Suddenly Questioning the Actuarial Profession

[Noob]

Reasons

*offshoring/outsourcing likely to continue
*looking at job postings equating FSA to CFA
*smallness of this profession

[CtrlAltDelete]

[MasterChief]

i think he is just asking for help or some reassurance that this career doesnt tank i dont think there is anything wrong with that.

[dabears32]

Originally Posted by CtrlAltDelete

I dont agree with this. Many of us who are having trouble getting jobs while being qualified are starting to question this. I believe the profession will be fine but it is a legitimate question.

[Sloop John B]

The careers subforum has become a bit depressing lately. I've been turning more to the light-hearted shenanigans of NAT.

[studentnel]

Originally Posted by dabears32

I dont agree with this. Many of us who are having trouble getting jobs while being qualified are starting to question this. I believe the profession will be fine but it is a legitimate question.

I've been questioning actuarial... honestly, I'm thinking of getting out of it.

Is it a profession I will enjoy doing long term? Yes.
Is it a profession I'm willing to a lot of my life and get stressed out just TRYING to get in? No.

If I had to put insane amounts of effort into just getting ENTRY, I'd rather go into banking
Banking = crazy hard to get into, harder than actuarial for us IMO, but it's still kick-butt enough to justify the effort.

[dabears32]

Originally Posted by studentnel

I've been questioning actuarial... honestly, I'm thinking of getting out of it.

Is it a profession I will enjoy doing long term? Yes.
Is it a profession I'm willing to a lot of my life and get stressed out just TRYING to get in? No.

If I had to put insane amounts of effort into just getting ENTRY, I'd rather go into banking
Banking = crazy hard to get into, harder than actuarial for us IMO, but it's still kick-butt enough to justify the effort.

I still want to do actuarial but since I graduated I am open to anything. Being poor is not fun.

Any ideas?

[vtek]

how much would it suck if after busting your balls to just get in and sacrificing years of your youth to write those exams you found that it's an unsatisfying, mindnumbing, dull corporate-drone job?

[dukelampard]

Feel free to get out. I think we'll be fine with or without you.

[EaglesFan]

Originally Posted by dukelampard

Feel free to get out. I think we'll be fine with or without you.

I'm not sure I agree with that sentiment. One of the reasons for gien for increasing frequency of the prelims was that we were losing too many potentially good actuaries. How many potentially good actuaries are we losing because they went through the process of actually passing exams and can't find any opportunities. As noted in another thread, we're even less willing to offer unpaid internships than the banking field.