Once you land an actuarial role, you're typically set for life, especially if you keep passing exams to become an ASA/ACAS/FSA/FCAS and continue learning and developing your actuarial skills. The actuarial designation, along with a few years of actuarial experience, makes a huge difference - every day, I see multiple roles pop up in my LinkedIn feed looking for actuaries with 5+ years of experience and at least ASA/ACAS.

All you have to do to one day land that coveted role is pass a few exams (I may have a pretty loose definition of 'few') and land an entry-level actuarial role to begin your journey. Easy right?! Not in an oversaturated entry-level actuarial job market! Many recruiters won't work with entry-level candidates for this reason, so it's even more important to make sure you are doing everything you can to stand out from other actuarial candidates. 

The first step toward standing out is having a great resume that is able to showcase your qualifications while also being easy to follow and aesthetically pleasing (if you haven't yet, check out my blog post with some great tips for actuarial resumes!).The second step toward standing out is using your resume to differentiate yourself from other candidates. This is really important since a lot of candidates have similar qualifications!

If you have at least one exam passed, a couple of solid technical skills (definitely excel and then some experience using SAS, SQL, R, or VBA), a decent GPA (3.0+), a well-formatted resume with some work experience (doesn't need to be actuarial) and differentiating experiences, you can get an entry-level actuarial interview. 

Your resume does not need to scream 'MATH' in order to get you an entry-level actuarial interview. In fact, I advise against everything on your resume being math/stats/actuarial related - it may be impressive, but it's boring! Make sure your qualifications are on your resume and then include some of your unique experiences to help showcase other important skills such as communication skills, critical thinking, passion, leadership and teamwork. I'll provide some example experiences that can showcase these skills, but of course, this is not an exhaustive list! 

For education related experiences, it's probably best to keep those under 'Education'. Extracurriculars can probably go into a 'Leadership Experience' section or 'Volunteer Experience' section. If you did an independent project, you might want to add it under 'Education' or 'Skills & Interests'. For some differentiating experiences, try to come up with 2-3 bullets that show how the experience demonstrates that you possess some of the five skills below. There are some interests/hobbies that may be better being grouped with a couple of other interests on one line. For example, Mountain Climbing is an experience that could either be two bullets showing important qualities or part of a list. If you are in a mountain climbing club and travel regularly with others to certain areas for intense climbs, you could incorporate that into two bullets to show a variety of skills:

• Train with team members weekly for bi-monthly rock climbing trips of varying difficulty. (Passion)
• Strategically climb peaks while quickly evaluating the safest path to the top, assisting team members as necessary. (Critical Thinking, Teamwork)

If you enjoy mountain climbing but don't do it often, it should go on an interest line with 3-4 other interests (Interests: Mountain Climbing, Traveling, Photography, Blogging). For the record, I know nothing about mountain climbing. 

If you had two identical resumes, with the only difference being Mountain Climbing Club on one versus Math Club on the other, and could only interview one person, who would you choose? Interviewers are in this position all the time - make it an easy choice for them to choose your resume! 

Having the right communication skills are SO important in an entry-level position, especially if you are applying for a role in a division that works closely with clients or employees in different divisions, such as underwriting or claims. It's important to make sure someone looking at your resume can clearly see you have the communication skills they are looking for. Here are some ways you can differentiate yourself while showing you have this important skill:

• Volunteer for community outreach at your favorite non-profit organization
• Become an events coordinator/secretary for a college organization you are passionate about
• Cold-call to raise money for your college/non-profit organization (this helped my verbal communication skills tremendously!)
• Participate in college case competitions (these will be helpful if you want to go into actuarial consulting) 
• Enroll in a writing/communication elective course or major in a communications-related field
• Start your own blog about something you are passionate about (keep it professional, though!)
• Start your own business (be careful with this, you want to make sure it's not seen as a conflict of interest!)

As an actuary, you will need to be a good problem solver and able to quickly think through solutions or other work-related tasks. It's important to show you are able to think quickly on your feet and pick things up on the fly - there is a lot of on the job learning as an actuary! There are a lot of ways you can show your critical thinking skills outside of the math bubble:

• Study abroad or volunteer abroad (bonus points if you learn a foreign language)
• Play a musical instrument
• Attend Improv/theatre classes
• Blog (specifically if your are blogging about different technical skills)
• Play sports or other physical activities that require you to think on your feet
• Develop your own model to predict game outcomes for fantasy sports (or regular sports)

Leadership comes in all different forms - you can show leadership through a variety of different experiences. Sometimes, leadership can be shown just by pursuing a hobby or activity you are interested in. For example, if you are really passionate about animals and begin volunteering at an animal shelter and then pick up a role where you are posting on social media to help get animals adopted or community outreach, that definitely shows leadership. Here are some other examples:

• You can mentor underclassmen or high school students
• Join the board of a college organization or get involved in committees
• Take on and lead an independent project (kaggle competitions are pretty cool and a good way to gain a better understanding of data science)
• Become a captain of an intramural sports team 
• Lead a volunteer project 

Being able to work well with others on a team is an important skill to have as you enter the job force. Employers want a team player - someone who can work on projects with others and help  out when necessary without any issue. A lot of the activities listed above can also show you are able to work well with others on a team. Here are a few more:

• ​Join a team to compete in a college competition - many colleges have competitions throughout the year across a variety of interests
• If you loved playing a sport in high school, continue playing in college - you could play for the college, intramural or join a local recreational sports team
• If you are part of a board or committee, you can also show you work well on a team, especially if you are working with others to put processes together or create events

A lot of students make the mistake of thinking that everything they do in college should reflect that they want to be an actuary - math related major, math related clubs, math related work experience, etc. That's not true at all! Remember, there's more to work than just work - there are going to be happy hours where you need to interact with other human beings, so if you have interests you pursue outside of the realm of math, it will make you much more interesting to your fellow coworkers and make for great relationships with those you work with. This list is truly endless, but here are some ideas to consider:

• Don't be afraid to pursue a major outside of math/actuarial science if you have another subject you are passionate about (passing the first couple of actuarial exams will prove you are good at math) or double major in a math related course and a non-math related course
• Volunteer/fundraise for a cause you are passionate about
• Become involved and active in an organization regularly

Anything you do outside of studying for exams and math-related classes/organizations/work can show you have passions and interests outside of your career which will help differentiate you from other candidates. This will also have a great impact during your interview since you will be able to spend a few minutes talking about something you do that you are really passionate about!

