It's March already! Before we know it, a quarter of 2018 will be history. And it brings high school (and college!) seniors a little closer to graduation!

I've gotten a few emails over the last couple of weeks asking for advice on whether an actuarial career or career in data analytics would be a better career path/better course of study. My short answer, and probably an answer no one wants to hear - you can't go wrong with either. My detailed answer is below if you keep reading!

Before making this decision, it is so important to understand yourself. What is your passion as it relates to a future career? What type of projects do you enjoy working on? Are you a very disciplined person? What factors motivate and drive you?

Well, guess what? If you like problem solving and critical thinking - you can't go wrong with either! Similarly, if you like coding and learning how to develop solutions using code, again, either choice would be great! Problem solving and critical thinking is part of the day-to-day job responsibilities whether you are an analytics professional or actuarial professional and there is quite a bit of overlap in the technical skills you'll need to have.

If taking exams isn't your strong suit, it might be worth reconsidering the actuarial career path. Exams are a HUGE part of being an actuary. They say you have to study 100 hours for each hour of the exam. So that's easily at least 300 hours per exam minimum (more in my personal experience). Are you going to have the discipline to follow a rigid study schedule in order to get through 10 exams (assuming the FCAS track)? If you end up failing an exam, will you be able to continue to stay motivated in order to pass the next exams?

If having letters after your name from an established, world renowned organization is important to you, then following the actuarial career path may be a good fit for you. This also helps set you apart from many other non-credentialed professionals. I do have to say, the feeling of seeing that "PASS" message on my three CBT exams was probably one of the best feelings I've ever had. To work so hard to achieve something and get the results you're looking for is incredible. 

A career in analytics will allow you to do similar work as an actuary, without the added stress of all of the studying. Sure, you won't get nice bonuses and raises for each exam you pass, but if you start your career at a great company and do well, you should be just as fine. Following a career in analytics may also be good if you enjoy variety in the work you do and don't want to limit yourself to a specific industry. In many cases, as an actuary you will mainly be working in the insurance industry - there are some positions out there outside of insurance, but they aren't as common. If you want to be doing cool analytics or models for a big name, like Google, Coca Cola, Netflix, or NBC, analytics would be the way to go. 

(Shoutout to my favorite student loan paying app, Giving, use code SB346381 to join!)
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Student loans won't pay themselves.. isn't that the truth?!? Between student loans and the cost of living in some major cities, it's understandable why salary would also be a key component of this decision. I just grabbed a quick comparison from glassdoor below, but I highly encourage you to do your own research based on some of the entry level positions you're seeing in your area. You may also want to throw data scientist into the mix if that's the path you're looking to pursue. 

In my opinion, I wouldn't be too concerned with the salaries (or job security for that matter) for either analytics or actuarial roles since they're pretty similar. I definitely wouldn't allow that to be a deciding factor in your career choice, but it is something to be aware of as you are choosing your line of work. Given the nature of actuarial and analytics work, there will continue to be a demand over the coming years. If you're worried about future job security, then I would be careful to choose a solid company and become an expert in your field sooner rather than later.

If you keep going back and forth between pursuing an actuarial career or a career in analytics, my advice would be to start with the actuarial career path for a couple of reasons. 

This may not be true for everyone, but the longer you are out of school/university, the more you lose in terms of your study habits and routines, making it more difficult to get back into the swing of things. If you start studying (and passing!) actuarial exams during college, you'll be off to a really great start and have a solid foundation as you continue through the exam track as you're working full-time.

I've always had so many positive things to say to career changers interested in pursuing an actuarial career later on in their life, but the truth is it is HARD. It's definitely possible and there are a lot of successful career changers who have gotten great jobs in the field, but it's much easier to secure a role earlier on in your career. 

To pursue a career in analytics after trying out the actuarial path will be a lot easier since there are so many analytics careers out there and a lot of the work you do as an actuary - especially coding in Python, SAS, R, etc. - will be 100% relevant to many analytics jobs out there. It will always be more challenging to flip from analytics to actuarial due to the large number of qualified actuarial candidates at the earlier stages of the career.  

