Category: Uncategorized

My name is Betty, and I am graduating from the University of Toronto this month. As I am setting out to leave the University and start a full-time position in personal line pricing with Economical Insurance, I think back to my internships that helped me get to where I am today. As many of you are preparing for your summer actuarial internships, I would like to share my internship experiences with you, and provide my tips on what to expect in your first actuarial internship and how to use the available resources around you.

I just finished my second actuarial P&C internship in corporate reserving with Northbridge Financial, a leading commercial P&C insurance management company in Canada. Above and beyond the regular monthly and quarterly reserving tasks of the intern student, I was also given the opportunity to be part of a few large projects, enriching my learning experience and giving me the chance to gain important technical skills. These opportunities really allow you to pick up the story behind the numbers and understand the numbers’ impact on the financial statement. My internship offered me an opportunity to glean the knowledge from my colleagues about the industry, something I truly value as I know this information will help me progress professionally.

If you are going to start your first actuarial internship in the summer, I think the biggest challenge is to quickly gain the working knowledge of the production process. Before you start, make sure that you really familiarize yourself with the company by doing extensive research on their website, even beyond the research you did to prepare for the interview. I would say having SAS and excel VBA knowledge would be useful as well; it is never too late to acquire certain programming knowledge.

On your first week, your team will definitely not give you the hardest work files for you to handle. Therefore, you can take the challenge to go through the excel production files and study the links and formulas. Check to see if there is documentation written by the previous interns or your colleagues stored on your computer. Take advantage of the resources within reach; often Google and Exam 5 materials could be your best friend. In addition, I suggest that you reach out to the most senior colleagues or the manager on your team to set up a daily meeting time to seek help and insights on the questions you have compiled. Pay extra attention in your weekly team meetings even though you may not understand a single word at the very beginning.

The first internship can really give you the chance to apply the knowledge you’ve obtained from your classes into the real world, and it is a milestone in your actuarial career. Working in the P&C industry is fun and challenging, and an internship will help you gain a better understanding of data both financially and statistically. I hope you can benefit from my tips this summer. Your upcoming internship experience will certainly be one of your most precious memories when you look back at your university career!

A friend in my actuarial classes absolutely loves talking about mortality and death. Not really my thing. I joke that that’s my motivation behind choosing property and casualty over life and health. But in all seriousness, there are several factors that contributed to my decision.

I am excited by the variety of opportunities within property and casualty actuarial work. The different lines of business, including auto, home, and workers compensation, all have their nuances. While they might share the same foundation, working across different lines of business offers variety and unique challenges. On a larger scale, I feel like I have a wide variety of roles from which to choose. There are more business-oriented roles that may work more closely with clients or underwriters, while there are also more technical roles that may focus on internal processes. I am certain that with all of these options, monotony will not be an issue.

Another motivation is the dynamic nature of the work. Property and casualty insurance is directly influenced by legislative activity, economic conditions, and consumer behavior trends – all of which are constantly changing. This presents actuaries with new challenges and opportunities for creative solutions.  New products are introduced to cater to changes in society. For example, there was no need for something like cyber liability insurance even fifteen years ago, yet now it is a very relevant risk for insurance companies to cover. Actuarial work continues to evolve with the times, which means I can rest assured that my work will continue to be relevant.

By choosing to be an actuary in the property and casualty field, I am choosing to continue learning. In order to keep up with the changes in the property and casualty insurance industry, an actuary can draw connections between current events and seek further understanding to learn how they impact actuarial work. I find this an especially exciting aspect of my career choice.  An actuary working with an insured oil company in North Dakota may have to study the oil extraction process of fracking while an actuary working with home insurance in Florida may need to learn more about the increasing trend of hurricanes.  Actuarial work presents the opportunity to broaden your knowledge base by learning about other topics. In addition, the CAS offers valuable continuing education opportunities to facilitate my desire to learn and grow. My experience in the casualty actuarial field has changed the way I view current events by recognizing risks and the impact on the insurance industry.

It’s one of my favorite questions to ask seasoned actuaries – why did you choose property and casualty insurance? Everyone has their own stories of paths taken and reasoning for their decision.  After deciding on the property and casualty route, I found it was the natural path to pursue CAS credentials for its well recognized and respected presence within the actuarial community. I am excited about my choice and to start my career in such a dynamic and interesting field.

One of the most important things to do when looking for an actuarial internship is to educate yourself about the actuarial career. Companies do not expect you to know how to go about a rate revision or know what a loss triangle is, however, you should be familiar with the admissions process (exams, VEE requirements, etc), the differences between SOA and CAS (the latter is the THE professional society for property and casualty actuaries), and a basic understanding of what actuaries do.

