Kayla Nguyen
Interview 10/2- Kyle Sasso
What is your job title?
Where do you work?
What licenses do you have/ what are the
general licenses?
What are the big corporations/giants in
actuarial science? Do you work for one?
Can you give me a description of your job
duties?
What kind of actuaries are there?
How similar or diverse are your workdays?
How do you balance work and family life?
Do you have a comfortable amount of leisure
time?
How do you handle stress?
Financial advisor, career change not a full
blown actuary: actuarial analyst II
Horace Mann (2 years), insurance company,
life insurance department
Consulting:
Ernst and Young (EY)
Willis Tower Watson
Insurance:
CNA
Liberty Mutual
Any big insurance company
Life financial reporting, month/quarter/year-
end
Run data through bases to create reports and
run through excel
Dealing with a bunch of data, there’s always
problems and you have the analyze for the
problem and fix errors/find out why
Consulting or Insurance (property casualty,
life and health-evaluation vs pricing)
First two weeks of a month are similar
Quarter or year end has more reports
Last two weeks of the month has down time,
learn software program or cross train
DAC studies
Yes, probably one of his favorite things=
flexibility of schedule
Allowed him to move to dallas, works at
home whenever he wants to or at office
I like to workout and exercise, try to do it 5
times a week. Doesn’t get stressed often
What has been the most challenging part of Some of work and learning a new software
your job? can be challenging

Process of transitioning into a new software

platform, reserves and pricing department are
converting bc they used different programs

What are the benefits in becoming an actuary? Feels he has the competitive edge back and
can control how quickly you move up in your
career and low stress, flexible work life
balance

What prompted you to choose your field of Competitive person, wasn’t content with his
study? current job

What skills do you feel are particularly Strong attention to detail, loves math, can
important in doing your job? push through and work hard

What did major in? Do you need a masters to Finance major, do not need masters, exams
become an actuary? are pretty much everything

What coursework or preparation do you feel Exams are important

was the most helpful in preparing for your
job?

What type of math do actuaries use? Is there a Lots of excel work, coding
need for advanced math/do you apply calculus
concepts? More math helps, but not required

I took AP Statistics as a sophomore, do They are on the exams

actuaries use inference tests, such as the chi-
squared test or linear regression test in real
life? Do they use confidence intervals?

What are some common software/programs Excel, Microsoft Access, Sql (Moody’s
that actuaries use? Axis?)

What types of things are on the actuarial
exams?
Is it just one exam or are there subparts/sub-
exams? If subparts, how many?
Are there specific actuary exams, like one for
business or environment, or is it a general
exam?
Biggest thing when becoming an actuary,
likes the exam because he is a competitive
person
Start as an actuarial analyst, to get a step up,
take more exams, lots of emphasis and
incentives to take exams, how quickly you can
move up leads to more opportunity like raises
Math based, 5 preliminary exams (or 7?) to

What qualities do you look for (or would you
look for) in potential employees?
How would you rank these qualities?
Resume
Recommendations/Advice (articles, books,
topics)
get ASA (ASA and FSA) plus modules
● Probability
● Investment
Someone you can get along with
Pays attention to detail
Discipline
Very Analytical
Doesn’t know enough about resume, looks
great with honors and awards
Not familiar with AP Scores (out of 5 scales)
● Put 5/5 scale
Get a LinkedIn set up, it will definitely help
with getting involved with businesses and
professionals, how he got interviews for
Horace Mann and financial advisors
● Like a business Facebook/ more
formal