduates? Thanks

Reply 5

marabara

1

Employers will prefer those will pure maths degrees because:

- they cover a wider scope, and are not focused on one area
- they are harder, and it is easier to select the best people
- actuarial graduates do worse in the final exams than maths graduates (you do not get the whole qualification at uni, you do the course then get exemptions from some of the 15 exams, probably 9 - 11)

You have to remember that an actuarial science degree won't make you much better equipped for the job than a maths graduate as very little of the academic stuff is used in practice. Excel skills are far more useful.

Reply 6

Munna

OP

Thanks. I wish i would have known this earlier, coz i used all my 6 choices on actuarial science degrees.

Reply 7

confused?

1

what exactly is actuarial science.

Reply 8

Munna

OP

confused?

what exactly is actuarial science.

http://www.actuaries.org.uk

Reply 9

morphology

I am interested in actuarial field too.
What about MORSE, and Mathematics with statistics? Are the actuaries graduated from those courses favour by the employers?

Reply 10

in_it_2_win_it

12

i got a cousin whose Consultant Actuarist at PWC, and he said that it normally takes an average of 3-4 years for people to qualify at PWC, but he said its quite hard to get in. Experience in the field is quite vital, as the drop out rate is quite high!! So they want to see you are for it. It can take up to 14 years to qualify, but thats normalyl people who are not really keen on qualifying.

As for actuarial science degree, the fastest person to qualift at PWC, was a City University Graduate who did Actuarial Science, it took him 1 Year!!! He did all his exams that year! (Must have been one clever guy!)

Reply 11

Munna

OP

usman_psycho

i got a cousin whose Consultant Actuarist at PWC, and he said that it normally takes an average of 3-4 years for people to qualify at PWC, but he said its quite hard to get in. Experience in the field is quite vital, as the drop out rate is quite high!! So they want to see you are for it. It can take up to 14 years to qualify, but thats normalyl people who are not really keen on qualifying.

As for actuarial science degree, the fastest person to qualift at PWC, was a City University Graduate who did Actuarial Science, it took him 1 Year!!! He did all his exams that year! (Must have been one clever guy!)

Wow! thats really quick. :eek:

And i heard that the papers from which u r exempted after BSc are not as difficult as the later papers.

Got any idea why the drop out rate is high? is it coz its a boring field?

Reply 12

MRLX69

2

I've been asking this for a while now, and different people give me different answers (even teachers! one say one thing and the other say a totally different thing!).

Is actuary a 9-5 job? and there's no doubt about the high salary right?

I'm applying for a four year pure maths degree because I heard they preferred it, (plus it seems more fun!). That should give me my masters, I heard an employer would be more likely to employ someone with a masters than one without one (heard from the head of economics at LSE).

Could someone just give me a brief outline to as what exactly they do?

Thanks!

Reply 13

Munna

OP

MRLX69

I've been asking this for a while now, and different people give me different answers (even teachers! one say one thing and the other say a totally different thing!).

Is actuary a 9-5 job? and there's no doubt about the high salary right?

I'm applying for a four year pure maths degree because I heard they preferred it, (plus it seems more fun!). That should give me my masters, I heard an employer would be more likely to employ someone with a masters than one without one (heard from the head of economics at LSE).

Could someone just give me a brief outline to as what exactly they do?

Thanks!

I dont know about how much time the job demands. I think u could talk to someone who actually is an actuary. But below are some of the links that u might find useful

http://www.hays.com
Find the link to the salary survey. Hays is one of the giant companies that train accountants, actuaries etc. They have done the salary survey of various job fields, including actuaries.

http://www.prospects.ac.uk
Here is a description of the work of actuaries and salary estimates are given too.

Hope that helps :smile:

Reply 14

Brown Patrick Bateman

10

I'd definitely recommend a Mathematics degree over an Actuarial Science one. A Maths degree gives you so many options within finance - e.g. corporate/investment banking, accountancy, actuary along with IT etc, whereas with Actuarial Science you're somewhat limiting your options aged 17/18 and its not going to really increase your prospects for becoming an actuary over doing Maths.

Reply 15

Jump

18

Jools

I'd definitely recommend a Mathematics degree over an Actuarial Science one. A Maths degree gives you so many options within finance - e.g. corporate/investment banking, accountancy, actuary along with IT etc, whereas with Actuarial Science you're somewhat limiting your options aged 17/18 and its not going to really increase your prospects for becoming an actuary over doing Maths.

To add, when I was I pondering doing an Acturial Science degree I did a bit of research and found most of the courses a tad dull compared to Maths or Economics, purely my opinion mind.

Reply 16

marabara

1

usman_psycho

i got a cousin whose Consultant Actuarist at PWC, and he said that it normally takes an average of 3-4 years for people to qualify at PWC, but he said its quite hard to get in. Experience in the field is quite vital, as the drop out rate is quite high!! So they want to see you are for it. It can take up to 14 years to qualify, but thats normalyl people who are not really keen on qualifying.

As for actuarial science degree, the fastest person to qualift at PWC, was a City University Graduate who did Actuarial Science, it took him 1 Year!!! He did all his exams that year! (Must have been one clever guy!)

that is quick, but bear in mind he'll have had a lot of exemptions and he may have even prepared for the courses before starting work

its no use talking about the average qualification time if you don't know how many exemptions these people have on average - there are 15 exams to do and actuarial science graduates often get 8/9 exemptions while maths graduates get up to one or perhaps two

Reply 17

Munna

OP

marabara

that is quick, but bear in mind he'll have had a lot of exemptions and he may have even prepared for the courses before starting work

its no use talking about the average qualification time if you don't know how many exemptions these people have on average - there are 15 exams to do and actuarial science graduates often get 8/9 exemptions while maths graduates get up to one or perhaps two

As he did BSc Actuarial Science from City, he would have got 9 exemptions, assuming he got the required result. But still its really quick.

Reply 18

MRLX69

2

Munna, kool avatar, lol

Reply 19

marabara

1

Munna

As he did BSc Actuarial Science from City, he would have got 9 exemptions, assuming he got the required result. But still its really quick.

true, it is quick - I wasn't disputing that!

just thought I'd better chip in to warn people to be aware that exemptions will distort average qualification times - while the average may generally be four years, this includes those with exemptions

otherwise, I'd say the average qualification time is five years with no exemptions and 2 - 2.5 years with the nine exemptions - the later exams are much harder to pass than the earlier ones with pass rates in the low 30s not uncommon

Actuarial Job Market in UK

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