There are many places online where you can read about all of these things, and the more you know the better—for two reasons: one, because you will have a better understanding of the career path you are about to embark upon, and two, because you will be able to demonstrate your understanding of and interest in an actuarial career in an interview. It is also helpful to have an exam passed, though this is not a requirement for an internship at most firms. It is, however, a requirement almost anywhere for a full-time position, so it’s certainly not a bad idea to start thinking about exams.

Once you have a basic knowledge of the actuarial profession, now is the time to start looking at companies where you can intern. Career centers at your university are a great place to start. You can also look at local insurance and consulting companies’ websites for any job postings. Once you begin applying and are able to secure an interview, the next key action step is to diligently research the company and be familiar with their products and services and, as importantly, their company culture.

Once you accept an internship offer, be ready for an exciting and challenging experience. I use those two words because you will constantly be learning new things and challenging yourself through project work and other learning material, but if you are interested in the actuarial profession you will find it very exciting and interesting and will be eager to learn all of the new ideas coming your way. Remember that you can learn something from each experience; therefore, if you find yourself working on something seemingly uninteresting, you could be learning some new excel formulas or VBA code that you once did not know. The internship is a great opportunity to get your feet wet and begin your journey of constant learning and growth, so go in with an open mind and an eagerness to learn and you will greatly benefit from the experience!

James Wood is a senior at Bryant University. One online application, a phone screen, and in-person interview later, the actuarial major has been a part of the internship program for seven months at Hanover Insurance Group in Worcester, MA, one of the top 25 property and casualty insurers in the United States.

Like some of you, I entered college knowing that I wanted to become an actuary, but without a formal actuarial program at my school, the first step toward my actuarial career seemed like a crash course in independent research. Sure, I had read the general description of the profession, had a sense of where an actuary could work, and knew that there were exams involved, but as an undergraduate, I had a limited idea of the direction I wanted my career to take.

Persistent Googling, along with conversations with any and every actuary I could meet, helped to gradually paint a picture of the profession in general, and the property & casualty branch in specific. But some of these tools only went so far, and I couldn’t help but sense somewhat of a knowledge gap about the P&C actuarial profession.

It is precisely that void that the brand new CAS Student Central plans to fill, helping you bridge the gap between college and career. Whether you’re enrolled in a university with a full-fledged program, or, like I was, one of only a handful of actuarial hopefuls at your school, Student Central can be the stepping stone to your post-graduation path.

But what will signing up do for you? Access to members-only resources, such as study aids and skill-building tips, will help you gear up for your first few exams and prepare you as you apply for internships and full-time positions. Membership in Student Central will also serve as your exclusive library card to the CAS lending library, where you’ll be able to borrow required exam readings and other actuarial publications. And future webinars on topics such as effective study techniques, provided at no cost to members, will help you take your talents to the next level.

With CAS Student Central, much of the Googling that I had to do will be replaced by one centralized site. Still, the conversations that I had with actuaries proved invaluable as I set out on my career; in fact, one of them helped me land an internship, which eventually led to my current role in the Loss Reserving department of a major P&C insurance carrier.

Student Central certainly does not intend to replace those discussions. On the contrary, it aims to create more opportunities to connect and will serve as a facility for this kind of dialogue. From a collegiate standpoint, access to our online student community database will connect you with a larger population of students who are interested in a P&C actuarial career. Membership also provides access to the CAS online membership directory, allowing you to tap in to the constituency of CAS fellows and associates who, like me, are eager to help you map out your career.
And finally, joining Student Central will earn you invitations to networking events, where you’ll get a chance to meet casualty actuary professionals in your area and hear firsthand what being a P&C actuary is all about. These include exclusive student programming to be held at CAS meetings in your area.

Early engagement in the CAS has proved invaluable in these first few years of my career, and Student Central will help you take your first step in that direction. The volunteer opportunities that I have taken advantage of thus far have given me a big picture view of the CAS and the people who make it the premier P&C actuarial organization that it is. Perhaps most importantly, I have become a CAS University Liaison at my alma mater, facilitating the very conversations that helped me early on in my career.

Ultimately, CAS Student Central is what you make it. It’s a resource. It’s an opportunity. It’s a community. Come join me and the rest of the CAS as we place our focus on your future.

Adina Erdfarb is an Associate of the Casualty Actuarial Society (ACAS) and currently works as a Senior Actuarial Analyst at Chubb Group of Insurance Companies in Warren, NJ. She graduated from Yeshiva University with Bachelors of Arts in Mathematics and Economics, with a minor in Business & Management. Adina is an active volunteer within the CAS, including positions on the CAS Candidate Liaison Committee and the CAS Brand Implementation Task Force, and also serves as a CAS University Liaison to Yeshiva University.