After putting hours of work into creating the "perfect" resume, you hear back from one of your potential employers - they want you to come in for an interview! Congrats! 

At this point, the potential employer likes what they see - if you had no shot, they wouldn't be calling you in for an interview! Now, it's up to you to make a great impression during the interview to land the job. 

While this post is focused on how to stand out in an actuarial interview, the same can go for many other types of interviews, too. Follow the tips in this post in order to go above and beyond so you can have a competitive edge in your interview!

Do not EVER go into an interview without researching the position and company further! Most importantly, you do not want to talk about passing SOA exams when the company you are interviewing with is a property & casualty insurance company! This happens! Don't let it happen to you - make sure you know before going into the interview. 

You should at least know the basics - know what industry the company operates in, lines of business, and other basics. The company website, job posting and a basic google search can give you the information you need about the company.

Do some digging! Can you find any recent news articles featuring the company or the business unit with the job posting? The company website and social media for the company can help you find this relevant information. In both of my full-time positions since graduating, I brought up news articles in the interviews. It's important to do your due diligence and to make sure you can show what you know at the appropriate times.

​For example, if you find an article saying the business unit recently won an award for innovation, don't just blurt it out! Find a way to naturally bring it up in conversation or create a question based around it - "I saw this business unit won an award this last year for innovation regarding XYZ - I would love to hear more on how your team is able to continue innovating and staying competitive in the market." You may also find a new product or service the hiring business unit is offering - leverage that information in your interview to show you are interested in the work the group is currently doing and show you are aware of at least one of the things they are working on. 

Anything on your resume is fair game. Make sure you can speak to anything listed on your resume - you don't want to be caught off guard by a question. At this point, once you're called in for an interview - it's not in your best interest to send a revised resume with information omitted. If it's been a while since submitting your resume and the interview, feel free to send a revised resume with more recent information, but still be prepared to answer to any of the information from the original resume you submitted.

If you have a few years of experience, it's possible you may not remember a lot from something you listed on your resume from your first year. Make sure you are able to put together a few sentences to discuss those points since they won't be as fresh in your mind. 

For your technical skills, take quick crash courses on the basics and applications for the skills. For example, if you list SAS, SQL and R on your resume and you are most familiar with R but have basic experience using SAS and SQL, spend a few hours learning about the basics of SAS and SQL and how they are applied. Find out what the necessary building blocks are to create code and try to find some examples of applications in the insurance industry.

This could be useful for some potential questions you may be asked in an interview and some of your answers. Instead of just saying you know the basics of SQL, you could say you know how to use joins to combine data or pull from multiple databases using the same criteria. Make sure you are familiar with the different types of joins and can elaborate on any of your answers if necessary. If you are familiar with the concepts and can walk through your reasoning on how you would perform a process in any of the programs (VBA, R, SAS, SQL, etc.), this is gold for the interview!

Make sure you know what the job posting is asking for in terms of requirements and the job description. If you are applying to multiple jobs at once, it helps to keep a spreadsheet or another method to keep track of job postings you are applying for. The last thing you want to do is ask the person who called or emailed you to remind you of what position you applied for! 

Going into the interview, you should have an understanding of the skills or experience the hiring manager is looking for, so make sure you know the areas of your resume to highlight to show that you are a qualified candidate.

Perform a full integration between the job posting and your resume. Create a table in Excel or Word and add each point from the job posting on the left and anything that is relevant from your resume on the right. If you do not have an experience that fully correlates with one of the points, find a skill you have that could help you perform that duty. 

