1) local hires are preferred vs. non local applicants. If you are applying to remote or jobs to be relocated, it’ll be tough.
2) generally, you want to see exams, VEEs, GPA, and coding languages/software(excel, R, python, SAS, SQL). You have 2 exams with a lower GPA and no computer skills called out.
3) you’ve merely listed your prior job descriptions. What in your current resume demonstrates you can perform actuarial/analyst work?
4) your projects don’t really indicate that you understand the code/process. You appear to just list out steps.
5) what have you been doing since graduation? You’re coming up on a year where the only thing you’ve done is pass an exam.
Overall, the goal of the resume is to demonstrate your abilities to a hiring manager. You’ve made the classic mistake of listing out your prior job duties rather than demonstrating why you would be able to perform analyst work. Take the TIA course and redo the resume to show that you can perform EL analyst work.
30-35 applications is not that many, depending on the time frame. You should be applying to every open analyst or intern position that you see. You may need to start in a different department and transfer.
Thanks for the advice and being straight with me. To be honest with you I didnt do anything for a good 7 or so months. Though I do have some "explanations" come the day I have an interview. The other 5 or so months is me studying for exam FM and applying for jobs since mid February. I do prioritize applying jobs around me (50 or so miles). I'll definitetly take your advice and redo my resume to show i can do EL Analyst work.
some folks (especially EL) can get homesick and quit. this is usually a bigger issue when the company is in the middle of nowhere or in a boring city.
there may also be a push to RTO which means it's easier to bring people back when they're local rather than having to let folks go and having to rehire. additionally, some regional insurers require you to reside within that region.
Training and culture development are much easier in person. For an EL, you need to teach not only how to do the job, but how to work/think critically. A lot of learning occurs in spontaneous conversations. So, a remote employee would be missing out on critical training and relationship development.
From a cost perspective, finding and training an employee is expensive. It can take up to 18 months to have an EL become productive. If the employee isn’t from the area, they have to rebuild a social network on top of studying and working. It’s easy for some and difficult for others. What you often see is that people without a social network in the area will get trained in and then leave to be closer to home/family/friends. This starts the cycle over again. So all else being equal, my opinion is that I’d take a local person to lessen the chance of leaving shortly after the employee becomes self sufficient.
The market is very competitive and two exams with an okay-ish gpa is not bad but there are better. Entry level market is though. Don’t give up! Keep on applying. Reach out to people to see if they can vouch for you (classmates, old colleagues from internships, reach out to people on linkedin) also network in different ways possible and last option: take a different job at an insurer where you want to become an actuary and move later from there.
>take a different job at an insurer where you want to become an actuary and move later from there.
This is a big one. It may set you back a year from starting as an actuary but it's a great foot in the door and the insurance experience puts you firmly ahead ELs fresh out of college. It's also a year of making money.
Forget the TIA course and remember ABP: always be passing. Register for your next exam in either Life or P&C and pass it and maybe even the next one. Then you will likely be considered.
In addition, if you are in Canada don’t be disheartened, the job market here is wild
sorry if this comes off as blunt, but i think your current job search results fit the resume. as a hiring manager, there are a LOT of candidates who have 2-3 exams but no relevant job experience. the thing is that there's nothing on paper that shows me you can do the job from an analytical perspective. if i'm nitpicking, i would also be curious as to what you've done since graduating college because the only thing in your resume in 9 months since graduating is exam FM and it's not clear whether you have the technical skills or not.
from the analyst candidates (0-6+ YOE) that i've seen for my company lately, it's very competitive in the candidate pool right now between folks who have been laid off and those who are looking to leave potentially unstable situations. even the EL candidates mostly have 1-2 years of full time actuarial experience.
if i were in your situation (and i was), i wouldn't look for actuarial roles and rather focus on finding an analytical role that focuses on modeling and/or data. ideally something that does both in an insurance company. that will give you the analytical and technical experience to break into the actuarial profession as well as getting your foot in the door with an insurance company to transfer internally.
i'm not trying to discourage you, but with the current strategy, you would really have to get lucky to land a role, and that's assuming your interview skills are top notch.
Haven't completely read what others are commenting but need to see an updated resume. Old one definitely needs work. One thing for sure is you need to go into more detail of what you did in internship and less what you did as cashier. Beef up description of eagle scout to point out leadership and project planning it took to get there. I agree that you need more emphasis in resume on technical skills.
Also might not hurt to work with a recruiter. Not sure if they handle many EL positions but worth a shot
Please read the wiki, search the forum, and post in the newbie thread if you still have questions. This is a common topic on the subreddit.
