962017 Penn State Actuarial Science Club Agenda Professors Advice Big picture Visa Issues General Resources How to enrich Resume Graduate School Name Company Program Location Victoria Tang ID: 793051
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Slide1
International Student Meeting
9/6/2017
Penn State Actuarial Science Club
Slide2Agenda
Professor’s Advice
Big picture
Visa Issues
General Resources
How to enrich Resume
Graduate School
Slide3Name
Company / Program
Location
Victoria Tang
Willis Towers Watson
Washington DC
Christin
a
Lei
Voya Financial
West Chester, PA
Yalan
Y
u
BC/BS of Western New York
Buffalo, NY
Byung
Kyu
Choi
Masters in Applied Statistics
State College, PA
Slide4Professor’s Advice
Nan Zhu, PHD & FSA
Teaches RM 415 (Pricing Derivatives) in Fall
Teaches RM 411( Pricing Life Insurance) in Spring
Slide5Big Picture
U.S
Pros: #1 Job & STEM
Cons: Sponsorship & Supply > Demand
China
Pros: Developing industry & Increasing opportunity
Cons: Higher Degree Preferred
Canada / Singapore / Hong Kong / UK
Slide6Visa Sponsorship
For internships
CPT (Curricular Practical Training)
Eligibility ( a full-time basis for one academic year)
For Full time jobs
OPT (Optional Practice Training)
12 months; 24 months OPT extention for STEM major
Additional year of OPT at each higher degree level ( i.e. Bachelor’s, Master’s ,PHD)
H1B Visa
Slide7General Resources
Job searching / application
SmealConnect
/
NLCN
VISA sponsorship availability shown on posted job pages
LinkedIn
Resume review
Career and Corporate connection office / Bank of America
Mentor
Slide8Education
GPA (cumulative & major)
Major & Minor
Actuarial Exams
How to prepare
Timeline
Important to pass Exam P & FM in Sophomore year
3 exams to get full-time jobs
Changes in August 2018
Slide9Related Work Experience
One is better than nothing
What recruiters are looking for:
Communication
Leadership
Teamwork
Ability to learn
Problem Solving
Slide10Extracurricular
Never too late to start
PSU resources: Clubs / Community Services
Get connected with other students
Join Actuarial Science club events!
Be confident and find your passion
Leadership roles (but not as purpose)
Slide11Skills
Communication skills
Interviews, emails, daily conversations
Software
Excel
VBA
SAS
R
SQL
Slide12Graduate School
Why is it a good option?
How to prepare for the application?
GPA
Recommendation letter
Activities
Interviews
Standard test
Penn State Masters in Applied Statistics Program (M.A.S)
Slide13Penn State Alumni advice
GPA is important, but there are things that are WAY more important than GPA.
Whenever you start thinking getting internship or full time job via internal referral, that’s the time you start NOT making progress.
Whenever Something is easy to do or achieve, that thing must have the least value to differentiate yourself from others (in a good way), which will put you on a tougher spot in the job market.
-- Luke Yang
Slide14Start early – there are a lot of things you can and need to learn and prepare.
Get out of your comfort zone – interact more with native students. How can someone do well in interviews if they don’t even feel comfortable to chat with people in English?
Look for opportunities outside of the classroom – so that you have good answers to your behavioral questions that stand out. It’s hard for the recruiters to remember you if you talk about group projects all the time like everyone else. This also gives you the opportunity to connect with recruiters if they happen to have similar experience.
Practice – do mock interviews. You can definitely do those with your close friends, but it’s usually better if you find people who are more experienced with interviews and are less familiar with you. Always remember to ask for feedback.
--Qiya Zhang
Slide15Get out of your comfort zone and be involved in whatever your interests are. Show your passion and dedication.
Improve your weakness instead of worrying about them.
-- Lanjing Wang