I’m 49 and contemplating since today the possibility of losing my job (only a remote possibility at this point, but a possibility still). I’ve essentially zero skill or experience of any use outside of my current employer, and any job I could get, assuming I could get one, would have to be some low level unskilled job at this point. General advice on how to navigate the situation(re paperwork, legalities, rights, etc…) would be of limited use, since I’m French so most experience people could have on this board would be irrelevant.
The first thing I did was to google “jobs in demand”, envisionning training. It happened that the first job mentioned in the first category of jobs on the first site I checked was actuary. It also so happens that it’s precisely the job I had (vaguely) envisioned to train for during the last years. Mostly because there were potential opportunities I heard about and because I used to like statistics when I was (much) younger. Given my age, I can’t plan on a high-level, long term training. But the site I was talking about mention there are entry positions in this line of work requiring only a two years training.
I’m quite bright so I’m not too worried about failing such a training, and superficially studied mathematics, law and economy (which seem to be useful/required fields of knowledge in this line of work) when younger and had no particular difficulties with any of them (but didn’t acquire, or remember, any applicable knowledge). However, I’m still almost 50 and without any applicable experience. And besides, I’ve only an extremely remote idea of what such a job actually consists in.
So, my questions would be, I guess : is this actually a job in demand (especially at an entry level), assuming the situation to be similar in most western countries? Is this a job where a by then 52 yo without related experience could have the slightest change of finding employment? What this job consists in, anyway? And anything else that I might not asking and that I should have.
Perhaps I’ve missed something in your post but you seem to avoid giving information about your career. I understand that you may want to avoid being identified but if you want us to help you, it would really help to know what you’ve done in the past. Perhaps other people on this board have been in analogous situations and can tell you how they did it. Your skills may be more transferable than you think.
One of the things that seems to be appealing about becoming an actuary is that you can largely do it by self-study and taking exams. Pass enough exams, you’re certified as an actuary. This means that you don’t have to be beholden to a class schedule or even worry about applying to go back to school. The downside, perhaps, is that you will probably end up with a head full of facts and no common sense. But I guess you can pick that up on the job - if you can do it well.
P.S. just noticed that you said that you were French. The exam path I mentioned applies to the US and possibly the UK. Not sure what they have in France.
I went to a Big 10 university in the late 90s. It was famous for computer science and all varieties of engineering. The most difficult major on campus, though, as estimated by the opinion of people in it and by the percentage of first-year students who gave up and changed majors, was actuarial science.
Of course, those were a lot of 18-year-old kids. An adult, who knows how to apply him or her self to a serious line of study, might find it easier.
In Australia - yes, definitely. I am an actuary and I know several actuaries who changed careers in their 40s and 50s. We hired people last year who came to us with backgrounds in physics and electrical engineering.
But you will have to go back to the beginning and qualify via the appropriate exam system, unless you already have the required expertise in maths, stats, economics, probability etc.
I agree with ultrafilter’ssuggestion that you look at the website of the *Institute des Actuaires *for information about the training and qualification process.
Let’s forget about this. I looked a bit over the week-end, and I obviously had no clue what this job was about. I hadn’t realized it was such a high level kind of job.
In fact, I didn’t exactly had the job itself in mind, but rather entry-level technical jobs related to this activity (let’s say the equivalent of a para-legal for a lawyer) and see from there. However, it seems that even entry-level jobs in this area require 4-5 years of training. And I’m looking for something in which I could be qualified in two years. Again, I’m almost 50. I found one very vague reference about a related 2 years training but couldn’t find any more information about it.
Still, I’d be interested if people had ideas about jobs that might be in the same general category (related to statistics, for instance), and more based on analysis than reactivity (mentioning this one because I looked also into logistics-related jobs, and reactivity, which isn’t a quality that I really possess, is often stressed in this line of work) and where you can be qualified with a two years or so training.
That’s true. Generally speaking, I don’t say much about my life on this board, and I’m very reluctant to do so. And besides, as I wrote, losing my job still is only a remote possibility. But it assuage my anxiety about it to look into what I could do if it happens.
That said, I’m really not qualified for anything. I had a very basic education in mathematics and sciences, and in my 30s, a more in depth but still superficial education in political sciences and public law. Which wasn’t qualifying me for anything, and that I never used for anything, either.
