Career Path Chart

As a newcomer to the actuarial department, your focus will be on preparing for and writing examinations required to qualify you as an Actuary with the Canadian Institute of Actuaries. This will be a multiyear process, but is an essential element to have a career in this area.

In addition, you will want to be a ‘sponge’ to begin learning the craft of the insurance business and exposing yourself to as many different facets of the industry and your role as an Actuary as possible.

Analytical

Commitment to Continuous Learning

 Detail Oriented

 Curiosity

Both Formal and Informal mentorship can prove valuable – visit the Mentoring Advantage website for tools and tips on maximizing the mentoring relationship. Your company may also have resources and opportunities available.

These relationships may be most beneficial in the areas of solidifying foundational insurance knowledge, preparing for your examinations, and drawing on the mentor’s insurance experience and subject matter expertise to support your work.

As an actuarial candidate, you likely have completed advanced studies in actuarial science, mathematics, computer science or statistics. To have secured your starting position, you will have likely written at least your Probability and Financial Mathematics exams (administered by the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) or Society of Actuaries (SOA)) as a part of your time as a student or early career professional in another area.

You will want to consult with the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and your company about the policies and practices around maintaining your education record – be sure you are clear on your role and expectations in managing this process.

At this stage in your career, it is recommended that you complete your Validation of Educational Experience (VEE). This adds your Corporate Finance, Economics, and Applied Statistical Methods courses to your accreditation record. If you did not pursue these courses as a part of your post-secondary education, there are a list of accredited institutions and courses available on the CAS website.

The next step is to prepare for your Models for Financial Mathematics and Construction & Evaluation of Actuarial Models exams. This will complete your foundational requirements of the accreditation process.

You will likely be able to apply your learning from your studies, internal training programs/seminars offered through your company, or other work experiences to help you get started in your insurance career.

Consider building your knowledge of Insurance Fundamentals, actuarial/underwriting rules your organization and the regulatory framework governing the insurance sector.

At this stage, you are focused on learning the fundamentals of working with insurance risks and actuarial models.

The models and types of risks you are exposed to initially may not be overly complex. However, they are at the core of the industry and its operations.

Your focus will be on developing skills in the following areas:

• Developing a solid understanding the products and lines of business available within your organization

• Using tools and resources available to help analyze and understand risks being insured by your organization

• Supporting your team in developing and applying actuarial rules and underwriting frameworks within your organization

• Providing solutions or referrals should a risk not fit into product parameters

• Developing understanding of the legal and regulatory framework governing the insurance sector

• Demonstrating capacity to manage multiple priorities, work to timelines, and to be proactive in addressing emerging issues

• Building on solid business communication (face to face, written, and presentation) and interpersonal skills

Subscribe to on-line newsletters and industry publications (Canadian Underwriter, Thompsons, publications available through the CIA, CAS, or SOA), visit industry websites, and monitor social media channels (ie. Insurance Institute’s LinkedIN Group, Twitter) to broaden your global industry awareness.

Consider leveraging engagement within the Casualty Actuarial Society, your local Institute/Chapter, or Canadian Institute of Actuaries to your advantage in building your understanding of the actuarial role and/or insurance industry.

Demonstrating leadership as you begin your career as an actuary can come in many forms. Likely though, it begins  with listening and curiosity. Some of the industry’s most respected leaders are known for hearing what others are saying, synthesizing information, asking the right questions, and recommending a course of action based on what they have heard.

At this stage, you will be in a prime position to ask questions, make connections, and establish your capacity to actively listen to colleagues, managers, and the industry’s emerging trends and issues. In this process, you will be establishing other solid foundations for leadership competencies including respect, reliability, and engagement in the business.

Continue to focus on growing your actuarial knowledge and completing exams.

This is also a time where you may become more aware of the areas of practice – reserving, rate making, predictive modeling and enterprise risk management - and, the product options available to you in your actuarial role– liability, personal lines, commercial lines, specialty risks, etc.

It is important to try to understand the options available and learn as much as you can about them – whether through exposure on the job, learning in the classroom, mentorship, or simply doing some research on line.

From here, you can decide which ones fit with who you are, what you are good at, and offers possibilities that are in line with what you would like in the next step in your career.

Preparing for multiple possibilities at this point in your career can help keep your options open.

This time in your career will also be about making connections between what you have learned to date and how to apply it in new and emerging contexts.

Team Player

Connection Maker

Influencer without Authority

Relationship Builder

Ethical Decision Making

Formal and informal mentorship can prove valuable – visit the Mentoring Advantage website for tools and tips on maximizing the mentoring relationship. Your company may also have resources and opportunities available.

These relationships may be most beneficial in the areas of understanding how to adapt general knowledge to fit the needs of more specialized models/business requirements, ethical decision making, understanding different facets/roles of the insurance business, drivers of business decisions, rates, reserve needs, etc. (both internal and external) and leveraging the mentor’s insurance experience and subject matter expertise for a particular problem or need on the job.

