I posted this thread about the problems I've been having since being terminated from my P&C actuarial job.
As of this September, I got a job in pension administration working for a very large consulting firm - the job is non-actuarial, and there's no exam support, but I work with a lot of ASAs, FSAs and EAs in my day-to-day work. My performance at this job has been much better than it was at my last job - I got fired from my last job for low performance, whereas at this job, I've been told that I'm doing very well, and that I'm in the top 10% of new analysts. I've been assigned a lot of special projects from multiple different clients, and I've also been offered projects from other lines of business - including actuarial.
I've done a lot of lurking on this forum and it seems like a lot of people think that the pension field is dying - however, it seems like the company I work for is growing quickly and hiring a lot of new people. I've also heard that pensions can be dull and monotonous, whereas P&C work is fast-paced and constantly changing - however, I've had the opposite experience - my P&C work was basically the same thing day after day, whereas my assignments at this pension consulting firm are constantly changing - and getting more interesting.
1) Is pensions really as bad as everyone says it is? Given that I'm still fairly early on in my career, is it a good idea to look into switching out, or is there still a lot of potential for a career in pensions?
2) Does my performance mean I've improved my work habits, or does it just mean that pension admin work is a lot easier than P&C actuarial work?
3) How much does pension admin work have in common with pension actuarial work - or any kind of actuarial work? Will the experience transfer if I switch to an actuarial role?
4) Since my job doesn't have exam support, I've had to take time to study for an exam on my own - it's been about nine months or so since I passed an exam, and I recently sat for - and failed - MFE. Given that I've currently passed P/FM/ST/LC/C, should I keep taking actuarial exams, or is it probably a better idea to wait until I've got a better idea of what I want to do with my career?
As of this September, I got a job in pension administration working for a very large consulting firm - the job is non-actuarial, and there's no exam support, but I work with a lot of ASAs, FSAs and EAs in my day-to-day work. My performance at this job has been much better than it was at my last job - I got fired from my last job for low performance, whereas at this job, I've been told that I'm doing very well, and that I'm in the top 10% of new analysts. I've been assigned a lot of special projects from multiple different clients, and I've also been offered projects from other lines of business - including actuarial.
I've done a lot of lurking on this forum and it seems like a lot of people think that the pension field is dying - however, it seems like the company I work for is growing quickly and hiring a lot of new people. I've also heard that pensions can be dull and monotonous, whereas P&C work is fast-paced and constantly changing - however, I've had the opposite experience - my P&C work was basically the same thing day after day, whereas my assignments at this pension consulting firm are constantly changing - and getting more interesting.
1) Is pensions really as bad as everyone says it is? Given that I'm still fairly early on in my career, is it a good idea to look into switching out, or is there still a lot of potential for a career in pensions?
2) Does my performance mean I've improved my work habits, or does it just mean that pension admin work is a lot easier than P&C actuarial work?
3) How much does pension admin work have in common with pension actuarial work - or any kind of actuarial work? Will the experience transfer if I switch to an actuarial role?
4) Since my job doesn't have exam support, I've had to take time to study for an exam on my own - it's been about nine months or so since I passed an exam, and I recently sat for - and failed - MFE. Given that I've currently passed P/FM/ST/LC/C, should I keep taking actuarial exams, or is it probably a better idea to wait until I've got a better idea of what I want to do with my career?
Great at my job, OK at exams, not sure what to do