<p>Most medical jobs are immune to offshore outsourcing. Plain “outsourcing” includes firing all of your people involved in mailing and shipping and hiring UPS to do everything for you, or getting rid of your copy center people and handing the keys over to Kinko’s.</p>
<p>Still there are problems with some types of outsourcing which haven’t really bit enough people in the ass yet for them to think twice about it. Wait until somebody offshores too much general ledger work overseas and has a financial reporting disaster as a result. It will happen sooner or later. I know some of you don’t get much historical background in your classes but the business world is just as susceptible to fads as the rest of the world. Taylorism was overdone and begot awful employer/employee relationships, leveraged buyouts seemed clever but created underperforming debt laden disasters, JIT works well but companies that shouldn’t have tried it did anyway, etc.</p>
<p>Lol @ talking about CPAnet. That place is filled with everyone who is unemployed. Nobody who IS employed goes there so it looks like so many people are unemployed. My school got 89% of its accounting students accounting related jobs. </p>
<p>And please - economists are the biggest bunch of idiots in this world. They are like fantasy football experts. They predict things according to relevant past data and when they get something right they look smart but majority of the time they’re wrong.</p>
<p>I thought it was like a sure thing for accounting majors to get a good internship turned job if you have at least a 3.2 and passed the damned intermediate accounting class. A lot of my friends who fit the description got big 4 internships and jobs. I’m expecting to land an internship in a couple months.</p>
<p>As for being an actuary, I heard its freaking hard. Lots of math. More than the basic math you do in accounting. The exams are difficult even for experienced mathematicians.</p>
<p>Well you heard wrong. Nothing is a “sure thing” except taxes and death. There are plenty of stories about people with 4.0s getting rejected by the B4.</p>
<p>Most actuaries have degrees in math, actuary science, or statistics. Of course that is not required, but a degree in some relevant field is required. </p>
<p>In order to get an entry level job as an actuary the hiring company wants to see 1 or 2 exams passed, usually the Exam P and Exam FM. Unless you have a degree in Actuarial Science, most employers do not want to see you with more than 1 or 2 exams passes (for entry level). I’ve read that AS majors may pass up to 4 exams before getting a job, but its not always recommended.</p>
<p>Without significant studying and background in mathematics, those exams are very difficult. Hell, they are difficult for those with significant backgrounds in mathematics.</p>
<p>You need to know a lot about probability and financial math. If those are not your strong suits you probably need to study for a good 2 or 3 months before attempting an actuary exam.</p>
<p>Well, I decided that acturary is not for me. No offense, but I have not found most of the advice in this thread helpful as I was trying to discuss specifically JOB PROSPECTS and it seems that everything was discussed except job prospects. Here in NYC, there are only 7 acturary positions on Monster. In the entire federal government (USAJobs.gov), there is only 1 actuary position. I don’t know why the media and some people keep talking about how it is such a great job when in fact there are very few job postings for acturaries.</p>
<p>To be a successful actuary takes a certain kind of person and to be a successful investment banker takes a certain kind of person. Although the educational background for these fields overlaps, the personality type is quite distinct between the folks who do well in each profession. If you are a strong-willed, highly social, persuasive, creative, investment banker type personality, you may not be happy, or successful, as an actuary and vice versa. Before deciding what to do with your life, why don’t you try to find a successful actuary and spend a little time with them?</p>
<p>Go to DWSimpson.com to find out more about becoming an actuary, including job prospects.</p>
<p>There are not a lot of actuary positions available, but there also are not a lot of people that are qualified to be actuaries. So job prospects are good. Actuaries are very well paid, but it’s not easy to get to the level where high salaries are achieved. Passing 7 actuary exams to get to $150k+ usually takes somebody upwards of 10 years. The exams are supposed to be some of the most difficult professional examinations around.</p>
<p>Most actuaries are developing risk models and evaluating situations based on those risk models. If you are a life insurance actuary, you are trying to determine the likelihood that the insurance policy holder will die, and when they will die. They then make financial decisions on premium cost, and how much the insurance company should hold in reserves. A strong background in mathematics, statistics, probability, and finance is needed for actuaries.</p>
<p>Well, thanks for the insights. However, I was browing through the forums at actuary.com and it seems that far more people pass the exams then there are new jobs availabe:</p>
<p>“For example, I just looked at the numbers that the CAS has available for the public on their website.
According to the BLS, there are approximately 18,000 actuaries employed in the U.S. But how many people are passing the exams?
According to CAS, in 2008 the number of passes for each exam were:
Exam 1: 5629
Exam 2: 4342
Exam 3: 2643 (Both combined)
Exam 4: 1637
Exam 5: 428
Exam 6: 293
Exam 7: 273
Exam 8: 201
Exam 9: 188”</p>
<p>My school requires I take the Exam P as part of my Statistics degree, although I really don’t have any desire to become an actuary at this time. So I will be taking the exam next April. If I pass I will add to that number.</p>
<p>So a lot of people take (and pass) the first 4 exams, while never actually becoming actuaries…and with no desire to become an actuary.</p>
<p>You will find many CFOs and other financial analysts that have passed some of the Actuary exams, because it helps with their career. Look at exam 5 and above, because those are usually only taken by practicing actuaries.</p>
<p>It is true though, there are not a lot of “actuary” positions across the country, but the skills represented by the actuary field cross over to other jobs; data analyst, financial analyst, risk management, statistician, etc.</p>
<p>Also, keep in mind that the same person may be contributing to exams 1-4, as there is no prerequisite to sit for those exams. To get to exam 5 and above I’m pretty sure you need to have passed the first 4. You can start with exam 3, then take 1, then 2 then 4, yadda, yadda, yadda.</p>
<p>LOL, I was using it to make a point, not that MOST CFOs have taken actuary exams, but just because you have taken actuary exams doesn’t mean you are a practicing actuary. </p>
<p>The “many” is representative of the sample of people that took actuary exams. “Many” go on to do other things…such as CFO, financial analyst, data analyst, statistician, etc.</p>
<p>I probably worded it poorly in my post looking back at it.</p>
<p>Most firms, you are required to take HR courses and actuarial classes on site. Typically your first year rotation is pretty much studying for more exams (exam hours from work) and doing some excel work (vlookup, what ifs, and pivot tables). No too much going on and not too much different than most first year jobs in finance.</p>