Name: Harvard Lee

Company: Standard Life

Age: 27

Year of joining Actuarial Profession: 2003

Year of joining current company: 2003

Exams passed to date: Qualified 2005

Why did you choose to become an actuary?

Many years ago, I was told that it meant earning lots of money and only doing hard sums - how shallow was I then!

As I mature in thought, I realised that being an actuary fortunately means a lot more than that. Actuaries are professionals who are highly skilled in mathematics, statistics, finance, accounting and economics. They are also individuals who possess business skills that allow them to develop and effectively communicate highly technical solutions to real business problems. It is this combination of skills that makes an actuary a very adaptable and highly valued professional – which is also perhaps why it is often so difficult to describe what an actuary is or does in a way other professions can!

Did you find it hard to adjust to working life when you first started?

It wasn’t hard but certainly very different from what I was used to at university. You are expected to be fully switched on for the whole course of the working day. This is unlike university I was used to having considerable breaks in between classes and afternoon naps during the weekdays. Coming back from a 3 month summer holiday also didn’t help. It didn’t take me long to adjust but it was certainly a bit of a shock to the system initially.

How do you find balancing work and study?

I didn’t find this particularly difficult. Starting early and developing a good, steady study pace that suits you is key. Having a very supportive company and manager (also an actuary) who saw my progress through exams just as important as carrying out my responsibilities as work has helped tremendously too.

How relevant are the exams you’ve studied to the job you do? (i.e. Do you apply what you've learned?)

Some exams will be more relevant than others. I work in the life insurance practice area. A considerable part of my job requires me to understand and interpret some very complex stochastic modelling work that is done by others. As such Core Technical modules such as Financial Economics, Time Series and Life Contingencies become very relevant. There are parts of my studies that will not be directly relevant to my work (e.g. general insurance). That said, it does give me a sense of appreciation of what actuaries do in other practice areas and the different techniques that they apply to solve their problems. You never know when you may to adapt something in a novel way to provide a solution to problems in your practice area – we’ve certainly seen a lot of this between the investment and life insurance world.

How easy is it to move between departments in your company?

Relatively easy. In fact, my company encourages this as it recognises the importance of actuarial students getting exposed to a range of work experiences and developing a breadth of skills before they qualify. Students in my company typically rotate every 2 years. They have conversations about this with their line managers and mentors several months before their move to identify the suitable placements. A student management committee then meets and considers every student’s preferences in line with their development and business needs. In most if not all cases, students will be placed in their preferred departments.

Which is better, in your opinion? To change roles frequently or to remain in one area where you can build up a strong level of expertise?

Changing roles is a very good way of getting a breadth of experience and skills especially when you are a student. Actuarial careers are also very broad and it is useful to get insight into a sufficiently broad range of actuarial work to allow a student to discover what they might like or not like in a particular role. This is unless you are very clear you want to specialise in a particular practice area at the very outset. You should also ensure that you’ve truly understood the role and made the most of it from a development aspect before moving on. The time this takes will depend on how quickly an individual develops and how large the roles are.