Questions to Ask an Actuary
For a student or career changer who gets time with a working actuary, over coffee, on a job shadow, at a career panel or for a class report. The list starts with the job itself, then moves to the exams and how people fit study around work, the practice areas and kinds of employer, pay and promotion, and what they would change looking back. Exam routes, salaries and employer support differ by country and company, so many of the questions ask how it works where they are.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The job
What do you do as an actuary, in words a friend outside the field would understand?
Why ask it
Start here, because a title like pricing actuary or valuation actuary means little until someone unpacks it. A clear reply usually names a decision somebody else makes with their numbers: a premium, a reserve, the amount an employer pays into a pension plan. If it stays abstract, ask what they handed over last week and who received it.
What does a typical day look like for you, and how close was yesterday to it?
Why ask it
A typical day on its own tends to come out sounding like a job posting, so the second half does the work. Yesterday had a particular file, a particular meeting and probably an interruption. Keep a rough tally of time in spreadsheets or code, in meetings and in writing: that split describes the job better than the title does.
How did you first hear about actuarial work, and what made you choose it?
Why ask it
This is a career people tend to hear about late, from a teacher, a relative or a list of jobs for people who like math. How they found it shows which doors exist. If they nearly chose something else, ask what tipped the decision.
What do you enjoy most about being an actuary?
Why ask it
People who like the job tend to name something particular: the puzzle of an odd result, a product they priced going on sale, the day two sets of figures finally agree. Set it beside what you enjoy in your own coursework or current job. 'The stability' or 'the pay' is an honest reply too, and it tells you what keeps them there.
How much of your week is building or running models, and how much is explaining the results to people?
Why ask it
The math is what students picture, and the explaining is the part that tends to grow with seniority. If half their week is conversations with underwriters, finance staff or clients, ask when that shift happened. You will learn whether the quiet technical years are a phase or the whole career.
What does a first-year analyst do where you work?
Why ask it
This is the job you would be applying for, and it may look little like the one they have now. Replies often involve updating existing models, checking data and preparing exhibits for someone senior to review, though it differs by employer. The detail worth having is how long it takes before a new analyst is trusted with a piece of work from start to finish.
How much judgment goes into your work, and where does the data run out?
Why ask it
Outsiders assume the answers fall out of formulas. Ask for one assumption they had to pick recently and how they defended it to a reviewer. If that story holds your attention more than the arithmetic would, the work may suit you.
What do you work in most: spreadsheets, code or a vendor's actuarial software?
Why ask it
Write the names down, then find out which one they would learn first as a student today. That hands you something to practice before you apply. Tools differ by employer and by line of business, so one person's list is one data point.
How much of the math from your degree and the exams do you use at your desk?
Why ask it
Expect some version of 'less than you would think, and not in the way you would think'. The better follow-up is which ideas they lean on daily: probability, discounting, or a trained sense of whether a figure looks reasonable. Those are the ones to understand and not merely pass.
What does a busy stretch look like for you, and what sets the calendar?
Why ask it
Year-end reporting, renewal seasons and client deadlines each make a different rhythm, and which one applies depends on their area. Get a count of heavy weeks in a year. Then find out whether those weeks ever land on top of an exam sitting.
What part of the job is tedious, and how much of it is there?
Why ask it
Cleaning data, tying one system's totals to another's and documenting changes are the usual suspects. The amount matters more than the fact of it, so a rough share of the week is the thing to get. It also helps to know whether it shrinks with seniority or is simply passed down to the newest analyst.
When did one of your estimates last turn out wrong, and what happened next?
Why ask it
Estimates of the future miss, and the profession has routines for that. A thoughtful reply separates a mistake in the work from a reasonable estimate that events overtook. How calmly they tell it says something about the place they work.
How has the work changed since you started, and what do you expect automation or machine learning to change next?
Why ask it
Someone with many years in the field has watched routine calculation move into software. Listen for what they think stays with people: choosing assumptions, judging results, explaining them. It is one forecast, so put the same question to a second actuary and compare.
What do people most often get wrong about what actuaries do?
Why ask it
Handy for a class assignment, since the reply makes a good opening line for a report. The usual candidates are that it is all math, that it is a kind of accounting, or that it begins and ends with life insurance tables. Their pick tells you which part of the job they wish people saw.
Exams
Which actuarial society's exams did you take, and how far along were you when you were first hired?
Why ask it
The route depends on the country and the society, and syllabuses are revised from time to time, so their path may not be the one open to you. Record what they did, then get their advice for someone starting under today's rules. Confirm the current requirements with the society itself before you plan around them.
