stained
April 2nd 2006, 11:54 PM
Dear all,
I'm a foreign student looking to land an entry-level actuarial job in or near Columbus OH because my family is moving there. I need your advice on the entry-level job opportunity in Columbus.
1. To look into the prospect of me finding a job with my background, here's some self-evaluation. I'll get a master's degree in physics by this May; I've passed the first 2 actuarial exams (including 2 of the 3 VEE exams) in a row by self-study, and hopefully will sit the 3rd (Exam M) this May; I speak English pretty well (fluent with no hard-to-understand accent) and am able to write in an effective way; I'm good at communication skills and teamwork; I know some programming knowledges (MATLAB, C/C++,SPLUS) and handle Excel/Access well. On the negative side,however, I don't have any work/internship experience in insurance business; more importantly I definitely need visa sponsorship from potential employers, which I know will hurt my opportunity badly.:( So what do you think of my chance of landing a job this summer?
2. Now as far as I know, the insurance business in Columbus is almost dominated by Nationwide. I'm not sure how willing Nationwide is to sponsor visa for foreign job candidates, though - and I'd definitely appreciate anything you guys know about this company.
3. Also, a couple of top national consultant companies (Watson Wyatt/Milliman/AON...) are also doing business in Columbus. I've learned somewhere that it might be sort of easier for foreign job applicants to land a job in actuarial consultant companies, who are usually more willing to hire people with diverse background - is this typically true?
4. Last thing, in my situation, is it true that I'd better contact companies to land a job myself, instead of trying my luck through recruiters? I head somewhere that companies don't like to pay recruiters to bring them job candidates no experience.
Any input will be greatly appreciated!
-stained
I'm a foreign student looking to land an entry-level actuarial job in or near Columbus OH because my family is moving there. I need your advice on the entry-level job opportunity in Columbus.
1. To look into the prospect of me finding a job with my background, here's some self-evaluation. I'll get a master's degree in physics by this May; I've passed the first 2 actuarial exams (including 2 of the 3 VEE exams) in a row by self-study, and hopefully will sit the 3rd (Exam M) this May; I speak English pretty well (fluent with no hard-to-understand accent) and am able to write in an effective way; I'm good at communication skills and teamwork; I know some programming knowledges (MATLAB, C/C++,SPLUS) and handle Excel/Access well. On the negative side,however, I don't have any work/internship experience in insurance business; more importantly I definitely need visa sponsorship from potential employers, which I know will hurt my opportunity badly.:( So what do you think of my chance of landing a job this summer?
2. Now as far as I know, the insurance business in Columbus is almost dominated by Nationwide. I'm not sure how willing Nationwide is to sponsor visa for foreign job candidates, though - and I'd definitely appreciate anything you guys know about this company.
3. Also, a couple of top national consultant companies (Watson Wyatt/Milliman/AON...) are also doing business in Columbus. I've learned somewhere that it might be sort of easier for foreign job applicants to land a job in actuarial consultant companies, who are usually more willing to hire people with diverse background - is this typically true?
4. Last thing, in my situation, is it true that I'd better contact companies to land a job myself, instead of trying my luck through recruiters? I head somewhere that companies don't like to pay recruiters to bring them job candidates no experience.
Any input will be greatly appreciated!
-stained