I’ve been an adjunct librarian (without degree or training), an accountant (without degree or training besides what I learnt on the job), a low level manager in a paper pushing environment vaguely related to accountancy and budgeting (without degree or training…you got the idea). Then it went on a downward spiral.
I would also mention that the most obvious direction would be accountancy training, but this is a job I really don’t like, and I’d rather find something else if at all possible.
Ok, but then, where do you start? What’s the lowest-level entry job in this field?
The general path I saw mentioned was something like (there was a number of variations, very diverse, in fact, but it’s to give an example) : get a bachelor’s degree in mathematics or economy, then pass our competitive exam to join our school, and in two more years you’ll get our “actuary technician” degree, you get started in the job, and you’ll pass more exams over the years to eventually someday become an actuary.
So, the lowest level mentioned requires 4-5 years from the get go.
I don’t know if it might be different in France. In the US, you need a BA (preferably in math or stats or “actuarial science”) and to have passed 1-4 exams.
There are people who make the switch in mid-career. My former supervisor was about the same age as Freddy when he switched from electrical engineering. But it’s harder as you get older. For one thing, firms are nervous about having an entry-level middle-aged person reporting to a 30 year old with experience. But in addition, firms take in entry level people with at least the hope that they’ll stick around at the firm as they progress. If someone is already 50 when beginning, the likelihood is pretty high that they’ll drop out after a year or two, and even if they don’t, by the time they’re full-certified actuaries they’ll be about ready to retire.
And from the perspective of the job-seeker, I’m not sure it’s a good move either. The early stages of an actuarial career involve working at a full time job while devoting many or most evenings and weekends to studying boring stats and insurance (or pension) information, for years and years. If you’re young when you start out, then you’ll finally pass all your exams and have a few decades of peace as a credentialed actuary. But if you’re 50 when you’re first starting out, then you’ll have years of hard work with very little respite at the end. I would not recommend it.
Sorry, I was speaking about the US model. In the US, the degree generally doesn’t have to be in anything specific to qualify, but obviously having a degree in math is going to prepare you better for the exams than a music degree. But the point of the exams is that it doesn’t really matter much where you learned your stuff, the important thing is that you can demonstrate it.
At least in the US, it probably appeals somewhat to people who are really good at taking exams. I’m one of those people - I’d much rather study on my own and challenge the exam than spend six months or a year attending mostly boring lectures and doing homework.
Right. But if there are two equally qualified job candidates, and one has a degree in math and the other in music, then the first will most likely get the nod.
I wanted to be an actuary. 25 years ago I shut down my business and went to a jon counselor to see what I could possibly do. I did not want to go back into being a truck mechanic.
After all my testing she recomended that actuary would be the perfect job for me. She set me up an interview along with a great recomendation for a job with a good sized firm. I went to the interview, passed all thier tests and the interviewer seemed to like me.
When it came down to making a decison he said that even though I did well testing I just didn't look like the type of guy who could sit at a desk and crunch numbers from morning till night and sent me on my way. This has stuck in my craw ever since.
Precisely. I find the idea of sitting at a desk crunching numbers from morning to night quite appealing (except not as an accountant). Hence how the idea of “actuary” popped up in my mind.
Does anybody know of a line of work where you stay at your desk crunching numbers?
Perhaps check into insurance underwriting - when I worked at a major life insurance provider here in the U.S., one of the more well-defined career path sorts of positions was that of an underwriter. You need to build some basic knowledge about the insurance industry and (for me) life insurance basics, but once you get into the underwriter position, much of it was well-defined: do this to get to level 2, this to get to level 3, and so on. While the hiring manager did look for people internal to the company that had experience in the insurance industry, it generally didn’t have to be much - 1 or 2 years with the company. If they need someone, I’d wager it’d be even less, as long as you display a willingness to learn (which you do seem to).
As an underwriter (for life insurance specifically, but it’s probably applicable to any underwriting), you’re taking the information the actuaries provide, along with guidelines built up by “the powers that be” to determine whether a given individual is insurable. You then write up the policy (or not) for that individual and forward it on to the appropriate departments for payment and what not. As you progress up the levels, your decisions get much less plug-and-play process driven and much more autonomous. There’s also communicating with others for specific requirements and such and tracking statuses and all that.
At the company I worked for, it was seen as a desirable position and they never lacked for applicants. No idea how it works in France, however.