Top 15 Actuarial Analyst Skills to be Effective on the Job

If you are an actuarial analyst or aspiring to be, you would need to have certain skills and qualities to be effective on the job and in your career.

You can also highlight these skills and qualities in making the skills section of your resume or CV to make it more compelling.

Before we dive into it, let’s get to know who an actuarial analyst is:

Who is an Actuarial Analyst?

Before organizations such as insurance companies embark on a financial journey or policy, experts are consulted to help unravel the endpoint of such financial policy.

One of such experts consulted is the actuarial analyst whose work is to carry out a thorough financial assessment of some intended or proposed financial policies an organization wants to embark on, with the view of giving financial details and forecast on what the possible outcome could be.

Top 15 Actuarial Analyst Skills

Here are some of the major skills and qualities actuarial analyst should develop to be effective in carrying out their job responsibilities:

1. Good business sense

The actuarial analyst job deals a lot with business. It is a job that requires high level business skills and sense.

Being an actuarial analyst entails dealing with a lot of details which you get by carrying out some good business analysis for your organization.

With good business sense, you are able to make accurate predictions or future analysis of certain events, maybe in an insurance company to help organize insurance policies.

2. Good communication skills

This is another skill you should develop as an actuarial analyst if you want to make a difference in your career.

Communication is vital and undeniably important to you and other people within the organization to be able to establish a good channel for information dissemination.

When you are making your mathematical and statistical research and predictions, it is important that you communicate your ideas with the relevant stakeholders so that you will be able to unravel what your observations and predictions are.

You can communicate in both oral and written form depending on the form of information that is needed at that point.

In the case of public presentation in the organization, you will need to be good at oral communication, however, when it involves documentation, the written form of communication becomes acceptable.

3. Good mathematical skills

Anything that has to do with statistics will automatically demand that your mathematical skills should be top notch.

This is because statistics and mathematics are difficult and nearly impossible to separate since you are dealing mostly with figures.

This implies that if you are to be an excellent actuarial analyst, you should consider making mathematics your friend.

You might be one of those people that had a little phobia or hatred for mathematics but you can’t afford to have that phobia in this job.

Also, note that math forms the basis for both statistics and accounting.

So, when acquiring good mathematical skills, also endeavor to upgrade both your accounting and statistical skills to be a well-rounded actuarial analyst.

4. Analytical skills

From the introduction and definition of who an actuarial analyst is, you can deduce the fact that an actuarial analyst is one who is basically skilled in analysis.

Analytical skill is one important skill you must consider having in performing the job of an actuarial analyst.

It is through constant analysis that you are able to come to a reasonable conclusion about what the organization should expect if they should embark on a certain financial activity.

This will demand or require good analytical skills from you.

5. Problem solving skills

The problem of the organization is your problem and you have to see it that way.

When working in an organization or workplace, one thing that should always be in your mind is how to use your skills to make things better in the organization.

That is where your problem solving skills will be put to the test.

Problem solving skills entails having what it takes to put some negative challenges to rest in the organization.

To solve problems requires different skillsets or knowledge, depending on the problem you are dealing with.

The most important factor in problem solving is knowledge.

If you can get better every day when it comes to knowledge then you can definitely do what people think is impossible in your job.

6. Project management skills

Project management skills are highly needed in the job of an actuarial analyst.

Some of the jobs you might be doing in this capacity may come in the form of projects, which come with time and deadlines.

So, managing the different aspects of your job will demand some project management skills.

The project management skill is one of the factors your employer considers when going through your resume.

You should be able to state in clear terms how effective and efficient you can be when it comes to project management and related stuff.

In project management, one of the things you consider is the ability to split your job into smaller pieces to enable you plan on how to take each one of them in stages with regards to their level of priority.

This can also entail having the right people to work with on the job.

7. Good computer skills

A general skill you should consider having and improving upon as an actuarial analyst is computer or IT skills.

This is important as almost everything has gone digital, so not having the necessary computer skills will be you doing yourself a great deal of disfavor.

The first thing to know about having computer skills is for you to take cognizance of some of the software tools or applications you will need to master in your job.

As you know, almost every job out there has one or two standout software tools that have been designed to be used to make jobs easier.

Also, you should endeavor to know how to use some hardware devices and study how they work.

Software tools have corresponding hardware devices that help make them effective.

These hardware devices perform specific functions based on the needs of the user.

8. Collaboration

Collaboration is a necessary skill to have as an actuarial analyst.

This is because most of the knowledge you will need will come from different sources, especially from experts from other fields and works of life.

So, expecting the needed knowledge from different people will demand collaborative skills.

Majorly, you have people outside the organization to collaborate with like the market analysts and auditors.

