Actuarial Students at Illinois State University

Advice from Krzys' Ostaszewski for actuarial students preparing a resume

This represents ONLY Krzys' personal opinion

Your objective is to convince employers to spend valuable resources to hire and train you. Make the case for this being an investment. Show them that hiring you will bring your employer valuable benefits. Tell them what you can do, and prove your point by telling them what you have done.
Past employment history is one way of showing what you can do, and it should be listed in your resume, providing dates and responsibilities of the jobs.
Volunteer activities also show what you can do. Tell that story.
Think of other areas in which you showed your talents and abilities. What do you know about insurance and risk management? Can you write some programs? Can you do tricks with Excel? Can you write macros in Excel? Can you make effective presentations of quantitative ideas? Have you made any business decisions? Have you made any other important decisions -- and how did you manage making those decisions? Have you worked on a large project by yourself? Have you worked on a large project in a team?
You want an actuarial job. This means that you want to become an actuary. Only 17% of people who start taking actuarial examinations eventually complete them. Can you think of ways to indicate to your prospective employer that you are a part of that 17% and not a part of the 83%?
Marketing is important, but marketing is not everything. You are attempting to enter a very difficult field, and unless you have reasons to be audacious, don't be. If you do not have any actuarial examinations passed, do not state when you will pass them, but rather when you plan to take them (and even that is usually unnecessary -- plan to announce your exams when you pass them). You do not know when you will pass them. I have passed all exams, and I know that people who passed them all find such statements of certainty of passing from candiates who never took exams not just annoying, but clearly indicating that the candidate does not understand how difficult these exams are. Speak softly, and when you pass exams, that success will be your big stick.
Do not reveal your exam scores in your resume (unless you got a 10 on every one you took, or almost a 10). This invites comparisons, analysis, etc. If you had a bad day and barely passed by getting a 6, this is a sign of maturity, character, and determination. But nobody is going to know that from the score. Your exam scores are not public. You can and should keep it that way. There are certain things that a gentlelady or a gentleman does not reveal, at least not unless those things are revealed otherwise. Also, those times when you failed actuarial exams are not published, so do not advertise them either. On the other hand, the dates when you passed actuarial examinations are public, posted at the Society of Actuaries and the Casualty Actuarial Society web sites, and it does not make any sense to hide them. Yes, some employers perceive it as a negative if there is a long gap between the date when you passed the first exam and the time you passed the second exam. If this happens to you, make up for it with positives in other areas. You are not perfect. Neither are other job candidates. Strive to be the best person for the job. Seek excellence, not some unattainable perfection.
My opinion concerning being discrete with your personal information also includes your salary expectations. This is not to be revealed in your resume. In fact, I do not believe in revealing it ever. If your employer asks for salary expectations, find a polite way of not revealing them. If the employer insists, tell them that they put you in the position of having to name an unreasonably high figure and since they must have an acceptable range of salaries in their budget, such revelation would be counterproductive. If they still insist, your probably will not enjoy working there, but then name an unreasonably high figure, at least 50% more than what you are willing to accept. If they accept your offer, you will have at least one reason to enjoy your employment with that employer.

All information contained here is, to our best knowledge, correct, but it is merely a representation, and should not be considered to be any form of professional advice. This electronic publication should not be misconstrued as the official position of Illinois State University, or its Department of Mathematics. We are glad to provide as much information as possible here, but we kindly ask that in any decision related to matters listed here you seek additional counsel and information. Comments on this page are welcome and should be sent to Dr. Krzysztof Ostaszewski at his e-mail address: krzysio@ilstu.edu.