Looking for an actuarial job or internship? You’re in the right place!
Everyday, I’m helping people just like you to find their first actuarial internship or entry-level position. So, in this post I’ll go through the top 3 things you need to do to make sure you’re a competitive candidate for any position you apply to.
Let’s start with a quick overview of them first:
- Perfect your resume
- Use your network
- Expand your search
Each of these steps is a process in itself. And with such a competitive job market, it’s important that you dedicate sufficient time and energy to each one.
Perfect Your Resume
Your resume can make or break your career! If you already receive my “actuary job search tips” emails, then you’ve heard that before. If not, you can get them for free by signing up in the opt-in box at the end of this post (or at the side).
But I’m serious when I say that. Your resume is an employer’s first introduction to you. It’s the first time they’re ever seeing your name and your accomplishments.
You want to make this interaction good. Actually, you want to make it great!
If it’s not, then most employers will just skip it and move onto the next one. Remember, most open actuarial internships and entry-level positions have hundreds of candidates applying to them.
You need to stand out.
A good resume needs to show employers right up-front why you’re a good fit for the position. But how do you do that?
Well, for members of my Actuary Job Search Program, we put a Career Profile right at the top of their resume. It gives the employer an immediate and quick understanding of why they should read through your whole resume and consider interviewing you.
In addition to that, it’s also very important that the bullet points that you include for each of your past jobs show the employer how that past experience is relevant to the position you’re applying for.
Otherwise, the employer will be left thinking “OK, it’s great that you did that. But how can that help us?”.
It’s common for job candidates to say they “tutored students in mathematics” or “filed documents and paid bills”. But most employers won’t be able to quickly understand how that experience translates into relevant experience. You have to show them that!
There’s a lot to talk about on this subject, and I send out lots of helpful tips relating to it in my “actuary job search tips” emails, so make sure to sign up for those if you want lots of insider techniques for this.
Use Your Network
Did you know that many available jobs are not actually publicly advertised?
It could be because the hiring manager hasn’t been able to get the job posting and description ready yet; it could be because they don’t need someone urgently; or maybe they’d open up a full-time job or internship position if a stellar candidate came along.
That’s why you should not only spend your time applying to online postings. You also need to implement networking into your job-search strategy.
In my “actuary job search tips” emails, I often talk about how you can use your own personal network to open up doors, get interviews, and hopefully internship or job offers.
Your network is bigger than you think. Consider everyone. It could be:
- Parents
- Extended family
- Friends
- Past bosses or managers
- Prior co-workers
- Teammates, acquaintances, etc.
You know hundreds of people. They may be able to help you find the actuarial job or internship you’re looking for.
On top of that, there are thousands of people that you could connect with to grow your personal network. The more people you know, the easier it’ll be to the actuarial position that you want.
Expand Your Search
With such high competition in the actuarial field, it’s can be difficult to get a full-time job or internship when you have very little relevant experience.
This is especially true because, like I said earlier, almost every job posting will have 100+ candidates applying for it. Some of those candidates are bound to have decent experience, good exam progress, and great interview skills.
So, when this happens for members of the Actuary Job Search Program, we implement a “stepping-stone strategy”.
Essentially, this means that we’ll work with the member to find and apply to positions that are related to the actuarial career but that aren’t as competitive. I call these “stepping-stone positions”.
For example, this week in the program, everyone is looking for Data Analyst positions. A data analyst is responsible for collecting, organizing and analyzing large amounts of data to come to a conclusion and make decisions.
Fortunately, data analysts are beneficial in almost every industry, so there are many more job postings. And, the work that data analysts do is very similar to some of the tasks that actuaries do, so this experience would be extremely beneficial to add to their resume.
Have you considered expanding your search to positions that are related to the actuarial career?
I talk a lot about the types of positions that you could apply to and why they’re beneficial in my “actuary job search tips” emails, so make sure to sign up for them if you haven’t already. All you have to do is put your email address into the opt-in box at the bottom or right-hand side of this post.
Next Steps
If your job search is important to you, then do not go any further without implementing these 3 ideas into your job search.
- How will you perfect your resume to make sure that it gives the best first-impression possible?
- Who will you reach out to in your personal network to help drive your job search forward?
- What stepping-stone positions will you start looking into?
Finding your first actuarial job or internship can be difficult. Time and time again, I hear of people giving up on the actuarial career because they weren’t able to find a job. They sometimes blame exams, high competition, too few job opportunities, etc.
But if you’re dedicated to the actuarial career, you will get the career opportunities that you’ve been looking for. You just have to be patient, consistent, and relentless. Never give up. Just continue to take steps in the right direction.
And, as always, I’m here to help you! Make sure to sign up for my “actuary job search tips” so that you get insider techniques, tips and strategies for your job search every week. Just sign up using the opt-in box below (or to the right) of this post.