to think there must be a book, or something, out there to help my DD with her Actuary Technician interview

[cakesanyone]

My DD (mathsy type) is in her final year at uni and has applied to a firm of actuaries for an Actuary Technician post (something to do with pensions, I think) - dimwit mother with brainy DD - seems they take on a number of graduates and train them up.

As there's going to be a lot of competition for this DD wanted to swot up prior to the interview. But no one, including the uni, seems to be able (or willing) to share any guidance on what she might be asked in her interview, except that there's likely to be a group execise about the financial issues of the day. Oh, fancy. I'd never have guessed The interview date hasn't been set yet, so DD doesn't even have a letter about that to guide her.

Are any of you of this world? Or had DC who've gone through this? DD has never worked, just studied and socialised and spent my money What are they looking for? let it be my DD, please, please

Oh good for her, I do approve of mathsy girls.

I work with actuaries a lot, but it's hard to guess what they would ask at interview. I'd suggest she should at least read up on current pensions issues: funding issues, changing mortality assumptions, pension scheme investments. She could get a lot of info from the Internet and the pensions regulator and NAPF websites might help too. Just being able to demonstrate an awareness and interest ought to help.

The Actuary magazine has a fairly good website, so that may be a good place to start.

Is she looking for a training contract (so that she becomes an actuary), or just to work alongside an existing team?

Can I just give one word of caution. I work in the penisons industry (although not on the actuarial side) and it is a dying industry. Within 20 years there will be few few defined benefits schemes which require actuarial valuations left (unless there is an unforseeable change in economics and attitudes). Many actuarial firms have shrunk the size of their pensions practices in recent years. It is an interesting field, but if she is going into it, she should give some thought as to its likely longevity.

RancerDoo - wonderful guidance - thanks so much.

Ladymuck Thanks - DD is looking to work alongside the team initially, but I believe there was some suggestion that "for the right person" there would be opportunities to go onto become an actuary. She's just excited at the idea of maybe getting a proper paid mathsy job, rather than an internship as many of her friends seem to be destined for.

GooseyLoosey - Oh dear, I'm not sure DD wants to hear this.

I'm an actuary. I am on my phone in my lunch break atm, but I'll come back later this evening to give some advice. I have been involved in interviewing graduates for actuarial trainee positions and may even have a copy of the standard questions my previous employer asked somewhere.

The pensions industry is definitely shrinking, but there is massive demand for other types of actuaries because of new regulations coming into force called Solvency II. Is it definitely a pensions firm ?

Tell her to have a look at The Actuarial Prof website. They have a good careers section. She can find out a lot there.

Some info here:

www.actuaries.org.uk/research-and-resources/documents/general-insurance-current-issues-newsletter-january-2012

She can also look up to see if anyone has posted about interview experiences at particular firms on Wikijobs.

More thanks to you all for your excellent suggestions.

trixymalixy I believe they work with pensions companies and insurance companies.

If she's in the final year of Uni then she's old enough to be doing this kind of research herself.

Are you sure you're not hovering?

Trixymalixy, DS is interested in studying actuarial maths at uni with a view to becoming an actuary. Would you recommend that degree over a maths only one? He'll either be applying next year or after 6th year at school. The school are being quite non-commital about which would be the better degree.

It's a great job for a mathsy person, actuaries are usually really nice people too

Actuaries work across the insurance industry not just pensions so I wouldn't worry about that. I am looking for a job at the mo and every other position is actuarial.

Check out the resources that others have mentioned and also ask her to think about

How she feels about a number based role - staring at excel a lot basically - she needs to show passion, that she loves working with numbers
Willingness to take professional exams and work hard for them
Willingness to undertake tasks that may be repetative

The exams are hard, the salary is high, the work is dull unless you like numbers.

Board-level contact with client firms at the higher levels of the profession, so people skills come in handy later on.

Bring on the mathsy girls! She will need,

An understanding of the exams and how much effort they are
A rough idea of what the heck she'll be doing
A rough idea how different types of pension schemes work
An idea of current pension issues and a quick precise of general financial issues.
A topical question to ask is a help.

So read newspapers(ft times telegraph types), read the insititue of actuaries website

They will also be looking for someone who can communicate well, is confident in a group setting but not domineering, whose answers to questions are well thought out and explained.

To answer agents question. If he wants to be a consulting actuary then, it may be that a general maths or stats degree will be better than an actuarial maths ones. Back in my day (which I agree was ark era) consulting firms did not like actuarial science degrees. Dunno if this holds true.

And most of all good luck!

Try brilliant answers to tough interview questions. If it's a graduate recruitment day they are more likely to ask competency based questions - examples of working in a team, solving problems quickly etc.

Trainee Actuary over here - what would she like help with?

Agent, I would actually NOT recommend an actuarial science degree. Most of them get you exemptions from the CT subjects (8 exams, sometimes less depending on subjects) which would save you a bit of time afterwards, however you can't become a fully qualified actuary in under 3 years anyway due to need for on the job experience, so it's not that beneficial. Also, a lot of people I have spoken to who are involved in recruitment don't feel they are a rounded enough degree.

