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Internship Information

This page is intended to serve as a guide to help students find an internship. An actuarial internship is one of the biggest things that stands out to potential full-time employers because having experience doing real actuarial work shows them that you will be able to do it if they hire you full time. 

Timeline

  • The actuarial hiring process occurs earlier than many other fields 

  • Actuarial internships are generally posted starting in August, although some companies may not post theirs until September or later

  • After you apply, companies can take as little as a day to schedule an interview, or it could take as long as 1-3 months. Do not be concerned if you are not contacted right away. 

    • Many companies will do at least one phone interview and an onsite or video conference interview before they decide to hire you. It varies from company to company.

    • Job fairs are great ways to do an automatic onsite interview. Many students get hired from one interview at a job fair by really impressing someone they meet there. 

  • Many companies, especially large companies have completed the hiring process for the summer before the end of November. Apply early!

Where to Find Internships

Study Site  Links

- Coaching Actuaries

-The Infinite Actuary 

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What to search for

  • "Actuarial Intern" or "actuarial internship" will return tons of results

  • Tips:

    • Do not limit yourself to location. Many internships offer multiple locations, but the location listed on the job board is just the location of the company's headquarters, but you can work in another office.

    • Sign up for notifications or job alerts to be reminded when new jobs are posted

Tips for Applying

  • Have at least one exam passed and on your resume before submitting applications (if you can). It is possible to get an internship without an exam, but it is much harder to stand out. One exam shows employers that you are serious about this.

    • Having more than one exam is even better, but they generally do not expect you to have passed many more as a freshman, sophomore, or junior.

  • Apply to an actuarial development program. These programs offer huge benefits to students, like exam support, flexibility regarding position and location, access to high-level executives, etc. Interning in one of these programs can lead to a position in one of these programs

    • Apply to multiple positions. Bigger companies have more positions, but may be more competitive. Smaller companies may have fewer positions available, but will generally have less applicants which can offset this. Some companies have a structured internship program and while others will be flexible or less structured. Both kinds are great experience.

  • Do not get your heart set on a company. There are tons of good applicants out there, and you may get unlucky with interview questions or who is filtering through resumes.​

Tips for Interviewing

  • Expect to be asked about the company. They may want to know why you specifically want to work for the company or if you know anything about recent news surrounding the company. Do your research.

  • Most interviewers will ask behavioral questions, such as the following (for more, click here)

    • Describe a time you solved a complex problem.​ What were the parameters and scope of the problem? How did you go about solving it?

    • Explain a difficult math/stat/finance/etc. concept to me like I have nothing higher than a middle school education.

    • Describe a time where you made a mistake?

    • Give an example of a time you worked with a team and had a disagreement or problem, and how did you solve it? Describe the role you took within the team.

    • How have you demonstrated leadership? Give a specific example or examples.

  • Some companies will ask technical questions

    • Examples: "Estimate the total beverage revenue USC makes in a football season" or "Estimate how much gas revenue the City of Columbia generates in a week" or "Estimate the number of taxi cabs in NYC"​

    • How to handle it: They do not care about the accuracy of your answer. They would never be able to give an accurate answer to a question like this on the spot, and they don't expect you to either. They want to know your thought process and how you would solve this problem. Use estimates (it's okay if they're way off) and walk them through how you would use the numbers you estimate to solve this problem (in a simplified way).

      • i.e. "I would estimate that the USC stadium contains 80,000 people during each game. I would estimate that 50% of the attendees buy a beverage and 50% of those people buy a second beverage, so 40,000 + 20,000 = 60,000 beverages are bought during a game. I would estimate that each beverage costs $5 on average. So during each game, 60,000 x $5 = $300,000 is made on beverage sales. If there are 7 home games in a season, the total beverage revenue for the season would be $2,100,000."

  • If you do not have any internship experience to relate answers to, it's okay. Answers can relate to simple things like school, work, life, etc. as long as you effectively answer all parts of the question. 

    • For example, you do not have to have the most impressive team project anyone has ever worked on, but be able to clearly explain what the project was, how you worked on a team, etc.

  • Healthcare companies may ask about healthcare in the news - healthcare reform, politics, etc. They want to see that you pay attention to the news and know what is going on surrounding healthcare now. Keep your opinions out of your answer and answer objectively with facts. You do not know what your interviewer thinks, and saying politically charged can leave a bad impression. 

  • Remember, you are interviewing for an internship. You are not expected to be a pro and have perfect answers to every question, but you are expected to be well-prepared.

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