My Experience Landing a Job as an International Student
A year ago I was an international student studying at the University of Toronto. I am from China, and I decided to pursue my dream of becoming an actuary in Canada six years ago. There are lots of exciting opportunities there, but as I embarked on my job search, I realized that there were cultural and language gaps that presented unique challenges for international students searching for actuarial jobs in either the United States or Canada.
I learned from firsthand experience that there are steps you can take to help bridge these gaps and improve your chances of obtaining a job offer. By the time I graduated, I was able to successfully land my dream job as an Actuarial Analyst at Economical Insurance. Below are some tips that I found to be helpful to find an entry-level position, particularly as an international student:
1. Perfect Your Resume and Cover Letter
Having an outstanding resume will expedite the process of finding a job. Address all your strengths on your resume, putting special emphasis on your English skills, but try to keep everything within one page. Before you submit your resume, have someone conduct a thorough review. I recommend utilizing your university career center, or asking a friend or mentor to review your resume and make sure there are no grammatical mistakes. If you are applying for a specific position with a company, attaching a cover letter along with your resume will also help address your interests and qualifications.
2. Take Advantage of Every Networking Opportunity
Attend as many actuarial-related events or workshops as you can, especially the informational sessions. Dress properly, do your research and prepare some questions before entering the venue. This may give you more of a chance to communicate and impress potential employers. Don’t be shy, try to talk to every industry professional that attends the event. This is a perfect opportunity to get to know different companies.
3. Follow up with Employer Contacts
This tip goes for any student seeking a job, international or otherwise. Whether you are interviewing or networking, don’t forget to ask for each contact’s email address or business card. After the meeting, follow up within 24 hours by sending an email. The email body doesn’t have to be long, but make sure that it is well-written and emphasizes the key points that were brought up during your conversation. If you get a response from them, respond and keep the conversation going. Their response might be the signal of a good start! Catch the opportunity and rock it!
4. Familiarize Yourself With Your Country’s Immigration Regulations
In addition to the traditional challenges of finding a job after graduation, international students also have deal with navigating immigration laws. The best advice I can give you is to do your research and familiarize yourself with the process. I recommend visiting your country’s immigration website for guidance in this area since the process to obtain a work permit varies by country and individual situation.
RESUME DON’TS
MARGI PATEL, Actuarial Recruiter
For more than a decade, the CAS Trust Scholarship has been awarded annually to post-secondary student leaders dedicated to a career in casualty actuarial science. I am grateful to have been selected as one of this year’s winners and thrilled to have been offered an invitation and all-expenses-paid trip to the 2016 CAS Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, on top of the hefty $10,000 check towards my university tuition.
The Actuarial Students National Association (ASNA) is a student-led organization that was established by three individuals in 1990. It has now grown to include fourteen universities as member organizations. Our primary goal is to provide students a larger resource base, keeping them abreast with industry knowledge while they attend university, and to foster a dialogue between the member universities and professional organizations.
The CAS University Engagement Committee contacted Actuarial Careers, Inc., and invited them to write a blog post to provide you with tips on how to successfully advance through an interview process. We thank Actuarial Careers’ Robyn Taylor, Senior Vice President, for writing this post to share with members of CAS Student Central.  
e diverse number of career paths that an actuarial student can consider after college can seem daunting. A student must first weigh consulting versus company work and then consider whether Property & Casualty, Health, Life, or Pension work is right for them.
I didn’t dream about becoming an actuary when I was growing up. I didn’t research it as I was applying to colleges. I didn’t even plan on it when I started college. However, once I discovered the career a year into college, I decided that it was the path I wanted to pursue. Learning that my school didn’t have an actuarial science program seemed to pose a challenge at first, but I learned that by getting involved in on-campus activities, I was able to gain experience and skills that would identify me as a well-rounded candidate and make me marketable to an actuarial employer. 
In 2006, I partook in the creation of an online company, 
Early in my career, people would often ask me how I ended up on my specific career path as an actuary. As a freshman studying Actuarial Science at Ball State University, I took a very active role early on in Gamma Iota Sigma, the International Risk Management Fraternity. I went to every employer campus presentation and signed up for every interview. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t end up with an internship that year; but, I was able to get a feel for what companies had the most interesting internship programs, were in attractive locations, and had the most engaging actuarial staff and recruiters. I based my list of preferred companies on these types of factors because I didn’t yet know what the work would entail.