Continuing Education and Growth
Attaining the ASA, FSA or CERA certificate is not the end. You will be subject to the SOA Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Requirement. The purpose is to encourage all members to continue to learn the insurance industry updates through virtual webinars, on-site seminars or professional activities. Through attending these activities, members can earn CPD credits. Each year, members must attest that they have complied with the requirements. Although the requirement is not mandatory, members who do not complete it are considered "Non-Compliant". In that case, they must disclose the non-compliance status to those who rely on their actuarial expertise. More details can be seen on the SOA website through this link https://www.soa.org/professional-development/cpd-requirement/.
Once you accomplish the associateship or fellowship, you can apply for membership in the American Academy of Actuaries (MAAA). This is necessary if you need to sign certain statements of actuarial opinions in your job. Besides attending the SOA webinars/seminars, you can also attend those through AAA to get industry and regulation updates and earn CPD credits. You can visit AAA's website to see more information https://www.actuary.org/homepage.
Accomplishing the actuarial designation is a milestone to celebrate in the career. And then, you may wonder what the next step is. My suggestion would be that always go back to the fundamental question - what type of person do you wish to become? Some people would like to be a manager of a team or become the executive officer of the company and some would like to just be an individual contributor. These are all good. In my opinion, being an individual contributor is as good as being an executive officer. As long as you are doing what you want to do, enjoy it and be happy, then you are bringing out the best of you. How fantastic it is!
For those of you who would like to continuously seek promotions or just good performance appraisal in the career, there are some suggestions to consider (see below). As mentioned in the previous blog post, the key is to act now and always let the intrinsic motivation drive but not a particular result.
Pass exams as quickly as possible - Per the company's study program, your title usually changes automatically along with your exam progress. The quicker you pass exams, the higher the chance you will receive a promotion in the hierarchy of the corporate environment. The company does use the exam progress to evaluate the potential of a candidate for a position.
Take initiative - Proactively find solutions in tasks, meaning doing with a purpose. Not just complete a task, but always seek ways to improve.
Effective communications - Communicate effectively across, up or down in the organization. Effectiveness means communicating in a respectful way addressing each other's needs and people enjoy being around you.
Be a team player - Help others when you can. You and others are not separated. Helping others is essentially helping yourself. Others are like mirrors showing where you are and helping you go far.
Assess resource vs. tasks - Once you are a manager and would like to seek the next senior position, then proactively assessing the resources currently available in the team against the assigned tasks on a regular basis is important. Make proposals to senior officers. This can not only demonstrate your leadership but also allow the senior officers to think about reorganization or expanding the team, which brings out more opportunities.