 Student Case Studies
"I gained excellent experience in the role of an actuarial trainee... my experience was extremely worthwhile and enjoyable."
(Fiona McCarte)
Perhaps the best way to understand what a placement year involves is to read about other students' experiences.
Here are the experiences of a number of different students, who all undertook actuarial placements during their degree course.
Alan Moore, City University
Meshali Ruparelia, University College London (UCL)
Gillian Roxburgh, Heriot-Watt
Munawer Shafi, City University
Fiona McCarte, Heriot-Watt
Greig Bingham, Heriot-Watt
Ashley McMillan, Heriot-Watt
Matthew Madahar, University of Southampton
| Alan Moore |  |
| University: | City University, London |
| Course: | BSc Actuarial Science |
| Placement Year: | Bristol |
"I would definitely recommend the year out to other second year students"
After attending a presentation given by Mark and David outlining some of the benefits of a placement scheme, I decided that I wanted to take advantage of a year out in business. However I was reluctant to interrupt my studies by taking time out to fill in an application form for every company that was recruiting. Alpha therefore, seemed like the perfect solution; I would fill out their application, and they would liaise with several companies on my behalf to try and find a suitable employer.
The first step was a mock interview with Mark. He gave great feedback on my answers, and explained how I could structure my responses to demonstrate the qualities that interviewers would be looking for. I found this session invaluable when it came to my actual interview, and was successful in securing a place with a major actuarial employer in Bristol.
Initially I was reluctant to relocate for the year, but looking back, I am glad I did. It was refreshing to get a change of scenery, and I made lots of friends in Bristol, both in and out of work.
Prior to the placement I was worried that I might just be given the boring menial tasks that nobody else wanted. In fact, my job was at the same level as a new graduate on the company’s actuarial trainee scheme. I was given the opportunity to develop not only technical skills, but gain experience in talking to sales staff and communicating with people in several departments of the company, including sales, financial reporting, pensions, protection, and investments. This helped give me a flavour of the actuarial profession as a whole, not just limiting me to the area I was working in.
I managed to secure a graduate job offer with my placement year employer, and the work experience proved to be a good foundation for my final year dissertation - my main aims at the start of the placement period.
I would definitely recommend the year out to other second year students.
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| Meshali Ruparelia |  |
| University: | University College London (UCL) |
| Course: | Statistics, Computing, Operational Research & Economics (SCORE) |
| Placement Year: | London |
"I found the whole placement enjoyable, challenging and invaluable..."
At the end of my second year at university I decided to take up the opportunity of a placement year in Actuarial. I remember thinking at the beginning of my degree that I would never take a year off my studies, however now that I have I really have no regrets!
Alpha’s interview and coaching process were invaluable and when it came to my first interview I felt prepared and confident. After being offered a job in Paddington I began my 14 month placement in June 2007.
My role as an Actuarial Analyst within the Retirement Income Reporting team involved a variety of tasks related to statutory valuation. This gave me great experience in quarterly valuations undertaken to calculate liabilities along with setting up and running actuarial modelling systems such as MoSes. I was heavily involved in the full year-end valuation which was a busy time of the year, but also very rewarding.
Within the team I was treated just like a new graduate and worked with all levels of people within actuarial. I was given responsibility for tasks early on in my placement which I feel helped to develop my understanding and give me a true insight of an actuarial role. I got to know other team members through regular social events and I will definitely be keeping in touch with all of them.
All in all I found the whole placement enjoyable, challenging and invaluable in giving me hands on experience of life as an actuary. I got a feel for how trainees mix work and study for the tough exams and how the company helps through its study support policy.
After 6 months I was pleased to be offered a permanent graduate position with the company following my graduation in 2009.
Thanks Alpha for opening up an opportunity that I never knew would be so beneficial!
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| Gillian Roxburgh |  |
| University: | Heriot-Watt, Edinburgh |
| Course: | Actuarial Maths & Statistics |
| Placement Year: | Stirling |
"I thoroughly enjoyed my placement. It gave me a valuable insight into the actuarial profession"
At the end of my third (penultimate) year at university I decided the best way to gain valuable actuarial work experience was to take a year out from my studies and work as an actuarial sandwich student.
Through the Alpha scheme I was offered a job in Stirling and started in July 2005.
I was assigned to the Financial Reporting team where I gained in-depth knowledge of a variety of reporting measures through the production of year-end and mid-year financial results.
I was given the opportunity to set up and run actuarial models, and over time was able to put into practice techniques for analysis and interpretation of modelled results.
Although an undergraduate, I was treated as a junior level actuarial trainee in the level of work I was completing, and as a result I blended in well as a member of the team.
My colleagues were extremely willing to help with any problems I had, and encouraged me to further my knowledge of actuarial concepts.
Working closely with other trainees allowed me to see how they balance both working and studying, and I was given excellent advice on how to achieve this when I begin working life.
There were regular social events organised within the team, which made it easy to get to know my colleagues, many of whom I remain good friends with after leaving the company.
I thoroughly enjoyed my placement. It gave me a valuable insight into the actuarial profession and I was fortunate enough to secure a graduate role with the company upon graduation.
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| Munawer Shafi |  |
| University: | City, London |
| Course: | Actuarial Science |
| Placement Year: | Bristol |
"Overall the whole experience has been really good..."
I worked in the life insurance arm of a Life Insurer during my work placement. I started with Pension Pricing team, based in Bristol, and was later rotated to Protection Pricing team.
From the very beginning I was given interesting and serious work to do. I started by producing management information statistics for the company, which helps management make product strategy decisions.
Soon I was involved in pricing of pension and investment products and was dealing directly with sales staff and answering their queries.
My work had a very good balance of technical and soft skills e.g. when pricing products I had to take into account small details and use mathematical models to price products.
