Tom E.
About me
| Tom E. | |
| Economics and Related Studies | |
| Economics | |
| Undergraduate | |
| 2011 |
My employment
| Actuary | |
| Big 4 | |
| United Kingdom | |
| Finance and consultancy |
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A day in the life of a Actuary in the United Kingdom
Courses taken since graduation
Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries
My advice to students considering work
Think about what you want to do, and what work experience you need to get you there. My view is that work experience and extra-curricular items collectively count for more than your degree classification.
Be prepared for interviews. Definitely research the company beforehand, and do a bit of background reading on the likely style of interview/assessment you'll get (it's usually very similar) - The Student Room is particularly useful for this.
Apply for a lot of jobs - without trying to sound negative, it's a really competitive graduate job market at the moment, and it's better to have a few offers on the table and work from there.
I think this is a genuinely great career for anyone interested in maths/economics/econometrics. It's got a reputation for being a bit nerdy, but if you can handle that, there are some really talented people involved.
My advice about working in my industry
I think it is a genuinely great career for anyone interested in maths/economics/econometrics. It's got a reputation for being a bit nerdy, but if you can handle that, there are some really talented people involved.
What I do
I'm an actuary, so at a high level it involves using models and statistics to come up with prices and backing reserves for insurance contracts.
More specifically, I work in consulting, and specialise in the calculation of these insurance reserves for companies under a range of regulatory regimes. This involves analysing and modelling market and credit risks, as well as insurance risks (such as mortality).
I was quite surprised at how transferable a lot of the things I learnt at York were - especially the statistical and econometrics side of my degree.
It's probably worth mentioning that a big part of the actuarial career early on is based around exams. You normally have to do around 15 of these, with an average qualification time of 4-5 years post-uni.
What I like most
I enjoy the huge variety of work, flexible working hours, good people.
What I like least
Hours are sometimes quite long, and having to do exams!
Next steps...
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