<p>I've always heard that acturaries, after investment bankers, are some of the highest paid business majors out there. I was thinking of becoming one over the past few weeks, but after reading the BLS website, I became concerned about job propsects for them:</p>
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<p>Competition for jobs will be keen as the number of qualified candidates is expected to exceed the number of positions available. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, growth may be, to a degree, offset by corporate downsizing and consolidation of the insurance industrythe largest employer of actuaries. Life insurance companies, for example, are expected to increasingly shed high level actuarial positions as companies merge and streamline operations. Pension actuaries will also experience declining demand. </p>
<p>Job seekers are likely to face competition because the number of job openings is expected to be less than the number of qualified applicants.</p>
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<p>What does everyone think? Is this a good profession? Any acturary majors out there or practicing acturaries who can shed some light? Thanks!</p>
<p>You should check out the actuary exams first before considering. If you can’t pass the exams, you won’t get hired. Just google sample questions.</p>
<p>The job market is tough for all positions but actuary is a very good field to be in. Great hours and great pay. High starting salary.</p>
<p>Yes, I know the basics of what an acturary does. And of course I know how to become an acturary: you get a degree in acturial science. Currently I have an accounting degree. I can’t find a job and do not want a 2nd degree tha will not give me job prospects. </p>
<p>I did some research over the past few weeks and have not found that acturaries have good job prospects, depsite what the media reports. Take this article for example:</p>
<p>U.S. Insurers Increasingly Outsourcing Actuarial Work to Overseas Talent</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Maybe it isn’t accounting. Maybe it’s you.</p></li>
<li><p>You obviously haven’t done your homework if you think that you need a degree in act. sci to become an actuary. Exams are everything.</p></li>
<li><p>You should study a healthcare field such as nursing, just like you keep telling everyone else to.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>If you can’t find a job with an Accounting degree, then either your GPA is too low, you’re doing something wrong in interviews, or your standards are way too high when you’re deciding for which jobs to apply. If any degree is going to get you a job, Accounting is one of them. So unless it is the first problem (GPA), and you get a second degree with a superb GPA, more educational credentials will not help you get a job and will only put you in more debt, making a bad situation worse. So if GPA is not a problem, you should find some way to practice and improve your interview skills - get a professional at your school’s career center or somewhere else to try to identify what is going wrong. I guess it could also be your resume too if you’re not even getting any interviews?</p>
<p>P.S.
Saw your last post. Well yeah, I have heard Actuaries have great job prospects as long as you keep passing the exams. But the job prospects are not any better than Accounting. If you’re thinking about becoming an Actuary just because you don’t want to be an Accountant, and not because you specifically want to be an Actuary, just get a non-accounting job with your current degree. That is why Accounting is so employable - employers hire Accounting majors for many other types of entry-level jobs besides Accounting.</p>
<p>You can look for an internship to pick up some experience. All you need is to do an accounting internship position for a few weeks and you’ll learn all the basics. While you work your internship, you can continue to apply for a full time</p>
<p>Lots of accountants are out of work, including experienced CPAs. Read through the forums at CPA Net. Accounting is not a “safe” profesison like the media claims it is. The Big 4 have even laid off lots of people.</p>
<p>Outsourcing is also in its infancy in the accounting profession.</p>
<p>Plenty of people are out of work regardless of what profession because we are currently in a recession. You can’t just base a career on one specific event or time frame. If you look at a profession in the long run or as a whole, when businesses pick up, and unemployment rates decrease and new businesses start to emerge, accounting is a very safe profession.</p>
<p>Most economists have predicted that we will not return to “normal” employment unil 2015-2017. People need to relaize that the economy is not just going to pick up and everyone will be employed again. Most of the jobs we lost are NEVER coming back. NEVER. During the boom years, many companies overhired and are now cutting back.</p>
<p>You also have to consider long term damage to many professions. When jobs are outsourced or consolidated, those jobs NEVER return, even if the economy improves.</p>
<p>Accounting jobs are definitely not immune to this recession, and neither are they immune to outsourcing (which has nothing to do with the recession). But what jobs are immune to recession? Practically none, and that includes actuary. Outsourcing? Once again, practically none unless you want to work as a high-skilled technical/physical labor person. But then those are vulnerable to wage reduction due to potential oversupply in the future. Nothing is “safe,” and if the media is saying Accounting is safe, then they are wrong. However, an Accounting degree is among the <em>most</em> safe relative to other degrees, because it gives you opportunities among a vast array of business jobs, both accounting and non-accounting (if you have a high GPA anyway - that comment is for others, I know you already mentioned your high GPA).</p>
<p>P.S.
The outsourced jobs will never come back. But all the other jobs will either come back, or there will be new kinds of jobs replacing them. You do know that a boom is not a one-time thing, that it is part of a business CYCLE, right? However, one thing will change after this recession. The jobs will come back, but I am sure the PAY will not. Business and politicians are cleverly hiding fundamental changes they are making to the economy during this “recession.” As business expands again in the future, a lot more people will have jobs. However, everyone will be struggling much harder to make a decent living. Higher hours, more stress, and lower pay will be the norm.</p>