Fresh Pension Examiner Interview Preparation Guide

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As a company they are fine but I do not think they can match my ambitions with the possible opportunities offered and now is a right time for me to move on.

Actuarial assistant is a helping hand to actuary; it plays a valuable support role to the actuary, assisting with the calculation of premium rates, policy liabilities and developing new products.

I have a good relationship with my boss; he/she is not the reason I'm looking to move.

I have been working in the insurance industry for some time, so I have become accustomed to handling criticism. I have one coworker in particular who has a real knack for pointing out minor mistakes, and I have learned to take it in stride and implement suggestions rather than fighting someone about it.

An actuarial report includes the future and current conditions of the fund, like in case of pension or insurance policy, it helps to decide whether it meets the need of people depending on it. For government organization, this actuarial report is available on public request, while, for privately managed fund, it might not be accessible to the public.

I've listened very carefully to what you've told me about the position and on that basis I'm confident that I could do the job as well as, if not better than, the others you have seen.

The job of pension’s actuary is to help pension’s providers to set the pension rates and craft retirement policies that minimize risk. They apply their skills to the creation and maintenance of sustainable retirement plans. Majority of the pension actuaries work in a pensions actuarial firms while others work in government bodies.

I see this as a long-term career move.

At the moment in five years time I can see myself progressing along my chosen path and currently I would like to progress into a managerial role. But, if in two to three year's time a better, more suitable opportunity shows itself, then I would give it my consideration. Actually I would like to have won the pools and be sitting on a boat drinking wine in the Med. (Humour can sometimes help.)

The role of the actuary in consulting firm varies, it may include

☛ Give investment advice
☛ Evaluating a company’s insurance program cost for the employees
☛ Can work for a labor union to evaluate and estimate what the new health plan provided would cost
☛ Giving evidence on how automobile insurance rates should be determined
☛ Testify in court about the loss of potential lifetime earnings by a person who has been disabled or killed in an accident
☛ Determining the future pension benefits based on the current value in divorce cases.

Actuarial life tables are statistical charts that provide detail about life expectancy in a given population.

One high-pressure situation we were in recently is that a business contacted us interested in setting up a policy for all their employees, totaling over 150 individuals. It was a huge potential case that would have brought in a lot of money for our organization. My boss encouraged everyone to dedicate a majority of their resources to landing this client. It required some late nights and working on the weekend to get everything together, but I managed to get through by talking everything out with my colleagues. Everyone else was going through the same thing, so it was easy to talk with my peers so that we could discuss trepidation or worries. It was really helpful to have people who understood precisely what I was going through, and we ended up landing the client in the end.

The main role of actuary analysts is to save companies money and time, by identifying the possible risk in investment. Apart from that they have to

☛ Identify an area of investment having a minimum risk factors
☛ Avoid the situation where the quantifiable risk is relatively low in terms of the potential gains
☛ To provide actual quantifiable estimates by creating complex financial models
☛ Providing rating or ranking of different investment opportunities based on the risks to the possible returns

Some people have said my natural enthusiasm is a weakness, but I found my administration skills were weak. However I have recognised this and come to terms with it. Consequently, it is no longer a major problem.

☛ What behavioural skills and attributes do these achievements suggest to you?
☛ How do the requirements of this role match with your current job and past experience?
☛ Are there any gaps in your experience?
☛ How can you address these gaps in preparation for the interview, eg special project work you have undertaken?
☛ Are there any activities which you undertake outside of work that could be relevant?
☛ What questions can I ask myself?
☛ What did you do?
☛ What did you say?
☛ What were you thinking?
☛ How did you overcome any problems?
☛ What did you learn from the experience?

☛ Why do you want this job, and what qualities do you think this job requires?
☛ Why do you want to work for this organisation?
☛ What can we offer you that your current organisation cannot?
☛ How long have you been looking for a new job?
☛ What sorts of jobs are you considering at the moment?
☛ What are your duties on a day-to-day basis?
☛ What was your greatest success and how did you achieve it?
☛ What has been your biggest failure?
☛ How do you handle criticism?
☛ How do you work with others?
☛ What are your strengths/weaknesses?
☛ Give me an example of when you took the initiative to solve a problem?
☛ What motivates you or what are your career goals?
☛ How did you get on with your last manager/colleagues?
☛ What proactive steps have you taken to make your workplace more efficient and productive? Specifically describe a policy, project or system you created or initiated.
☛ Describe a high-pressure situation you had to handle at work. Tell me what happened, who was involved and what you did in terms of problem solving.
☛ Some situations require us to express ideas or opinions in a very tactful and careful way. Tell me about a time when you were successful in this type of situation.

Once a coworker was trying to sign a prospective client. Our boss constantly had to check in with him to see what progress was being made, and the work simply was not getting done at the pace the boss wanted. There was a significant risk that we would lose this big client. I did not want to overstep any boundaries, but I offered to help my coworker with the research. I think my coworker was a little too prideful to outright ask for help, but I could tell he was grateful for the help, and we ended up splitting the commission when we landed the client.

I have never had any problems with the management expertise of my boss and as already mentioned he/she is not the reason I'm looking for another job.

Some of the common actuarial software used in industry are

☛ Milliman Acturial software solutions
☛ Moses
☛ GGY-AXIS
☛ Poly Systems
☛ Prophet
☛ PTS
☛ RMISWeb
☛ SAS
☛ TAS
☛ Towers Watson

☛ Flexibility in working hours: Actuary can have flexible working hours and can balance his professional commitments
☛ High Salaries: From beginning onwards, salary package are excellent, and in high paying jobs it is considered as one of them
☛ International Opportunities: There is no limitation to one country, it is applicable all over the world
☛ Central Role: Many companies and government institute are highly dependent on the research and result of the actuary. On the basis of their calculation, they take a decision whether to implement the new ideas or not
☛ Wide Scope: The area or field for actuary is wide, you can work in a specialist area like insurance, pensions, benefits, healthcare, investments and banking, etc.

Financial services firms want to know that you’ve done your research, and that you know how the company is developing and evolving.

“It sounds obvious, but few people really look into the role or the company and struggle to come up with something meaningful,” says Andrew Pullman, a former head of HR at Dresdner Bank and managing director of careers consultants People Risk Solutions. “The key is to come up with something current and interesting and then be able to turn the question around to the interviewer. I noticed you did this, can you tell me more about it?”

Before I started working at my last job, there was no referral program in place. They mostly relied on cold-calling to get new clients, so I recommended to my boss that we should offer incentives to current clients if they refer someone over to us. It took some convincing, but he agreed to try it out. We ended up getting a lot more business out of the system.

As a property or casualty actuary, responsibilities includes

☛ Conducting studies and analyzing of rates according to geographical area and type of insurance, such as homeowner rates or automobile rates
☛ Preparing materials or evidence that tells the changes in the rate for insurance is legitimate
☛ Developing plans for the company to enter a new line of insurance
☛ Conducting research on new statistical models and methods for estimating claims

To become a successful actuary, you must have a good hold on

☛ Calculus
☛ Linear Algebra
☛ Differential Equations
☛ Probability & Statistics
☛ Regression Analysis
☛ Time series Analysis
☛ Accounting
☛ Finance & Management
☛ Economics
☛ Computer science & communication

Skills required to become actuarial is

☛ Good understanding of statistics and math’s
☛ General knowledge of business and finance
☛ Basic knowledge of programming languages, statistical analysis programs, spreadsheets and databases
☛ Good communication skills which include preparing reports and giving presentation
☛ Good analytical and problem-solving skills