People are often curious about how an actuary (simplest definition – insurance mathematician) morphed into a career coach who focuses on job search strategy, particularly how to market oneself.
Part of the curiosity comes from the magnitude of the shift, and part from the fact that actuaries are not known for their people skills. The stereotype is that the outgoing actuary looks at your shoes instead of theirs while talking to you.
Now obviously that is just a stereotype, and there are many, many outgoing, personable actuaries. But like any technical profession, there’s a reason the image persists.
I started out as your typical Math nerd, always interested in the mathematics and logic behind things. I knew for sure that whatever I did would involve Math.
My concept going into college was that I would probably go on to graduate work, and I jumped into the honors program in the Math department. Then I tried doing an independent study with one of my professors, and found myself completely unmotivated by blue-skying Math problems. Since research was clearly not my forte, I looked around for something else, and a family friend who was a prominent actuary told me about his profession. That sounded really interesting, and was a practical application of my penchant for Math.
So I set out to earn my actuarial credentials (a grueling, multi-year process). But one of my ‘calling cards’ was that people were often surprised to learn I was an actuary, or told me, “You’re not like other actuaries.” And throughout my actuarial career, I gravitated towards making presentations, sought out work on interesting committees only tangentially related to my formal job, and pursued leadership and personal development opportunities.
I always enjoyed mentoring others, and thought that one day I might ‘retire’ into teaching Math in a high school. But along the way, my goals shifted.
When I became Chief Actuary of my company, I found out that there was a plan in place for our company to merge into our parent. There would be no Chief Actuary at that point, and in fact most of the work would simply be absorbed without the current personnel. I was actually relieved, as I had felt for some time that I was ready for a new challenge outside of traditional actuarial work.
Since this is getting to be a long post, I’m going to leave it here, and finish the story tomorrow. If you have any questions or observations, leave a comment!
I do believe that the number one problem most of us have is a lack of understanding how to promote ourselves effectively. Self-promotion (now called Personal Branding, a term that give me the heebie jeebies) is important. We have to be our biggest advocate, especially in the workplace!
Kandas: Absolutely.
Most tend to confuse self-promotion with bragging. When you learn how to do it in context, in a natural way, it becomes very powerful. The same statement that might come across as bragging when you throw it out unasked, can be very effective when delivered in response to a question, like “what do you do?”
In the workplace (and in your own business), you can’t afford to hide your light under a bushel. Mastering the skill of self-promotion makes all the difference.
One simple technique is to avoid adding the adjectives:
https://jhacareers.com/adjectives/
I have just done a career switch as well – from tech to teach.. and find myself answering some of those questions you mention as well as (re)learning what I need to in this new role
Vidya:
One suggestion:
1. Make a list of the mission critical activities in which you need to engage to be successful in your teaching career.
2. Now rate each of them on two scales: Your Ability and The Challenge You Face
Anything where the challenge far exceeds your ability (say a 10 vs. a 4) is one where you should seek out help as quickly as possible, as it will hold you back. Seek a mentor, a book, a class, a coach, …
Anything where the reverse is true (say a 4 vs. a 10) is something where you feel you have serious mastery, and will be tempted not to pay attention. That may be a source of hidden potential. See what you can do to leverage that skill into other areas.