More Career Tips

While finding an internship is one of the most direct routes to getting an entry-level position after graduating, there are a variety of ways that networking and doing your “career homework” can help at any stage of pursuing an actuarial career.

Company information sessions

Every year, St. Olaf hosts info sessions from insurance companies headquartered in (or with a strong presence in) the Twin Cities.  From the company’s perspective, these are a way to gauge interest in the actuarial profession at St. Olaf, and potentially convince some truly great students to apply for positions.  From a student’s perspective, these info sessions can be very helpful for learning more about a company’s actuarial department – including when to apply, what kind of training or development programs they may offer, and so on.  They also provide you with a chance to connect (however briefly) with a St. Olaf alumni from the company.

Below are some of the companies who consistently come for info sessions, with a link to the actuarial section of their careers site:

Visit the Piper Center

As with many other career paths, the Piper Center is very helpful for actuarial science.  They can help you:

  • Determine if the actuarial career path is right for you
  • Learn more about companies that have good opportunities for prospective actuaries
  • Prepare you for the Job and Internship Fair, and other events
  • Build or revise your resume and cover letter to help make your courses, actuarial exams, and relevant experiences stand out to potential employers
  • Practice and prepare for interviews and job offers
  • Connect with alumni (see below)

When scheduling an appointment on Handshake, Kirsten Cahoon and Bryan Shealer will be your main contacts.

Network with alumni

Talking with alumni is great for getting more background on how it actually feels to work as an actuary, and how their time at St. Olaf prepared them for the career (and/or could have prepared them better).  While info sessions are helpful, talking with alumni will likely result in less of a “sales pitch” feel to the conversation.

The Piper Center hosts several events to help students connect with alumni, including:

  • Employer Connect – This is a program designed to help you learn about and make connections with key employers in a casual, low-stakes environment; [it can be particularly useful for easing yourself into the networking, job fair world].  Each recruiter gives a brief pitch to introduce their company and the kinds of positions they are looking to hire for, followed by a networking fair in the Tomson Atrium where students can build deeper connections and ask questions one-on-one.  [Ameriprise Financial and Securian come to the event pretty regularly, and there tend to be several other insurance or finance companies who may be worth talking to about actuarial positions.] (See here for an overview of the schedule, and to get a sense of what other kinds of companies will be attending.)
  • Ole Biz – an event organized by Twin Cities Ole business alumni for Ole students and Oles in business, for the purpose of connecting those who are interested and involved in business.  [While there may not be full-time actuaries attending every year, there are plenty of alumni in data analytics or other similar positions who may be able to help point you in the right direction.]  (Information for Ole Biz 2016)

Outside of official events, the best ways to get in touch with alumni are using the Ole Alumni Directory and LinkedIn, but be sure to ask the Piper Center for help in connecting with alumni before using these avenues.