Unlocking the next wave of actuaries

Throughout October, the Malaysian Actuarial Student Association (MASA) held MASA Actuarialogy, a virtual career fair aimed at bridging the connection between actuarial students and prospective employers, to raise the profile of the actuarial skillset, and to serve as a platform for students to explore interest and inquire for jobs vacancies.

Following the conclusion of the event, Ho Shi Qi, Chairperson of the 2021 MASA Actuarialogy Event Committee, discussed the event’s vision and purpose, pivoting to a virtual format, and the importance of helping junior actuaries enter the workforce, with Actuaries Digital.

Ho Shi Qi (top row, centre) and other members of the 2021 MASA Actuarialogy Event Committee.

Describe your organisation, mission and your team?

MASA is a national student representative body of actuarial students in Malaysia, established to unite the actuarial science students across Malaysia and empower them to be the next generation of actuarial leaders. Our goal is to help all actuarial students in Malaysia to build their technical capabilities, improve their industrial awareness and enable them to be actively involved in the actuarial industry. Our Executive Committee is made up of students from different universities. It consists of a President, five Vice Presidents for different departments, and two Assistant Vice Presidents. A Student Representative Council is also formed by students from 10 affiliated societies.

Describe the purpose and format of this event?

MASA Actuarialogy is our annual career fair, and it’s now in its third year. In 2019, which was our foundation year, MASA Actuarialogy was organised physically by a group of passionate students. It provides golden opportunities for actuarial students and graduates to expose themselves to reputable companies from various industries.

The event is aimed to help students to redefine their career pathways.

In 2020, the event received overwhelmingly positive responses, with up to 611 online webinar attendees and 60 participants who submitted their CVs. Due to the pandemic situation, we shifted the career fair to a virtual setting again this year. Despite the associated challenges, our event received a total of 1,758 registrations overall, a significant increase from last year.

MASA Actuarialogy welcomes companies from various traditional and non-traditional actuarial industries, which include, but not limited to, insurance companies, consulting firms and accounting firms, to have a sharing session with us.

What kind of activities took place during the event?

There were 10 webinars this year, including actuarial talks, general talks, and forums. Other than talks, there are also three virtual company tours conducted on consecutive Saturdays in October, which aimed to share actuarial insights across different fields. We invited KPMG, Manulife Insurance Berhad and MNRB Holdings Berhad to share with us about their companies, and actuarial-related topics by the actuarial representatives from each company.

Also, we provided a ‘resume submission’ function on our official website, which allowed the participants to submit their CVs. The companies that were involved in this function included the three aforementioned organisations, as well as Internspoon, WIMAG Consulting Group, and Alliance Bank Malaysia Berhad.

Other than the CV submission concept, we also provided the company with a live chat function that allows a speaker or company representative to engage directly with participants through website. The company live chat was available on 9 October and 16 October. Once received, the company representative replied to the message on the website directly to the participants.

The month-long program consisted of a vast array of industrial presentations. What were some of the main learnings?

During the four consecutive Saturdays, we invited professionals from various industries, such as banking and finance, consulting, pricing and valuation, insurance, and reinsurance.

The main learnings included insights of the actuarial careers, daily tasks of the actuaries from different industries, and the preparation and skills that should be done or acquired by the fresh graduates before getting into the workforce. Also, the virtual company tour provided an opportunity for the undergraduates to have a deeper understanding on the workplace and growth opportunities available.

We also organised a workshop, in which we invited Ayu Shahirah, currently the UI/UX Designer at BP, to give us a talk on effectively branding personal LinkedIn profiles in a profession style. We believe that LinkedIn is the key point for the fresh graduates to build their professional images, connect with different professionals, and most importantly secure a job upon graduation.