Matthew Rudman

Actuarial Science, February 2011

1. Please describe your academic background including the reason(s) for enrolling in the M.S. program at the School of Continuing Education.

Before enrolling in Columbia’s School of Continuing Education, I attended Rutgers University, majoring in statistics/mathematics with a minor in economics. I knew that I wanted to attain a graduate degree at some point, so despite having already attained a job at Aon Hewitt by the time I graduated from Rutgers, I made the decision to attend graduate school immediately following my undergraduate study. Hearing the stories of my friends and family that detailed the challenges and disadvantages of going back to school after a long hiatus, I believe that this was one of the best decisions I could have made.

In addition to my goal of attaining a graduate degree, I decided to go to Columbia for the opportunities that graduating from a top-tier school can present. Even though many actuaries typically concentrate on becoming credentialed in one of the actuarial societies instead of pursuing higher-level degrees, I figured a master’s degree from Columbia would only benefit me moving forward.

2. Please describe your professional background leading up to your current position.

Before taking on an actuarial role at Aon Hewitt, being a lifeguard was the only job I had ever held. Early on, I found it difficult to prove to companies that I was a capable and strong candidate during my interviews since I had never worked in an office setting. I went on to find, however, that when applying for your first job, it is often more important to show an interviewer a willingness to learn and to have clear goals defined for yourself than it is to show competence in the field.  I didn’t get my job at Aon because I knew the ins-and-outs of being an actuary; rather, I got my job because I convinced my manager that I wanted this position more than anyone else who was interviewing. If you remember nothing else from my experiences – please remember this.

3. What is a typical day like in your current position?

The only typical aspects of my day are that I usually eat lunch after 2p.m. and I spend the majority of my time sitting in front of a computer. Anything else that happens throughout the day is a product of what comes up. This is common in the consulting arena, as any consulting actuary will tell you. When working in a consulting environment, you really have two bosses – your manager and your clients. Because we consultants are at the beck-and-call of our clients, a day can start out dull and then turn very busy after receiving just one email. For those researching the actuarial profession, this is the main difference between working in a consulting environment and a pure actuarial position typically found in an insurance company. If you were to ask what the typical day is for a consulting actuary, then ask the same question of an insurance actuary, you would get wildly different answers.

Also typical of starting out in the actuarial field are study days used to prepare for upcoming actuarial exams. Actuarial student programs within particular firms often offer paid days off in order to prepare for whatever exam you happen to be studying for at the time. While the work is difficult and demanding, I have found the work-life balance as an actuary to be quite manageable, given this benefit.

Aside from preparing for actuarial exams and catering to my clients’ needs, my core responsibilities include developing and projecting balance sheet liabilities and fiscal year expenses for my clients’ retirement and other post-employment benefits plans; valuing assets and developing quarterly contributions that my clients must make in order to keep their pension plans properly funded; and in the end, creating actuarial reports that fully disclose all of this information according to appropriate accounting standards.

4. How did the Actuarial Science program help you prepare for your career?

Any actuary will tell you the most important thing about your job as an actuarial student is to pass your exams. The M.S. Actuarial Science program at the School of Continuing Education offers a wide range of courses that are applicable to the first five preliminary actuarial exams required to become an associate. The program taught me how hard one needs to work in order to pass these actuarial exams. This, as well as the strong network of students all working towards similar goals, are the greatest intangibles that I took away from Columbia. I remain in close contact with many students that I studied with in the program, whom I regularly rely on when it comes to having a question about an exam I’m studying for or a question that is work related.

5. What advice would you give to students who wish to pursue careers in Actuarial Science?

I’ve touched on a few aspects of what’s important to get your foot in the door and keeping your position as an actuary, but one thing I haven’t discussed is how important it is to keep the career in perspective. Sometimes, especially nowadays, it can be a long journey to even get your first job; the light at the end of the tunnel can feel very far away. Once you get your first job as an actuary, initially, the light gets even farther. Passing all of your exams and becoming a fully credentialed actuary is a long and arduous process, so you must keep in mind that this isn’t a career that is going to propel you to the top with any immediacy. Actuaries are some of the smartest people I have ever met. They must have deep and developed knowledge of current government issues and policy; they must be able to identify inter-connecting trends that will affect their client’s business; they must bring a solution to any problem, big or small; they must retain all of the knowledge learned from what is widely considered the hardest professional certification curriculum there is; and above all, they must be able to communicate this vast body of knowledge to a client in a way that even a child could understand. Knowledge and skills like these only come with time and experience.