Once you've done this, you know what you should focus on from your resume when you are preparing for the interview. You don't want to sound too rehearsed, but there's nothing wrong with saying something along the lines of, "When I saw this job posting, I was really excited to see XYZ in the job description. In my current role, I've not only had the opportunity to work on a similar project/process, but I've been able to refine the process through my knowledge of ABC. I'd be really excited to work through this process on this team and see if there are ways to make it more efficient!". You wouldn't want to do this for every point in the job description, but doing this for a couple of points can show you are really interested in the position and have ideas you can bring to the team to improve workflows.

Don't ever go into an interview without any questions! You also don't want to go in with a limited set of questions that are answered throughout the interview. The questions you ask at the end of an interview are 100% in your control - don't be the person who answers, "No, I think you answered all of the questions I have at the moment." You also don't want to be put on the spot scrambling for questions to ask. 

If you have at least five questions to ask going into an interview, you should be set. There are also tons of articles out there that can help you out if you're stuck. This Actuarial Outpost thread has a couple of good ideas... but there are a few horrible ones mixed in, so just don't be that guy/girl that tries to fit "body bag" into the interview somewhere. This is another good AO thread with slightly less sarcasm (I mean, the second comment in the first thread listed was already sarcastic, so I guess can't get much more sarcastic than that) and more comments. 

For bigger companies, it's pretty easy to find information on company culture from sites like Glassdoor. You can also find one or two people to reach out to on Linkedin to get a more candid view on the company, work, etc. Typically, if you are pleasant when you are reaching out and mindful of their time, people who work at the company will get back to you and be happy to answer your questions and tell you more about the company culture. In some cases, this may be the better route to really find out about the company culture instead of asking your interviewer.

Since you can find out about the company culture elsewhere, use the time for questions to ask thoughtful questions about the department and position. Don't be boring and ask the standard "what does the career path look like for someone who starts in this position" or "what type of skills would make a future candidate successful". Instead, set yourself apart by asking thoughtful questions such as "what are some of the metrics used to evaluate the results of this team in terms of annual and longterm goals" or "how does the work of this team affect the bottom line". Don't be afraid to ask follow up questions, too. You may want to follow up one of the questions by asking whether or not the team is on track to meet their goals and the impact someone coming in to fill this position could have on meeting these goals. If you are confident enough to run with it and the conversation is going well, you may even be able to tie in some of your skills to show you are quick on your feet and you'd be able to work through problems and develop solutions on the job.

This shouldn't come as a surprise - practice is essential to acing an interview! If you are still in university, check to see if you can sign up for a mock interview at your career services center. If you aren't able to practice interviewing with another person, at least make sure you are speaking out loud. You could even record yourself answering questions and see if what you are saying is making sense or if you unknowingly use filler words to break a silence or end a statement. This is even more important if English isn't your first language.

You want to make sure you are getting your points across in a concise manner. Don't ramble, but at the same time, you don't want to leave out important information. You also don't want to practice in a way that will make you sound too rehearsed in an interview. The point of practicing is making sure you are able to speak on all of the points you need to cover without rambling or using filler words.

It's the easiest to ramble when an interview asks the "tell me about yourself question" or "why are you here". The Muse has a short video to help you answer this question in a clear and concise manner. This is a gimme question - I've been asked this question on almost all of my interviews, so make sure you have a solid answer!

This list of actuarial interview questions is a pretty comprehensive list and a great start to practicing potential interview questions. Using these questions, along with the list you made based on the job description and resume, practice answering these questions using the experience and skills that will clearly display the traits the interviewer is looking for. Try to keep each answer to only a few sentences. So for example, if the interviewer were to ask you for a time you went above and beyond, you would want to make sure to use an example that is relatable to a point in the job description. 

With some creativity, you should be able to tie back a lot of your experiences and skills to what the interviewer is looking for in a candidate based on the job description. Practicing out loud will help you refine your answers and help you work through how to display your answers in a way that will make you irresistible to your potential employer!

If you have any experiences you are really passionate about, volunteer work for example, practice how you would broach that subject and how you can relate that to the skills the interviewer is looking for. This is important because in most cases, these extracurriculars are experiences you are passionate about and the passion can come off as enthusiasm while also making you (and even the interviewer) more comfortable. 