However, when I was dealing with sales staff I needed to explain my pricing decisions to them in a simple language that was easy for them to understand.
I moved from London to Bristol for my placement. At first I was a bit scared as I didn’t know anyone in Bristol. However I think it was a good decision to move to Bristol. It’s a lively city with lots of things to do and now I have loads of friends both in Bristol and London.
Overall the whole experience has been really good. I managed to see the bigger picture of the actuarial work and how the theory I learnt in university is actually applied to real-life problems.
Also, mu placement year employer has offered me a graduate position for next year and I am looking forward to working for them again.
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| Fiona McCarte |  |
| University: | Heriot-Watt, Edinburgh |
| Course: | Actuarial Maths & Statistics |
| Placement Year: | Stirling |
"I found my experience extremely worthwhile and enjoyable"
Through the Alpha Sandwich Scheme, I started a one-year placement in the Financial Reporting department in July 2005.
During my placement, I was treated as a graduate student and was given tasks of a similar standard to graduates who had fully completed their degree.
This meant I gained excellent experience in the role of an actuarial trainee through tasks such as producing and reporting quarterly financial results and setting-up and running actuarial modelling systems.
I received invaluable training in specialist actuarial computer programs that are used throughout the actuarial profession.
My colleagues were very welcoming and were always willing to offer help, ensuring that I understood the task I was carrying out. As well as this, working with a number of actuarial trainees of different levels gave me an insight into how they achieve a good balance between work and studying for actuarial exams, which I'm sure will be invaluable in the future.
In addition, I got to know other members of the department through regular social events and remain good friends with a number of my colleagues.
I found my experience extremely worthwhile and enjoyable and I was delighted to be offered a permanent graduate position with the company, commencing after graduation in 2007.
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| Greig Bingham |  |
| University: | Heriot-Watt |
| Course: | Actuarial Maths & Statistics |
| Placement Year: | Southampton |
"I enjoyed a wide range of exciting challenges...it was both challenging and extremely enjoyable"
Having attended a talk by Alpha Consulting at my university I immediately knew that a sandwich year would be a fantastic opportunity to gain some valuable experience in some actuarial work.
In the initial stages Alpha helped with both my CV and my interview techniques before finding a suitable position for me to fill.
Following an interview with the company I was offered a role with the Financial Reporting team starting September 2005.
I enjoyed a wide range of exciting challenges testing my knowledge as well as my communication, teamwork and problem solving skills.
During the placement I was treated more like a graduate than someone on work experience. I was heavily involved in the company's first Individual Capital Assessment to be audited by the FSA.
This was a huge task in which I had a key role in setting up the MoSes actuarial models to value the impact of certain events such as interest rate fluctuations and changes in mortality. I was also involved in the company's main year-end valuation.
The staff were all very friendly offering help with my work as much as possible. The many social events made it very easy to get to know everyone, this was particularly helpful a long way from home.
I would recommend the experience to anyone thinking of going on a placement year; it was both challenging and extremely enjoyable throughout.
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| Ashley McMillan |  |
| University: | Heriot-Watt |
| Course: | Actuarial Maths & Statistics |
| Placement Year: | Stratford-on-Avon |
"I have found the sandwich scheme invaluable in terms of insight into life as an actuary"
Thanks to Alpha, I have been able to complete a year-long actuarial sandwich placement, and secure a graduate role once I finish university.
Alpha acted as the intermediary between the various companies and myself through forwarding my CV and setting up interviews. This allowed minimal disruption during my studies.
Once on placement, they took a step back in terms of the amount of contact I had with them, but I knew they were only a call/email away to deal with any queries if needed.
During my placement I was treated as a valid member of the team and all my colleagues were very welcoming and approachable. It was interesting to see how the students balanced work/study/social time and this will help when I find myself sitting the professional exams.
I was based in the Valuation section within the Life Actuarial department and was given plenty of tasks to build on my knowledge of actuarial work. Although not exhaustive, these included: unit pricing, asset/liability matching, movements analysis, year-end valuation tasks and creating reserve value spreadsheets.
I was also trained to use Prophet and spent some time on policy calculation work (e.g. surrender values for various products).
I have found the sandwich scheme invaluable in terms of insight into life as an actuary, and believe that the knowledge I have gained during the placement will aid my final year of studies at university and beyond.
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| Matthew Madahar | |
| University: | Southampton |
| Course: | Maths & Actuarial Studies |
| Placement Year: | Southampton |
"The people are friendly and were always willing to answer my questions"
The first few weeks were a steep learning curve. Training involved becoming familiar with the company's products and the IT systems that support these. People were always happy and willing to help with any training problems.
At the end of my placement I had experience using MS Excel (which included programming macros in VBA), MS Access, and SQL Server.
For the first few weeks I was given simple jobs such as updating spreadsheets and producing simple Management Information. After my training was completed I was given larger tasks such as retrieving data, developing spreadsheets and systems testing. The type of work I did was similar to that of a junior actuarial student.
I also got to know the various roles actuaries have in a life company. Now I can appreciate the difference between an actuary who has management responsibilities and one that has a technical role.
The insight into the life of an actuarial student is the most important thing I have learnt about during my placement. Careers books and advisers will tell you that it is hard to qualify as an actuary. Having seen at first hand the study regime that actuarial students go through, I am better prepared to take on the challenge myself.
The large number of actuarial students in my department means that there are always lots of social events after work. The people are friendly and were always willing to answer my questions regarding their experience in the actuarial industry.
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If you are interested in applying for a placement position yourself, please submit your application using the following link: Apply
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Student Case Studies
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Students have been taking actuarial placements with us for 10 years - here are the stories of some of the students we have helped...
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Student Testimonials
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Comments from some of the students who have undertaken placement years with actuarial employers
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