Adieu

So today signifies the official conclusion of my work term here.

Over the past four months, I was as an actuarial recruiter. My prime objective was to find jobs for actuaries and to fill actuarial vacancies for employers. So I discussed job opportunities with actuaries, screened and presented candidates before our clients, and coordinated interviews between actuaries and employers across Canada, the US, UK, and UAE.

The experience as a recruiter was invaluable as I gained a greater understanding and appreciation for the actuarial profession and furthered my knowledge of the life insurance industry. My correspondence and conversations with actuaries and clients in senior management (AVPs, Chief Actuaries and such) strengthened my interpersonal skills and cemented my enthusiasm for the profession.

(OK, I jacked the above two paragraphs off my coverletter... )

My manager was a good mentor. Demanding, but reasonable. Having been in the business for 17 years, he gave me a lot of insider insight into the actuarial market, the nature of their work, the insurance & consulting industry etc. I like that he entrusted me with a lot of responsibility, as it’s not often that a 19 year old gets to communicate with CFOs!

But moreover what made the experience truly enjoyable was the fantastic team I had the pleasure of working with. There were 5 other co-ops: Eugene, the ever-loquacious and faggoty Belarussian Jew with whom I traded lame puns, kosher, bagel, and Bathurst&Steeles jokes; Shou, a new-to-the-country software engineer kid from mainland China always eager to acculturate and learn new English (the words he learns always turn out to be profanity); Claire, the unpretentious CBC guy’s girl (the kinda person with whom you’d exchange knowing glances and inside jokes); Gordon, the perpetual source and object of homo-erotic/masturbatory humour; and don’t-call-me Rizi-wana, the quiet, reserved one always there to restore sanity to our conversations. All in all the six personalities syngergized well, and so we had an excellent team dynamic.

My manager had requested I stay back to supervise the new students whom I’d interviewed and hired, and though the students are friendly and pleasant, I’m grateful I didn’t end up working with this team. The office is far too quiet, no lunch-time or boss-has-gone-to-play-squash-time hilarity, not as much team synergy and not nearly as fun.

So now it’s back to the Loo for yet another 4 months of erudition by day and debauchery by night!



[The crew, old & new]