When it came to getting ready to apply for a full-time job, NYU Stern had me covered. During my time at school, I had the opportunity to attend countless resume workshops and had my resume reviewed by multiple professors. I learned the importance of having a dynamic resume during freshman year and I've spent countless hours modifying the content and format of my own resume. I'm hoping this post can help anyone looking for an entry-level actuarial job and give some great tips to enhance resumes to help them stand out.

I've seen TONS of resumes and it's easy to tell how much time someone has spent on their resume by looking at the format. I've seen numerous college graduates use the same format I used to get a job at a movie theater when I was 16 (it took me about 15 minutes to type up my first resume). You should spend as much time on the format of your resume as the content (A LOT more than just 15 minutes). A resume represents you; you want to show you've put time into creating it. The following tips should help create an eye-catching resume that will make HR recruiters pause and give your resume the time it deserves.

Separate Sections.  You should be able to look at your resume and in an instant be able to gather key information (where you went to school, which exams you've passed, past employers, technical skills, etc.). You cannot do this without distinct sections. My favorite way to separate sections (education, actuarial exams, job experience, etc.) is using a horizontal rule.

Spacing.  Feel free to play around with spacing. If you feel like you do not have enough room on your resume (it should be no longer than a page), even after changing the font size to 9 and changing the margins, try to change the spacing between each section. Maybe you want a bigger space between the main sections (work experience, education, etc.) and a smaller space between the other sections (jobs, clubs/activities, etc.).

Bold/Italicize.  Use bolded or italicized text to help break down your resume further and draw attention to specific areas within your resume.

Indentations.  Play around with indentations to help differentiate titles from text. Bullet points for text also helps!

Order.  Order your resume in a way that will help employers find what they are looking for. The order will change throughout your career, but when you are starting off and looking for your first job out of school, I would make sure education is at the top, followed by actuarial exams and work experience.

Consistency.  Everything on your resume should be consistent. If you bold titles in one section, you need to make sure to bold them in another. The same goes for any other formatting changes. It's easy to spot inconsistencies in formatting and it may show an employer you are careless. 

Lastly, I recommend Googling 'resume formats'. Using a cookie cutter template off the internet isn't the greatest idea since other people may have the same thought, but take a look at other resumes to get ideas for what you like and don't like. You may like how one resume separates the main sections, but you may like how another lays out the text under each section. Make your resume your own and build off of what you like from other resumes!

Formatting your resume is the fun part; coming up with what you are going to put in your resume is the hard part. Here are some tips to help you get that call for an interview.

Action Verbs.  Try to begin each bullet of text with an action verb. 

Applicable Skills.  Maybe you have no actuarial (or insurance) experience. If that's the case, think of everything you've done in your past positions and try to shape them into something applicable to actuarial work. Maybe you worked at a fast food restaurant during college. Did you try to improve processes? Did you work well with customers? Anything can be applicable to a resume for an actuarial position, you just may have to dig a little deeper to find those relatable skills. 

Numbers.  If you want to be an actuary and work with numbers the rest of your life, you should try to show that in your resume by being focused on quantitative measurements. Think of everything you've done in your past roles and try to quantify what you can. Maybe you taught classes or tutored students. How many did you teach/tutor? How many sessions?

Keywords.  After doing some research on the actuarial industry, you should have a good idea of what employers are looking for. Cater your resume to common job requirements. Maybe they want someone with great communication skills - try to use keywords that show that. For example, a good keyword may be 'collaboration'. 

Differentiate Yourself.  Everyone applying for these positions most likely majored in math or actuarial science, passed an exam or two and has at least some programming skills. What makes you different? What would make you add value beyond the day to day grind of work? Maybe you're really passionate about animals and volunteer a lot. Add that to your resume! If you don't think it fits, maybe try to make a new section in your resume for volunteer experience. It helps to show you're a human and have interests outside of studying all the time. 

Limit Past Experience.  No need to keep your high school on your resume for your first full-time job. For entry-level, I would take off anything over 5 years old unless there is something that will really 'wow' a prospective employer.

Actuarial Exams.  Make sure to include these on your resume! No need to include the scores, just a pass is fine. They have their own section on my resume, but I think including actuarial exams with relevant skills could also be a great way to present this on a resume. Don't forget the date passed!

Proofread.  Make sure to proofread your resume after making any significant changes. Actuarial work requires precision and accuracy - all it takes is missing a comma or zero to potentially make a big mistake. If a prospective employer notices an error on your resume, no matter how small, it could go in the trash immediately. Have someone else go through your resume, too, to make sure everything makes sense.

The main thing to keep in mind while you're thinking of what to put in your resume is how a prospective employer might react after reading it. If you think they will read it and it won't matter, either take it out or change it to better suit what you are trying to convey. Everything you write in your resume should have a purpose. You shouldn't just add information because you feel like it needs to be there, you should add it because it will help your chances of getting a call for an interview.