Actuary Interview Questions

Actuary is a profession that is left-brain centric, which requires attention to detail, as well as a passion for numbers and their practical application.  An Actuary is a business professional who deals with the financial impact of risk and uncertainty.  Actuaries provide statistical assessments with a focus on their complexity, their mathematics, and their mechanisms.

Actuary Interview Types

The types of interview questions that you might encounter in an Actuary interview vary.  When you are preparing for an Actuary job interview, it is recommended that you review these types of interview questions prior to the interview.  Actuary interview questions typically include:

• Standard Interview Questions– These are the most common general job interview questions around credential verification and experience verification such as “Tell me about yourself?”
• Behavioral Interview Questions– These types of questions ask you what you would do or have done in certain situations.
• Problem-Solving Interview Questions– Problem solving interview questions serve a critical role in gauging a candidate’s problem solving skills, creativeness, resourcefulness, and thinking pattern
• Actuary Interview Questions (see list below) – These are specific occupation questions that gauge your skill set and knowledge.

Actuary Specific Interview Questions List

Here is a list of Actuary Interview Questions you might come across in a typical Actuary interview.

• What do you consider to be the biggest challenge facing the actuarial profession today? How is it being addressed?
• Why do you want to be an actuary?
• How did you study for your exams? Why haven’t you taken/passed exams yet? What were your scores on these exams?
• How familiar are you with MS Excel and MS Access?
• Which statistical applications have you used in the past? What is your proficiency with that application?
• Describe the advantages and disadvantages of different statistical applications you have used in your most recent accountant jobs.
• Describe any process that you have developed or improved.
• Describe a time when you help reduce expense or cost at your previous job.
• Describe a time when you had to use numerical data or a graph to convince management.
• Describe a time when you had to work exceptionally hard to provide great service to a customer or client. What did you do and what was the outcome?
• Describe a time when you faced a particularly demanding deadline to prepare a report. How did you handle it? What was the end result?
• Describe a time when you had to explain a complex issue to someone with a limited background on that topic. How did you help them understand the situation?