You will need to work closely with them to ensure that you have the right information and analysis to present to your organization always.

The relationship between you and others in the organization will also need to be strong enough to get the best out of them.

Sometimes, some information you might need may be with the people within the organization.

You just need to work on your relationship with people, both inside and outside the organization.

9. Ability to produce accurate reports

Your reports are the end products of your observation, analysis, and research.

It is what represents your effort and what you have been doing over time.

It is important to know that what is what doing is what doing well, even in your job.

When you want to write a report on whatever subject matter in your job, ensure to aim for clarity.

This is what you should think of portraying through the reports you present.

So, learning the art of report writing should be your thing.

The essence of writing report is to communicate your ideologies based on the research you have made.

Your report should contain every relevant detail of your research and statistical postulations, which should serve as a guide to the organization when making financial policies.

10. Research skills

Research skills are quite relevant to an actuarial analyst.

An actuarial analyst will make a mess of their job if they do not take time to engage in meaningful researches that are geared towards producing some workable statistical analysis that can be used for decision making.

To be able to do so, you must be technical and clinical in your research.

You must be able to define and find more efficient ways of getting information that can help you as an actuarial analyst.

This is not going to be easy, but you just have to do it.

Your research should be structured in such a way that every process is defined with specific aims and time frames so that you don’t waste time on each stage more than necessary.

Also, it should be geared towards making efficient use of the little time and resources you have.

11. Knowledge of relevant financial laws

Any job you do that is financially driven, where you are to deal with cash operations requires having sufficient knowledge of how the relevant laws applies to some financial transactions.

This is to help ensure there are no hiccups or financial crimes.

So, in this job, it is very necessary that you acquaint yourself with the important laws that guide the operation of businesses, and also determine how financial issues are handled in the geographical location where you work.

Knowing these laws will save you from the embarrassment of having to deal with the financial law enforcement agencies and needless law suits arising from some perceived financial offences.

So, you will be doing yourself a lot of good if you can know those laws.

12. Curiosity

A good researcher is always curious. They are curious to get more information, to know why things are the way they are and what probably can be done to better the situation at hand.

Therefore, curiosity is one thing you just cannot do without in your job as a actuarial analyst.

The more curious you are, the more you are likely to gather useful information that can play a good role in the achievement of the efficiency you so desire in your job.

Curiosity is associated with restlessness. When you are not comfortable, you will stop at nothing until you satisfy your curiosity.

You just have to be curious and investigative. If you can do this, then you will surely improve yourself daily.

13. Presentation skills

By working as an actuarial analyst, good presentation skills become one of the inevitable tools or skills you will need.

This is because you will need to communicate your findings and analysis, as well as your postulations to the hierarchy of your organization.

One way to do that is through good and well organized presentation.

This is important as you cannot afford to leave your superiors in the organization in the dark about what you have to say.

That could come through board meetings or other official gatherings where your attention might be needed.

Presentation skills are a skill you can learn and improve on.

As you keep carrying out presentations, the more you are able to organize yourself and your ideas in a more understandable form.

Training yourself to be a good presenter should be one of your priorities in this job.

14. Time management

Time management means a lot and everything in this age.

It is a skill that any intelligent actuarial analyst should think of adding to their skill collection.

You should be known to be a good time manager in your actuarial analyst job.

When jobs are given to you, it is expected that you do all you can to meet up with the deadline while maintaining quality in your delivering.

This is where you have to be skilled in time management.

Therefore, time management remains an important skill in this job and will definitely decide how far your employer will be willing to work with you in the future.

15. Good work ethics

Your work ethics as an actuarial analyst are as important as your mental capacity.

It is so important that it could overshadow what you can do mentally.

As much as your employer is interested in your mental abilities, they are also interested in your attitude to work.

Bad work ethics, such as lateness to work can never be tolerated by any employer.

This is one of the things that put people out of job, not necessarily lack of mental abilities.

When you are able to sort out your work ethics, combining it with your mental abilities, you should be alright.

So, when you are around the organization or workplace, keep your attitude positive and worthy of emulation by the junior workers in the organization.

Be disciplined and be someone that is known for the right reasons and not for the wrong ones.

Actuarial Analyst Skills for Resume

If you are making a new resume or CV for the actuarial analyst role, you can apply some of the skills highlighted above (if you have them) in making the Skills section of the resume.

This will make the resume more compelling as it shows to the prospective employer that you have the right skills required for effectiveness on the actuarial analyst job.

(Learn how to make an effective resume applying the Employer-focused Resume Writing Technique)

Conclusion

The predictions of an actuarial analyst are highly seen as valid due to the training and the skills they have developed.

If you are an actuarial analyst and desire to be successful in your job and career, this post has provided important skills and qualities you can develop.