Actuary Mock Interview

35 Actuary Interview Questions with 60+ User Answer Examples

1. 1.

   How soon can you start?

   User-Submitted Answers

   1. Now itself.

2. 2.

   What area of the actuarial field are you looking at?

3. 3.

   Tell me about your computer skills.

4. 4.

   What languages can you program in?

5. 5.

   What are your goals in life?

6. 6.

   Tell me about a time when you had to work hard to achieve your goals?

   User-Submitted Answers

   1. My desire to become an Actuary has by no means been an easy one. It has required me to push myself beyond what I thot possible. It started with my initail pursuit of a degree in Mathematics and Statistics then eventually a diploma in Acturaial Science.
   2. When I was submitting project report for my profeesional exam.

7. 7.

   What was your greatest accomplishment in your past job?

8. 8.

   What was your biggest mistake in your past job?

   User-Submitted Answers

   1. During one of my group projects that I worked on, I turned an assignment in late. I told my group that I would handle the final editing and submission; however, I screwed up. I submitted the assignment late. I went to the teacher and explained it was my fault and luckily he was understanding about it.
   2. I’ve made mistakes; though I can’t remember of any mistake at this moment that made any significant impact on me”.

9. 9.

   What distinguishes you from twenty other people who can do the same tasks you can?

   User-Submitted Answers

   1. Nothing because I am a hard worker and I am very outgoing and loves to work in groups and get the job done.
   2. Nothing because I am a hard worker and I am very outgoing and loves to work in groups and get the job done.

10. 10.

    What is your ideal company to work for like?

11. 11.

    Why do you want to be an Actuary?

    User-Submitted Answers

    1. I want to be an actuary because I am an analytical thinker. I have a passion for numbers and consistently developing that passion. I believe that risk management will be more important in the future.
    2. I want to be an actuary consultant because I enjoy both sides of what an actuary does. I enjoy researching and using quantititative skills to solve problems. But I also like the client and coworker side of the business. Because of my extroverted personality, I always find myself wanting to be around others to work with them. And being an actuary allows me to do both.
    3. I was deeply fascinated by actuary profession. From my perspective, it comes down to be the science of financial risk management and control, and how it is applied in the business world to provide financial security to both individuals and institutions, which apparently is much needed in today's ever-changing world. Actuaries participate in high-level business decision-making and solve real problems in every industry.
    4. I feel being an actuary is the closest I can get to being a wizard in the professional world.
    5. I was not sure. While doing my M.S. In Statistics I took courses on Theory of interest and Modelling Life Contingencies. Probability is my favorite any ways. I loved all the curses and did well in them. My professor inspired me a lot and insisted that I choose this as my career path. All these things taken together helped me focus in this career.

12. 12.

    What is your favorite part about statistics?

    User-Submitted Answers

    1. My favorite part of statistics is that through math we can predict what is going to happen. Many people don't think predictions can come true; however, through statistics we can look at the data to come up with a logical and accurate prediction that others think is luck, but there is actually a science behind it.

13. 13.

    What organizations did you partake in as a college student?

14. 14.

    What classes did you like most in college?

15. 15.

    What makes you like numbers? When did you realize you enjoyed math?

    User-Submitted Answers

    1. I like numbers because the are like grains of sand, a single number doing very little but with a combined effort you may build a castle. I realized I enjoyed math when doing my math homework in elementary school seemed like a sweet escape from my grammar homework.
    2. When I was younger in my math classes, what I really excelled at etc. Like numbers because it defines every part of life including simple math like counting money to complex math calculating rates.
    3. I think it just how I am. Some people like literature, some like biology some like music. I think numbers have a pattern thing to understand and I like figuring out patterns. I started enjoying maths from the time I was in high school. Also, I realized I like combinatorics and probability problems more.
    4. I got it from my mother, she is a maht teacher so I suppose I got my enthusiasm from her.
    5. I like numbers because they are concrete. Numbers serve as something that show exact values, which have one interpretation. Usually, there is only one correct answer to something quantitative, whereas in other subjects, there is no wrong answer or there are multiple interpretations to certain reading passages. I first realized I enjoyed math when I was in eighth grade. After taking pre-algebra for a second time, something about the material "clicked" for me. Soon, after starting integrated algebra in 9th grade as a regular student, I began to take summer math classes in order to accelerate and by the time I was a senior in high school, I was 2 years accelerated and taking Statistics and Mutlivariable Calculus.
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16. 16.

    How familiar are you with Excel? If I asked you to take a competency exam in Excel, would you be okay with it?

17. 17.

    How familiar are you in Access?

18. 18.

    Tell me why I should hire you over all of these applicants?

    User-Submitted Answers

    1. Just hire me and you will see why.

19. 19.

    What do you do in your free time?
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20. 20.