He might be better doing something like maths with stats, or something involving economics/finance. He should have a look at the syllabuses for the individual CTs on the institute website, as it is possible to obtain exemptions without doing an actuarial degree. For example, people who study maths and stats are often exempt from CT3, those who have studied economics can often get exemptions from CT7 or 8.

I dont think there is a "better" degree - the pure actuarial one may be more focused and if he decides to accountancy or investment banking or teaching at the end a maths or maths/stats may be more beneficial.

At interview if expecting a group exercise they will be looking for her to demonstate teamworking (asking quiet members to contribute eg), time management (take on role of timekeeper), judgement and decision making ( get the group to make a decision as its better than no decision).
I would contact the company and ask them what is going to happen on The day. Its not usually a secret.
An interview she should be ready to give clear examples of specific situations from her part time job or hobbies. "i organised then end of term party, got speakers to attend, arranged for the tickets and ticket sales" etc etc.

The point that actuarial is dying is utter nonsense. One part of pensions - db schemes - are not as prevalent, but there are other challenges and companies still need consulting actuaries to give advise on what is best. as for in house risk is a huge new area as is solvency ii.

Actuaries are very lucky re job security - they are needed when times are tough to sort out problems and find money where there is none and they are needed when times are good to help folks spend their money and ensure companies invest wisely.

The exams are a very hard slog, taking years and anyone who gets through them had to be willing to put in often as much work as they did at uni whilst working a full week. They deserve every penny the very very good salary they will get when the qualify.

No one has said the actuarial field is dying, just the pensions side of things, which is true. It would be worth looking into jobs in other fields if this is what she wants to do.

Can't help with the hiring process as I work for a small family firm so it's more relaxed.

Degree wise, if someone knows they want to be an actuary then an actuarial degree will help them qualify quickly, look for one with the most exemptions (I think it's currently UCD, but my info may be out of date). I personally find 17 year olds saying they want to be actuaries a bit ridiculous, better to go for a mathsy degree with lots of stats in it imo - opens doors to industry, academia, teaching etc and will also have a couple of exemptions if they decide to go down the actuarial route.

If she's going to be studying for the exams, make sure she thinks carefully about what she's undertaking, it's bloody tough and seems neverending when you're in the thick of it. Pretty much everyone sitting those exams was top of their class in school, has a first in a mathematicaly degree etc. Failing is both a culture shock and a guarantee at some point.

Agentprovocateur, this page is quite a good read for deciding whether to do actuarial science or maths and stats. Actuarial science has advantages in that it will give you the most exemptions, however a lot of employers prefer to take on graduates who have done maths and stats degrees.

Actuaries are hugely in demand, the pensions industry is shrinking, but what is happening is that the pensions consultancies are branching out into other actuarial areas, so I wouldn't worry about your DD not having a job in a few years!!

The interview will probably be competency based, so they'll be looking for your DD to give example of situations where she displayed analytical skills, problem solving team work etc. Googling will bring up loads of examples and resources on competency interviews.

They will also expect her to have some knowledge of what an actuary does. www.actuaries.org.uk will be able to help with that. Actuaries specialise in mainly pensions, life insurance or general insurance, but cam also specialise in investments and risk.

They will also expect her to demonstrate some knowledge of current issues. Pensions issues for example the decline of DB schemes, auto enrolment in the NEST, longevity. Insurance issues: she will definitely need to read up on Solvency II as that is the dominant issue at the moment.

She should also start reading the FT for more general financial current issues.

If you/your DD have any other questions feel free to PM me.

Dh is an actuary. Can't remember who asked about which degree to do but DH raves about this course

He says it's a great grounding for the field and produces good graduates.

With regard to interviews I would prepare for answering generic questions about team work, leadership and questions that test "stickability" (such as "tell me about a time when something went wrong. What did you do?").

There are loads of books about graduate interviews that will give examples.

She also needs to make sure she has a good understanding of current issues in the field. Solvency II is a must as it's a big issue at the moment.

Others have given some good links.

It's a great profession. I have thought about doing the exams myself but I think having two actuaries as parents is a bit too cruel for the children.

Thank you all - you've confirmed what I told him thought - that he'd be better off with a less specialised degree. I'll show him the links you've recommended, and I may be back this time next year for more information from you lovely people.

I would also suggests she tries to get a but more of a feel for what the specific firm does (pensions, life, investment etc ) and it might be worth her making sure she has at least heard of the modeling programs that are around as I would expect running models to be a task she might be asked to do day to day. There are others, but the biggest are MoSes and Prophet.

agentprovocateur he could always do one of the PG diploma courses in actuarial science after his degree if he wants to speciailise. DH has a student working for him now who did that and she's found it useful.

DH is a marker for actuarial exams and he has insisted that I tell all the budding actuaries to "firstly read the bloody question, then answer the question you've been asked and finally check that you've answered the qustion you were asked and not the question you wanted to be asked".

I think there's a leeeetle bit of marking rage going on in the study right now...