How many exams do applicants for entry-level jobs at your company usually have?
Why ask it
There is no universal number: it moves with the employer and with the job market that year, so what their own team sees is the useful part. If the reply is 'one or two, plus proof you can handle data', ask what counts as proof.
What did a study week look like when you were working full time?
Why ask it
Push for the real timetable: early mornings, lunch hours, weekends, and how many months before the sitting they began. A concrete schedule is something you can try for a month to find out whether you could live that way. What they gave up to make room is the other half of the answer.
Did your employer give you paid study time and cover the exam fees?
Why ask it
Exam support differs a great deal between employers: paid hours, fees, study materials, raises for passes. Hearing one real program gives you a baseline for reading job offers later. A good follow-up is whether people could truly take their hours when the team was busy.
Which exam was hardest for you, and why that one?
Why ask it
The reason is the useful part. It might have been the sheer volume, a switch to written answers after years of multiple choice, or what else was going on in their life that season. Each points to a different thing to get ready for.
Did you fail any sittings, and what did you change afterward?
Why ask it
Many people who go on to qualify fail a sitting along the way, and those willing to talk about one give the most practical study advice you will hear. Raise it gently and let them choose how much to share. The change they made, such as more timed practice or an earlier start, is the part to write down.
How long did it take you to get from your first exam to your credential, and what slowed you down?
Why ask it
A published estimate is an average. One person's timeline shows what bends it: a job change, a new baby, a failed sitting, a syllabus revision halfway through. Ask whether going faster would have been worth what it cost.
What changed for you when you became an associate, and what changed again at fellow?
Why ask it
Credential names differ by society, so use theirs. The letters can affect pay, the work you are trusted with and what you may sign, and which of those applies depends on the country and the employer. If they stopped at the first credential, find out why without assuming it was a failure.
Do you know people who stopped taking exams, and how did their careers go?
Why ask it
This shows whether a livable version of the career exists without the full credential. They may describe career analysts, or colleagues who moved into analytics, underwriting or risk. If you doubt you can commit to years of exams, weigh this reply more than any other.
Which study habits worked for you that you would still recommend?
Why ask it
Ask about habits before products, since providers and formats change. A fixed start date, timed practice exams and a study partner travel better than any brand of manual. Check anything specific against what current candidates say they rely on.
How did you keep the rest of your life going during the exam years?
Why ask it
Sleep, exercise, friends and family all get squeezed, and people protect different things. An actuary who had children during exams will answer differently from one who finished at twenty-six. Give more weight to whoever's life looks most like the one you expect to have.
Fields
Which area do you work in: life, health, property and casualty, pensions or something else, and how did you end up there?
Why ask it
Plenty of people land in an area through whichever employer made the first offer. If that is their story, the choice you are agonizing over as a student may be made for you by the market. Ask whether they would pick the same area on purpose.
How does the work in your area differ from the other areas, as far as you have seen?
Why ask it
Life and pension work is often described as looking decades ahead, and property and casualty or health work as turning on nearer-term claims. Let them say how true that is and what it does to the day: the data, the pace, how soon you learn you were off. Note which areas they know firsthand and which only by reputation.
How early do you have to choose a practice area, and how hard is it to switch later?
Why ask it
In some systems the choice of society or exam track commits you early, and in others the split comes late. It depends on where you qualify, so ask how it works in their country and then confirm with the society. Anyone they know who switched can tell you what it cost in exams and seniority.
What is the difference between pricing, reserving and valuation, and which have you done?
Why ask it
These are the jobs inside the job. Broadly, pricing decides what to charge for business not yet written, while reserving and valuation estimate what is owed on business already on the books. People who have done more than one usually hold a firm preference, and their reason is a fair test of your own temperament.
Have you worked in consulting, at an insurer or both, and how do the two compare?
Why ask it
Consulting tends to mean several clients, deadlines set by others and a timesheet, and an insurer one company's business known in depth. Those are tendencies only, so get their pick for a first job and the experience behind it. A consultant can also say whether study time counted toward billable hours or sat on top of them, which differs from firm to firm.
How much does the size of the employer matter for someone starting out?
Why ask it
A large company may offer rotations and a crowd of fellow students. A small one may hand you a wider range of work sooner, with fewer people to learn from. Where they started, and whether they would start there again, is the reply to weigh.
How hard is it to get an entry-level actuarial job right now, from what you see in your own hiring?