Landing an actuarial position isn't easy, especially when actuary has been a top ranked job for years. Some may argue it's more difficult than passing the exams! In my opinion, networking and reaching out to professionals is important no matter what level you are at in your career, but it's especially important when you are beginning your career. You never know - networking may lead to an interview, or even better, a job!

Follow the steps below to help build your network and get noticed in the actuarial crowd!

Prior to stepping up your networking game, make sure your resume is top notch! If you are looking for an entry level actuarial position, your resume should not be more than a page. There shouldn't be any typos and your resume should be consistent. For some tips on formatting and content, check out Resume Advice (for aspiring actuaries). Even if you're not actively looking for a position, it never hurts to have an updated resume ready in case someone is interested in your background!

LinkedIn is perfect for showcasing your skills and experience! Use your resume to help get your LinkedIn profile started and then expand upon your experience whenever you can. Unlike your resume, you're not limited by space and you should use LinkedIn to really articulate what you've done in past roles or in college. If you were the president of a club, add it to your LinkedIn and describe your impact on that organization. Over time, your resume will change as you decide to remove older items to make space for more relevant experience. You don't need to do that for your LinkedIn - you can always keep expanding on your experience and achievements! 

If you have a few sentences summarizing your experience and what you can offer in the summary section, along with a few bullets for each position you've held, you're off to a great start. There are tons of recruiters who use LinkedIn daily to find potential candidates to interview - it starts with having an all-star LinkedIn profile!

There are a lot of different ways to network, so I will break this section into different parts from least stressful to most stressful (in my opinion). 

Once you've worked on building your network, try to share an article or insight at least once a week through LinkedIn. Sign up for alerts from Insurance Journal or other related sites so you are keeping up with industry news. Don't just share a post or article - try to add a sentence or two on why you are sharing it. What compelled you to repost? Is it something you're interested in learning more about? You never know who will see these posts - one post might catch the attention of a hiring manager looking for someone with specific interests and skillsets. Even if posting articles doesn't get you a job, it might lead to discussions with experienced professionals, helping to build meaningful connections in the industry. 

Even though LinkedIn is definitely the best network for professional networking, you never know who you might find through other social media platforms. Look up common hashtags, such as #actuarialscience, #actuarialexams, and #actuarylife and see who's posting with these hashtags. If you share any interests based on their posts, send them a message to find out more about what they do and what they're interested in. It could be as easy as asking what exam they are currently studying for! 

Prior to connecting with recruiters on LinkedIn, make sure you are sharing your job interests with recruiters. This will let recruiters know you are open to positions and let them know you are interested in receiving messages regarding new job opportunities. Once you've shared your interests, begin searching for recruiters. These can be both actuarial recruiters at recruiting agencies or HR recruiters for specific companies. Usually, recruiters are happy to connect. Prior to sending a message to a HR recruiter - check to see if there are any open positions at that company.  Use that information, or information on why you may be interested in that company, to send a short, personalized message expressing interest and seeing if it would be possible to set up a time to speak about the position. Do NOT use a generic email for every recruiter. You are far more likely to get a response if the person on the other end sees that you put some thought into your message.

If you find yourself in a position where you need to start sending out emails to professionals, make sure you are sending a personalized message rather than a generic message that could've been sent to anyone. The message doesn't need to be long - in fact some professionals probably prefer shorter emails. Find some common ground, show your interest in their work and set up a time to speak further about what they do or see if they would be interested in answering questions. It's possible the person you are reaching out to may have no control over hiring, but they could put in a good word for you if you have a good discussion. 

Prior to hitting send, review your email/message. Make sure the name is correct. A few weeks ago, I received a message through LinkedIn addressed to the wrong person. Seconds later, the same message with the name changed. That's another reason why you shouldn't use a generic copy/paste email when cold emailing!