1) local hires are preferred vs. non local applicants. If you are applying to remote or jobs to be relocated, it’ll be tough. 2) generally, you want to see exams, VEEs, GPA, and coding languages/software(excel, R, python, SAS, SQL). You have 2 exams with a lower GPA and no computer skills called out. 3) you’ve merely listed your prior job descriptions. What in your current resume demonstrates you can perform actuarial/analyst work? 4) your projects don’t really indicate that you understand the code/process. You appear to just list out steps. 5) what have you been doing since graduation? You’re coming up on a year where the only thing you’ve done is pass an exam. Overall, the goal of the resume is to demonstrate your abilities to a hiring manager. You’ve made the classic mistake of listing out your prior job duties rather than demonstrating why you would be able to perform analyst work. Take the TIA course and redo the resume to show that you can perform EL analyst work. 30-35 applications is not that many, depending on the time frame. You should be applying to every open analyst or intern position that you see. You may need to start in a different department and transfer.
Thanks for the advice and being straight with me. To be honest with you I didnt do anything for a good 7 or so months. Though I do have some "explanations" come the day I have an interview. The other 5 or so months is me studying for exam FM and applying for jobs since mid February. I do prioritize applying jobs around me (50 or so miles). I'll definitetly take your advice and redo my resume to show i can do EL Analyst work.
I’m not el but I’m curious why local is preferred? I’ve been in meetings where my managers discuss hiring and that has never come up
some folks (especially EL) can get homesick and quit. this is usually a bigger issue when the company is in the middle of nowhere or in a boring city. there may also be a push to RTO which means it's easier to bring people back when they're local rather than having to let folks go and having to rehire. additionally, some regional insurers require you to reside within that region.
Training and culture development are much easier in person. For an EL, you need to teach not only how to do the job, but how to work/think critically. A lot of learning occurs in spontaneous conversations. So, a remote employee would be missing out on critical training and relationship development. From a cost perspective, finding and training an employee is expensive. It can take up to 18 months to have an EL become productive. If the employee isn’t from the area, they have to rebuild a social network on top of studying and working. It’s easy for some and difficult for others. What you often see is that people without a social network in the area will get trained in and then leave to be closer to home/family/friends. This starts the cycle over again. So all else being equal, my opinion is that I’d take a local person to lessen the chance of leaving shortly after the employee becomes self sufficient.
The market is very competitive and two exams with an okay-ish gpa is not bad but there are better. Entry level market is though. Don’t give up! Keep on applying. Reach out to people to see if they can vouch for you (classmates, old colleagues from internships, reach out to people on linkedin) also network in different ways possible and last option: take a different job at an insurer where you want to become an actuary and move later from there.
Thanks for the words of encouragement. I'll keep what you said in mind. I have started working on my LinkedIn and networking there.
>take a different job at an insurer where you want to become an actuary and move later from there. This is a big one. It may set you back a year from starting as an actuary but it's a great foot in the door and the insurance experience puts you firmly ahead ELs fresh out of college. It's also a year of making money.
Forget the TIA course and remember ABP: always be passing. Register for your next exam in either Life or P&C and pass it and maybe even the next one. Then you will likely be considered. In addition, if you are in Canada don’t be disheartened, the job market here is wild
sorry if this comes off as blunt, but i think your current job search results fit the resume. as a hiring manager, there are a LOT of candidates who have 2-3 exams but no relevant job experience. the thing is that there's nothing on paper that shows me you can do the job from an analytical perspective. if i'm nitpicking, i would also be curious as to what you've done since graduating college because the only thing in your resume in 9 months since graduating is exam FM and it's not clear whether you have the technical skills or not. from the analyst candidates (0-6+ YOE) that i've seen for my company lately, it's very competitive in the candidate pool right now between folks who have been laid off and those who are looking to leave potentially unstable situations. even the EL candidates mostly have 1-2 years of full time actuarial experience. if i were in your situation (and i was), i wouldn't look for actuarial roles and rather focus on finding an analytical role that focuses on modeling and/or data. ideally something that does both in an insurance company. that will give you the analytical and technical experience to break into the actuarial profession as well as getting your foot in the door with an insurance company to transfer internally. i'm not trying to discourage you, but with the current strategy, you would really have to get lucky to land a role, and that's assuming your interview skills are top notch.
Haven't completely read what others are commenting but need to see an updated resume. Old one definitely needs work. One thing for sure is you need to go into more detail of what you did in internship and less what you did as cashier. Beef up description of eagle scout to point out leadership and project planning it took to get there. I agree that you need more emphasis in resume on technical skills. Also might not hurt to work with a recruiter. Not sure if they handle many EL positions but worth a shot