Why ask it
Demand shifts between practice areas and between cities, and a working actuary sees it in who their own team manages to hire. The number of applications an entry-level opening at their company draws is a figure worth having. That is local and current in a way no career website can be.
Where do actuaries work outside insurance and pensions, and do you know anyone who made that move?
Why ask it
Banks, investment firms, government, health systems and technology companies may all come up. A name is worth more than a list, so ask whether they would put you in touch with the person who moved. You also learn how far the credential travels where they are.
How does being an actuary compare with data science or the other quantitative careers you considered?
Why ask it
Many students are choosing between exactly these. An actuary who has worked beside data scientists can describe the difference in practice: a credential with a defined ladder on one side, a wider field without the exams on the other. If they have no view, ask who at their company would.
Pay and path
What does pay look like at the start, and how does it move as exams are passed?
Why ask it
Asking about the level, not their own salary, makes this easy to answer. Figures depend on country, city, practice area and employer, so take a range and the shape of the curve, then compare it with a current salary survey. One detail to pin down is whether raises arrive with each pass or only with the credential.
How did you get your first actuarial job or internship, and would the same route work now?
Why ask it
Campus recruiting, a cold application and a professor's referral take different amounts of luck and legwork. The second half matters because hiring changes, and someone hired many years ago may say plainly that their own path has closed. If they now screen candidates themselves, find out what gets a resume past the first read.
What are the steps from entry-level analyst to senior actuary where you work, and how long did each take you?
Why ask it
Titles differ between employers, so what changes at each step is the thing to pin down: who reviews your work, whose work you review, who you present to. Their own dates show the pace. The slowest step, and what held it up, deserves a follow-up.
What gets someone promoted in this profession besides passing exams?
Why ask it
Exams are the visible ladder. The less visible one is usually clear communication, reliability and being wanted on projects. Ask about a colleague who rose quickly and what that person did, then practice the same thing in your next group project or presentation.
What do senior actuaries do that is different from the first few years?
Why ask it
The work tends to move from doing calculations to reviewing them, managing people and standing behind conclusions. Some welcome that and some miss the technical side. Find out which camp they are in and whether their employer has a technical track.
What are the hours really like, and did that match what you were told going in?
Why ask it
The field is often recommended for its work-life balance. Get the hours for a normal week and a deadline week, then add the study hours, which are part of the true total for the first several years. Listen for any gap between the promise and what they lived.
How steady has the work been for you: have you been through a merger, a layoff or a downturn?
Why ask it
The profession has a reputation for stability, and someone who has been through a merger or a restructuring can say how that held up for them. What happened to the exam students in particular is the part that applies to you. One career is not a forecast, though it is better than the reputation alone.
Has anyone ever wanted a different number from the one you produced, and how did you handle it?
Why ask it
Actuaries work under professional standards and sometimes for a business that would prefer another result. Give them room to answer in general terms, since details may be confidential. You are listening for whether the standards felt like a burden or a shield when it counted.
Looking back
If you were a student again, what would you do differently?
Why ask it
Leave real time for this one. The first reply is often about exams: start sooner, sit them in another order. A second answer that has nothing to do with exams tends to be the more personal of the two, so wait for it.
Did you major in actuarial science, and does the degree matter to employers where you are?
Why ask it
Actuaries come from math, statistics, economics and unrelated degrees as well as actuarial programs, and how much an employer cares differs by country and company. Someone who hires can say what their team looks at first: the major, the exams passed or the internship. A career changer can hear the reply as a guide to what a second degree would and would not buy.
Which courses or skills would you tell a student to pick up before graduating?
Why ask it
Programming, statistics, writing and public speaking are likely replies, so press for the one they wish they had taken more seriously. A career changer can add which of these an employer would accept as self-taught. Either way, find out how you would show it on a resume.
What kind of person tends to be happy as an actuary, and who tends to leave?
Why ask it
A sharper version of 'do I need to be good at math'. Listen for traits beyond ability: patience with detail, comfort with uncertainty, willingness to study for years. The half about who leaves lets them say the discouraging part politely, so hold both descriptions up against yourself.
I am coming from another career. How do employers view someone who starts the exams later than most?
Why ask it
For career changers, and a student can pass over it. The useful reply is about a real colleague who arrived from teaching, engineering or finance, and the level that person was hired at. What a later starter needs to show differs by employer, so ask what theirs would want.
Is there an internship, a job shadow day or a student event at your company that I should know about?
Why ask it
This turns a conversation into a next step. Programs and deadlines vary by employer and can fall earlier in the year than students expect, so get dates. Where nothing formal exists, a morning's visit is a fair thing to request.