As you continue to learn and grow in your actuarial role, your focus will now be on completing the requirements to obtain your Associate of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (ACIA)/Associate of the Casualty Actuarial Society (ACAS) designations. This includes a series of examinations – Statistics and Probabilistic Models, Basic Techniques of Rate Making and Estimating Claims Liabilities, and Regulation and Financial Reporting, Professionalism and on-line courses – Risk Management and Insurance Operations and Insurance Accounting, Coverage Analysis, Insurance Law and Insurance Regulation.

You may also start to be taking specialized seminars or e-learning offerings to support increasing your capacity in your area of practice or specialty within your organization.

At this stage in your actuarial career, the emphasis is typically on building on the insurance experience you have had to date.

The models you are working with and advice you are providing are increasing in depth/complexity. and depending on your organizational structure, may start to lean more towards a particular specialty or practice area.

Often your focus will be on growing your capacity in the following areas:

• Building more specialized modelling knowledge and insurance expertise

•  Growing your comfort in providing supporting the establishment of actuarial and underwriting rules within your organization

• Manipulating and conducting more complex analysis on data

• Increasing level of nuance and uniqueness in data analysis

• Providing support to team and managers in providing advice to underwriting leads, loss control, accounting, etc. to ensure regulatory compliance and business optimization

• Determining rates, premiums, and reserve ratios in consultation with more seasoned actuarial colleagues

• Developing and maintaining strong working relationship both within and outside of the department

• Demonstrating capacity to take initiative, multitask, and deliver on promises

• Leveraging strong business communication (face to face, written, and presentation) and interpersonal skills to support success in day-to-day work and on projects

Attend actuarial conventions and special events

Connect and network with other (facets of the industry eg. Meet the Underwriter Nights, Golf Tournaments, etc.

Volunteer at an organization that resonates with you or at an industry function (ie Institute Convocation, Awards Luncheon, Trends Breakfast, etc.)

At this point in your career, you are starting to better understand the nature of the business of insurance. Your knowledge, operational capacity, and experience are all in growth mode. From a leadership perspective, this is an opportunity to continue to hone your business acumen and focus on your skills in building strong working relationships both within your organization and externally (ie regulators, claims professionals, risk managers, etc.). These skills combined with a strong sense of ethics and teamwork will go a long way in demonstrating your capacity for leadership.

There will be continued focus on completing your actuarial examinations and designations.

This time in your career may involve a period or periods of questioning what is next – continuing to specialize in a particular practice area/product stream, looking at diversifying your product experience, considering whether to look at people leadership as a team lead or frontline manager in the actuarial department.

It is important to consider your skills, values, education, and experiences. From here you can take stock about what you are proficient in, what you would like to learn or grow your capacity in next, and make decisions about what your next steps might look like.

You may find it helpful to talk to your manager or HR department about these options in more detail and the tools that are available to support your continued development.

Critical Thinker

Problem Solver

Negotiator

Trends Seeker

Technical Specialist

Relationship Manager

Formal and informal mentorship can prove valuable – visit the Mentoring Advantage website for tools and tips on maximizing the mentoring relationship. Your company may also have resources and opportunities available.

These relationships may prove to be most valuable in the areas of seeking advice around a tough business question or decision, managing next steps in your career path, preparing for the final stretch of exams, and to validate a decision or course of action within a particular practice area.

The next step in your actuarial candidacy is to complete your Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (FCIA)/Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society (FCAS) designations. This includes completing a set of 3 additional actuarial exams – Estimation of Policy Liabilities, Insurance Company Valuation, and Enterprise Risk Management; Advanced Rate Making; and, Financial Risk and Rate of Return.

Depending on your ambitions, you may also find it helpful to take the Advanced CIP's Critical Thinking course, Risk Management Certificate or continuing education through the Insurance Institute helpful in rounding out the knowledge required to stay abreast of trends and issues to help you excel in your career.

You will also want to be sure that you are meeting the continuing education requirements to maintain your ACIA/ACAS credential.

Often, the focus in your career will evolve to enhancing your knowledge and expertise as it pertains to areas of practice/specialties within your organization.

The modeling and risks you are working with are increasingly complex and often focused within this area of expertise.

