“Never give up and never give in”. This summarises the key to achieving success in my job search. As an international student, it was obviously more difficult for me to land a full-time offer than a domestic student. A rough summer internship experience made me realize that my true interest in the actuarial field lies in the insurance company rather than the consulting firm. Knowing the direction to steer on, I relocated my entire focus to applying for insurance companies across the country. I have to give a big shout-out to Mr. Paul Maniaci for spending a huge amount of time helping practice mock interview sessions, proofreading follow-up emails, and even advising on how to interact with HR in a professional manner. It was tough and time-consuming. However, countless rejections did not break me down. By making good use of the resources around me, I followed Paul’s advice and used Big Interview to extensively practice my interview skills, especially the days before the actual interview. Before every single interview, I thoroughly researched the company’s website to make sure I had a clear understanding of the firm and what attracted me to them. With such scrupulous preparation, I managed to impress the interviewers with my well-sorted answers and obtain the offer in the end. It was a really long journey for me, especially with the economy slowing down and the consequent hiring freeze in 2022. I have encountered numerous obstacles along the way, such as a disappointing internship during last summer, but as long as we grow up from learning the past failures and mistakes and stay resilient instead of giving in, we will pass through any barrier on the road.
As an actuarial analyst at Aetna/CVS Health, I have the honor to be placed into their 6-year rotational program and each rotation will take 18-24 months. My first rotation mainly focuses on reserving for the healthcare benefits portion of CVS with the main reserve being IBNR (Incurred But Not Reported). Additionally, I take charge of various ad-hoc projects and seek to improve the productivity and efficiency of the whole team.
