OLA actuarial community!! Hello!!! Aloha!!!! Mochi Mochi!!
I've been unemployed for over half a year. I have a few years experience. Is it possible that if I am out of the actuarial career long enough, my chances of getting back in are severely, severely, diminished? The assignments that I used to work on months ago are becoming fuzzy. My stint as an aspiring actuary is slowly becoming a distant, hazy dream. I'm like a divorcee trying to recover from a failed marriage. I know I can keep passing exams, but I am starting to think if I pass too many, I might make my situation worse. I've been learning programming, since that's one of my weak spots. My other weak spot--the elephant in the room--the thing that I'd rather ignore and leave unaddressed-- is obviously what happened with my previous employer. Also, I don't feel that I am qualified for most positions requiring several years of experience. I would need something 0-2 years. I'm pretty sure I would do fantastically well at an entry level position...but I have yet to get a call back on those.
A thought that disturbs me is how by now, the entry levels that worked at my company probably have the knowledge level that I had at the time of my departure and that they are working on my assignments. It is also disturbing to think about how people I worked with are going about their wonderful day, enjoying working with each other and advancing their careers, while I rot away like a bum. It's as if I was never there at all! I'm a distant, fading blip in the radar. A dying memory in their minds. I'm that character in a movie that gets killed off midway through. You will have forgotten about them by the end of the movie. Whenever I coincidentally see someone who works at my company, I'm filled with a weird mixture of emotions. I get uncomfortable and sad. I guess the advice regarding these thoughts is to not think them at all!! Push them away!! Send them off to the sun and let them burn!!!
You know what I really enjoy? Sometimes the people interviewing me don't look at my resume or don't look at it closely enough. They don't know that I'm unemployed. When I was on an interview recently, the mid-levels didn't know that I was unemployed (the upper levels knew). They asked me, "what am I currently working on", and I responded with, "I am no longer with my previous employer". Their faces got grim. It was awkward. Sigh.
Do you guys think my course of action should be these things?:
Work at sh*t job while living with parents
Do R&D (studying and learning programming)
Apply for jobs (including non actuarial jobs and entry level jobs associated with the *other* actuarial society at this point)
I've been unemployed for over half a year. I have a few years experience. Is it possible that if I am out of the actuarial career long enough, my chances of getting back in are severely, severely, diminished? The assignments that I used to work on months ago are becoming fuzzy. My stint as an aspiring actuary is slowly becoming a distant, hazy dream. I'm like a divorcee trying to recover from a failed marriage. I know I can keep passing exams, but I am starting to think if I pass too many, I might make my situation worse. I've been learning programming, since that's one of my weak spots. My other weak spot--the elephant in the room--the thing that I'd rather ignore and leave unaddressed-- is obviously what happened with my previous employer. Also, I don't feel that I am qualified for most positions requiring several years of experience. I would need something 0-2 years. I'm pretty sure I would do fantastically well at an entry level position...but I have yet to get a call back on those.
A thought that disturbs me is how by now, the entry levels that worked at my company probably have the knowledge level that I had at the time of my departure and that they are working on my assignments. It is also disturbing to think about how people I worked with are going about their wonderful day, enjoying working with each other and advancing their careers, while I rot away like a bum. It's as if I was never there at all! I'm a distant, fading blip in the radar. A dying memory in their minds. I'm that character in a movie that gets killed off midway through. You will have forgotten about them by the end of the movie. Whenever I coincidentally see someone who works at my company, I'm filled with a weird mixture of emotions. I get uncomfortable and sad. I guess the advice regarding these thoughts is to not think them at all!! Push them away!! Send them off to the sun and let them burn!!!
You know what I really enjoy? Sometimes the people interviewing me don't look at my resume or don't look at it closely enough. They don't know that I'm unemployed. When I was on an interview recently, the mid-levels didn't know that I was unemployed (the upper levels knew). They asked me, "what am I currently working on", and I responded with, "I am no longer with my previous employer". Their faces got grim. It was awkward. Sigh.
Do you guys think my course of action should be these things?:
Work at sh*t job while living with parents
Do R&D (studying and learning programming)
Apply for jobs (including non actuarial jobs and entry level jobs associated with the *other* actuarial society at this point)
Going from unemployment back into the career!