What should I do in the next six months to find out whether this career is for me?
Why ask it
Good replies are small and testable: sit one exam, learn one tool, do a project with public data, meet someone in another practice area. Take the list down in their words. Doing one item and reporting back is the best thanks you can give.
Is there an actuary in a different area I should talk to, and may I use your name?
Why ask it
Aim for someone unlike them: a pension actuary if they price auto insurance, a consultant if they work at a carrier. A single conversation is one view of a wide profession. A stranger is more likely to reply to a message that opens with a name they know.
Getting useful answers from a working actuary
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Which questions fit which meeting
A coffee chat or informational interview
Twenty to thirty minutes holds six to eight questions once follow-ups are counted. Take two from The job, two from Exams and one about their own practice area, and keep the last five minutes for Looking back. If they ask beforehand what you want to cover, send your top three.
A job shadow
You will see the work, so drop the questions that ask for a description and ask about what is on the screen: what the file is for, who receives it, what would make them distrust the result. Exams and pay fit better over lunch or at the end of the day. Some of what you see will be confidential, so ask before you write down anything specific to a client or a product.
A career panel
You may get one question, with a room listening. Choose one that every panelist will answer differently, such as how they ended up in their area or what they would do differently as a student. Do not ask a named person about pay in front of an audience. Ask what the level tends to earn, or save it for a private word afterward.
A class assignment
A report needs facts you can quote: title, practice area, credential, years in the field and the route they took. Get those in the first few minutes, ask whether you may quote them, and spend what is left on the questions that produce stories. Before you write that the exam path is whatever your interviewee did, compare it with what the actuarial society publishes now.
What to know before you ask
Learn the credential names
The actuarial society for your country sets out its exams and credential levels on its own site, and some countries have more than one society, divided by kind of work. Half an hour with that page means you will not spend the meeting learning what an associate is. It leaves room for what no website has: which exams counted when they were hired, and what studying beside a job was like.
Find out their area and employer type
A professional profile or the company's site usually shows whether someone works in life, health, property and casualty or pensions, and whether for an insurer or a consulting firm. That tells you which of the Fields questions they can answer firsthand. A health actuary can describe pension work only from what colleagues have said, so phrase those as 'what have you heard'.
Open with one sentence about yourself
'I am a second-year math major choosing between this and data science' or 'I teach high school and passed my first exam in the spring' lets them aim what they say at you. Without that sentence you get the talk they would give anyone.
Work around quarter-end and exam season
Reporting deadlines and renewal seasons make some weeks poor ones for a favor, and an actuary who is still sitting exams has few spare evenings in the run-up to a sitting. Offer several dates and let them pick. If they mention an exam coming up, propose a date after it.
Asking about exams, pay and regrets
Ask about exams as history
'What did your study schedule look like?' gets more than 'how should I study?'. People remember their own failed sitting and their own six in the morning starts exactly, and advice in the abstract comes out bland. Once you have the history, ask what has changed in the exams since they sat them.
Keep pay about the level
Ask what a new analyst or a newly credentialed actuary tends to earn in their market, and let them decide whether to say more. Any figure belongs to one country, one city and one kind of employer in one year. Set it beside a current salary survey before you rely on it.
Make room for the unflattering answer
Questions about who leaves, what they regret and who should stay away only work when the actuary believes you want the truth. Saying 'I am trying to decide, so the downsides help me more than the pitch' early on changes what you hear for the remaining minutes.
Treat every rule as local
Credential names, exam tracks, what an actuary may sign and what an employer pays for all differ by country, society and company. When something sounds like a rule, ask 'is that how it works everywhere, or is that how it works here?'. Most actuaries know only their own system in detail and will say so.
What to do with the answers
Sort your notes three ways
That evening, mark each thing you heard as true of the profession, true of their employer or their own opinion. Exam support and promotion steps usually belong to the employer. Whether the career was worth it belongs to them alone.
Put the same questions to a different kind of actuary
Choose people who differ from the first: another practice area, a consultant if you met someone at an insurer, a recent hire if you met a fellow with decades behind them. The new analyst remembers the job search and the senior one knows where the road leads. Put two or three of the same questions to each and compare.
Try one thing they suggested, then tell them
If they told you to learn a tool, open a study manual or sit the first exam, do a small version within a month. A few weeks with exam material tells you more about your tolerance for the path than any description of it. Then write to say what you found: a short message with a result in it thanks them better than a polite one sent the next morning.