Typically, at this point in your career you may be enhancing your skills like:

• Applying specialized insurance knowledge and expertise to an array of insurance needs within a particular practice or product area

• Development and oversight of actuarial models used to inform insurance practice, regulatory compliance and underwriting decisions

• Growing your capacity to support less experienced actuaries from a technical perspective

• Providing advice to underwriting leads, loss control, accounting, etc. to ensure regulatory compliance and business optimization

• Leveraging strong working relationships internally with industry professionals (loss control, risk management, underwriting, claims, legal, etc.) and externally to support business operations and development

• Facilitating the process of rate making, reserving, and managing risk appropriately

• Advancing your understanding of the legal and regulatory considerations and drivers within the insurance sector

• Demonstrating capacity to generate solutions, recommendations, and approaches to emerging issues with minimal input/supervision; may involve providing support to other analysts/associates within your department

Increase your engagement with your local Institute/Chapter. You may be interested in joining a committee or working group.

There are also several boards and working groups within the Actuarial space that you might consider becoming involved with depending on your interests and area of specialization, i.e. Canadian Board of Marine Underwriters, Casualty Actuarial Society, Fire Underwriters Survey, etc.

Continue to think about expanding your insurance network – eg. connecting with other professionals working in your area of specialty – and attending events focused on your emerging areas of interest.

Consider becoming an industry Ambassador through the Insurance Institute’s Career Connections Program.

At this stage, you are likely to be comfortable in your role and demonstrate a high degree of business acumen as your scope of authority continues to increase.

In looking at leadership, you may be thinking about your future roles and whether you would like to be a technical consultant or manager of people. Either require the capacity to work more autonomously, sound problem solving and decision making skills, and an ability to think critically about a situation and its potential impact on your area/organization.

This stage in your career may also provide opportunities for ‘stretch’ assignments, serving as part of project teams/internal committees, or engaging in process improvements within your functional area.

At this stage in your career it is often fair to state that you have deep knowledge of the actuarial function and expertise of the practice areas/specialties you have worked in.

There may be mechanisms for you to share your expertise with those with less industry knowledge and experience within your organization either as a technical specialist or operational leader.

You are a key contributor to business decisions that have impact across your organization. Your scope, breadth, and authority is continually increasing at this phase of your actuarial career.

You will want to evaluate which ‘track’ feels more in keeping with who you are, what you want to do, and what you can offer your organization.

There might also be opportunity for you to move into Enterprise Risk Management.

Consultant

Technical Expert

Business Line Specialist

Operational Leader

Relationship Expert

Conflict Manager

Given the level of knowledge and experience you likely have amassed at this point in your career, you may be thinking about becoming a mentor yourself. There are lots of great tools on the Mentoring Advantage website that can assist you in your transition from mentee to mentor.

Keep in mind, even senior leaders talk about the importance and value they place on being mentored throughout their career.

Your time with a mentor may be most beneficial if the discussion has a focus on best practices in decision making, strategic thinking, and/or growing your capacity as a leader

You have amassed a great deal of knowledge and expertise in a relatively short period of time.

One key element at this stage in your career is not to lose sight of the value continuous education and development can provide.

Advanced level continuing education targeted to your area of focus within the industry can help you continue to hone your insurance knowledge to compliment your wealth of actuarial expertise.

The Chartered Insurance Professional (CIP) designation may also be beneficial if you are considering applying your actuarial expertise in alternate streams in the insurance sector.

As you continue to hone your subject matter expertise and grow your experience, it is not uncommon to continue to experience an increase in autonomy and decision making power.

The decisions you are making at this stage in your career can often impact the overall financial health of the organization you represent and their approach to business.

Typically at this point in your career your skills and experiences will be focused on:

• Transitioning to and serving as a technical consultant to a team of actuaries; this may also include cross functional support to underwriters, risk management, etc.

• Providing expert advice and business decision support to underwriting leads, loss control, accounting, risk management, etc. to facilitate new product development, ensure business optimization, and effective claims management

• Developing capacity to transfer knowledge, provide counsel, and/or lead teams effectively

• Managing and facilitating the process of rate making, reserving, and managing risk appropriately

• Contributing to/leading projects implementing new or revised actuarial rules, technology support/systems, etc.

• You may also be growing your capacity and comfort level in leading and managing teams.

You may be interested in volunteering as a member of a local council, becoming seminar leader or working on a national task force

There may also be opportunities to participate in research being conducted within the industry, roundtable/panel discussions, or to present on a topic at an industry conference or event.

Continue to engage your insurance network through participation in industry events, conferences, and functions.

This stage of your career allows for you to offer your deep knowledge of the actuarial and underwriting function to the benefit of others. This can come in the form of being a technical expert of moving into a capacity where you are managing people.

Both facets will require you to ensure you have capacity or experience in building cross functional relationships, managing conflict effectively, and have a high degree of comfort in taking complex principles and communicating them in an accessible way (both verbally and written) to colleagues, clients, senior management, and external stakeholders.

If you are on a people management track, you may be looking to expand your experience in building effective teams, fostering a climate of engagement, and building your management skills.

This stage may also provide an opportunity for ‘stretch’ assignments with a leadership focus, leading project teams/internal committees, or managing day-to-day functions within your department.