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#35
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#37
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![]() Dear all;
After reading the comment “We'd rather engage with people who have more interesting problems that we haven't yet solved” by Dr T Non-Fan, I would like to share with you my story and ask for a career advice. I am 35 yo, career changer, and a recent immigrant to the U.S., having unrestricted access to the US labor market – Green card. I would like to gather some advice from everybody on the best tactics to get the first actuarial internship and then the job. Or opinions whether it is worth or not to pursue an actuarial field at all. The questions I want to ask are: 1. Do you think I am about to make the right time investment decision to enroll full-time into a university with a big and reputable actuarial science program, given its networking opportunities and access to graduate recruiting, at the age of 35 and with 18 years of blue color (but fun) jobs background? Will I be better off pursuing non-actuarial field instead? 2. Should I leave off my resume all retail, customer service, bartender, receptionist, flight attendant, senior flight attendant experience? If so, won’t it be strange for a recruiter to see an empty resume of a 35 years old guy? 3. Should I remove all foreign experience, the four foreign languages I speak fluently, and the foreign education from the resume so that it does not intimidate the corporate HR employee and does not give her more work, and also to prevent generating assumption that I am not legal to work in the US? Maybe it will help to understand my situation better, if I write about it in details, I am not sure if my case is unique. To begin with, most of my life, since the age of 17, I did low skilled jobs ( that is, for 18 years) because I had to work to survive, without family support at all. With some foreign schooling done, I ended up in Dubai in retail shops of a major hospitality group – I managed to sell my English skills and my personality to the hiring manager when I was 24 years old. In Dubai, I excelled at my jobs, won awards, and was promoted multiple times at two different companies. I achieved a supervisory level with the last employer. I mastered management, leadership and, of course, communication skills. However, when I realized I was dumbing down at my last job, I decided to change my life, and finance industry looked good for getting into. I passed CFA Level 1 exam while doing blue color flight attendant work, and started my finance job search in Dubai. At that moment I won the green card in DV lottery and decided to move to the U.S.A., thinking that accumulated savings would allow me to sustain my modest lifestyle, before I find a new job. In America, I became a member of a CFA Society, attended numerous networking events and various career workshops. I did not manage to get a job, but I accumulated important knowledge: when the recruiters were sober, they were telling me that the timing was not right for any finance jobs due to the aftermath of the financial crisis, but after they had a few glasses of wine, or while still sober, but in private, they were telling me that when a corporate HR employee sees a foreign school or work experience on the resume, they toss it away because it implies extra work for them. Also, these employees automatically assume that I have no right to work in America. I have heard from many people, especially fellow immigrants, that in the US, American university on the resume matters. I have received guidance that the road to an American dream is university-job-career- house - wife - prestige- good retirement. So, I decided to go back to school full time, and stopped my job search completely. I came to conclusion that becoming an actuary was a more appealing choice than finance, given my programming aptitudes and math skills. This job is also massively publicized at one of the best to have in the U.S. So, I enrolled into a community college and I completed 36 credits with 4.0 GPA, and will be transferring to UIUC ( University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) BSC in Actuarial Science from next Fall. I am planning to network hard with corporate recruiters, who come on campus, and to pass at least 2 exams. I am studying for FM now, using only theinfiniteactuary.com and a textbook, and will be sitting for it next June. I am also learning SQL and Excel VBA on my own, using books and You-Tube videos. Do you think my plan will work out? Thanks everyone for helping me with advice and comments, I will really appreciate it… |
#38
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#39
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If you want an actuarial job, yes, you should finish college. Chances of landing a job without a degree are maybe 1 in 1000. And there are not 1000 openings, and there are a few thousand candidates. You'll still have to convince someone to hire you to one of their precious "EL's for 22-year-olds only" openings. You should have better luck with the "off-season" when openings occur after those 22-year-olds flake out. (Maybe 15% of them.) Networking will be key. You'll have to find a kindred spirit, or at least someone open-minded enough with the power to take a chance on hiring you over other, more "traditional" candidates. Find someplace that no one else wants to work (we call it "the po' "), lowering the amount of competition. Quick note: The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (or Champaign-Urbana), is called the "University of Illinois" to the rest of the USA. Any other U of I requires its city or its general direction. Answers to your questions three: 1. Yes. 2. Yes. your résumé is your marketing tool. Put on stuff that (you hope) will be interesting to the reader, or else they will toss it aside for the next résumé. Or, at least make it seem interesting. Throw it into a bundle, without going into details like employers and such. Have a good story that relates somehow to risks and how to manage them. Like that one time you had to land a plane after the pilots were sucked out of a hole caused by a smaller plane that crashed into it. Wait, that's the plot of "Airport '75." 3. Just state that you have a green card. Your foreign language abilities are a good sign of intelligence (imo). If some company doesn't want you because of that (and don't think HR is helpful in any way to any of us -- make sure an actuary sees your résumé!), well, they weren't going to like you once they met you, either. See you in a few years, after you, well, you know, pass some exams, get a degree, get an internship, get a 4.0, etc.
__________________
"Facebook is a toilet." -- LWTwJO |
#40
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Just my opinion. |
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