Yes, being an actuary actually interests me

Shelley, a Utah State graduate of 2008 (or somewhere around there) visited campus today to give a presentation on what actuaries do. She works for Milliman in Salt Lake, so she’s on the consulting side of actuarial life.

She provided a printed version of her slides, which I wrote on. Here are a few of the things that were of interest to me:

• A lot of what actuaries do is math, but there is a lot more business than she personally expected. Take seriously the business classes associated with your major.
• A few sites to look into:
• SOA.org
• CASACT.org (Shelley’s strength, as opposed to the SOA)
• ActuarialOutpost.com (message boards, info about exams, etc.)
• sites.google.com/site/slactuary/home (the Salt Lake actuary club, which meets about four times a year for a lunch and a speaker; good for networking, learning)
• Shelley got her ASA in four years.
• In the consulting branch of actuary life, you can expect to work longer hours, but there are great networking opportunities and client interaction. Also, research opportunities are in great abundance.
• In Utah, you generally have to go to Salt Lake City for actuarial jobs.
• When going in for an interview, do your homework.
• What does the company specialize in?
• Look for biographies of current employees and get to know their people.
• Don’t be afraid to ask questions during the interview.
• What is your typical day like?
• What kind of support do you get in studying for exams?
• Pay attention in your business classes because you need to know a lot about business.
• The #1 non-mathematical skill you need is communication.
• Writing skills are a must (technical writing is best).
• Know how to create graphs.
• Know Excel/Access/VBA.
• She uses Excel every single day. And other programs frequently.
• Be up-to-date on current events.
• The landscape changes every day. Know what laws are passed, how to give advice on them, etc.
• You can go to the state legislation website and see what bills are being discussed.
• The Future Actuary is a great publication for students who are taking the exams.
• Contingencies is another great publication, one you can probably get for free online.
• HealthCareTownHall.com is Milliman’s blog-ish thing on health care. Some of their actuaries write posts on there, so it’s good to check out.

She then went into some details about her company, Milliman, and some of the things they do (like milliman.com/mmi, which is their Milliman Medical Index—pretty cool). Overall, it was a very helpful experience. I think I probably asked ten times as many questions about becoming an actuary than everyone else combined. But she also gave us her card and said we could email her with more questions if we have any.