    Do you follow up on current events? What is your favorite news source?

21. 21.

    Tell me about a time when you had to work in a group?

22. 22.

    What was your biggest mistake in your past job?

    User-Submitted Answers

    1. Not being analytical.

23. 23.

    Did you have any jobs while in school?

24. 24.

    Tell me about your computer skills.

    User-Submitted Answers

    1. Your computer skills.

25. 25.

    Did you have any jobs while in school?

    User-Submitted Answers

    1. Yes, I had two jobs during school. One that I am currently working while abroad.
    2. Yes as an attender.

26. 26.

    How do you deal with difficult people?

    User-Submitted Answers

    1. Give myself time and then speak to them about the differences.
    2. First of all, I will look for their view on each issues and ask their opinion and solution.
    3. I try my best to put myself in the shoes of the difficult person, trying to see why the behave the way they do, and hopefully find ways to mitigate the effects of them being difficult. Otherwise, this exercises allows me to emphasize with my fellow human beings.
    4. I deal with difficult people by looking at things in their point of view to try to get the task done. Also I will offer suggestions but in the end its about getting the job done.
    5. I try to stand in their shoes to figure what makes these people difficult to deal with. Sometimes maybe it is just that I do not understand where they are coming from an perceived them as difficult to deal with.
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27. 27.

    How did you hear about actuarial science?

    User-Submitted Answers

    1. I heard from my brother.
    2. My brother told me.
    3. I heard about actuarial science from my 11th grade math teacher in Calculus BC. She had decided, after finishing the 5 preliminary exams, to pursue teaching. I was able to garner insight from her on why she decided to transition to teaching, and also what she liked about the actuarial career.
    4. I heard about actuarial science through this internship. I have taken Statistics for Business 1 and 2 as requirements for my degree, but did not really consider a career until I saw this internship that Fidelity posted.
    5. Actually, I heard about actuarial science from my parents. They read an article from the newspaper which said that actuary was one of the top jobs in United states, and they told me that and I try to do some research on the internet to see what is actuarial science since this was a new term to me.
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28. 28.

    What type of work do you like to do best?

29. 29.

    Describe in detail your recent actuarial/excel projects?

    User-Submitted Answers

    1. I trade some of the stocks.
    2. So far, I have had a basic excel project in my computer information systems class. We were required to use the AverageIF, SumIf, and GoalSeek functions in addition to pie graphs, pivot tables, and bar graphs in order to determine financial decisions for a specific company.
    3. I really enjoy working with excel and access to solve quantitative problems. I took a class in college Information Technology Management and we learned how to solve financial and accounting problems through excel quickly and efficiently. I know this sounds weird, but I almost found it as a game and thought of it as fun as I worked to beat the clock to solve analytical problems. On excel, we made amortization tables, pivot tables, macros, and formulas to efficiently solve problems.
    4. I worked as an actuarial intern at foresea life insurance. I got a chance to assisted the team with building pricing model of a twenty year endowment insurance. At first we needed to identify the factors which we need to consider in the model such as gender, age, car accident rate, mortality rate and so on. And then we needed to write an actuarial report which demonstrated all the terms and conditions for this product. After that, we built an model in excel as well as with prophet.
    5. Mortality investigation.

30. 30.

    Tell me about a situation in which you persuaded a large group of people to change their course of action?

31. 31.

    What was your least favorite college course?

    User-Submitted Answers

    1. My least favorite college course would have to be the general science course - microbes and man - that I had to take freshmen year to fulfill a science requirement.
    2. Mathematics.

32. 32.

    Describe a recent important decision you've made?

33. 33.

    Describe a situation in life that portrays your communication skills?

    User-Submitted Answers

    1. As a private tutor, I believe that communication is a key aspect which enhances my students' understanding of their material. Since 11th grade, I have been tutoring friends and fellow students on material ranging from simple algebra, to college level Calculus I,II, and III, in addition to statistics and SOA Probability questions. The 10-15 students that I have helped have been able to improve their understanding of class material, and I believe this can only be done with an instructor who is understandable, clear and concise in his responses, and able to communicate various mathematical ideas in multiple ways that could help a student better understand the material they are faced with.
    2. One situation where I have showed communication skills is in my most recent job. I currently work for ndigi as the social media person. However, I worked and communicated my boss in order to ensure that he understood the student perspective with the new.
    3. In my last job, most of the time I needed to collaborated with my coworker from the same department as well as different department. For example, by the end of each months, we needed to get all the invoices from the sales department. Most of the time they will not give us the invoice until we call them for many times since they are always very busy.

34. 34.

    What do you know about our company?

    User-Submitted Answers

    1. It is a compny of 2 year's existance.

35. 35.

    Do you plan on taking any more actuarial exams in the future?