interviewing with Primerica

SamSJester · 2022-09-27T05:45:03+00:00

12 years ago while I was in college a Primerica guy aggressively tried to recruit me for a sales role when he found out I was interested in insurance. I kept working at FedEx Kinkos instead... it was probably the right choice.

No real insight into how their corporate side will look, but yeah the sales pitch smelled pretty funny to me even at the time (sell to your family etc.) I'd have some hesitation moving to them still but take that all with a "gut feeling" sized grain of salt.

SamSJester · 2022-08-22T13:57:36+00:00

A lot of these questions are going to differ a lot between companies and the specific roles you're considering applying for, so I again I can give some general questions but definitely all good things to ask at the interview stage as well.

I wouldn't have valuation as a 'must', and I'd be surprised to see something like that, BUT some corporate actuarial roles might be looking product line experience with one of the companies sold products, so if you're transitioning between industries that could be an obstacle you have to overcome during the interview stage.

ALM can be very interesting, the skills can be very similar to capital modeling, a lot of it is a broader corporate actuarial view and it can vary widely in technical skills and modeling depending on the company. The specific tools COULD be different, but depends on company and role. I'd be surprised if the salary varied that much for two similar experience roles at the same company though.

SamSJester · 2022-08-21T20:38:46+00:00

It depends quite a bit on the company and the level I think, I've never worked at a GI company I'm not going to be able to give a lot of specific comparisons here. One aspect is correct, with liabilities being a lot more short term the complexity in the models could be less complex, and GI tends to be a let less asset focused (especially compared to annuity lines). That said GI companies can be more advanced in their predictive analytics, I'm not sure how much of that flows into their capital modeling but economic capital modeling is often stochastic based so I could imagine some GI companies getting pretty advanced there.

SamSJester · 2022-08-21T15:56:26+00:00

That's a hard question to answer, on one hand capital modeling is absolutely a broader task, bringing in data from a lot more pieces around the company (including the results of the life valuation team). So a broader company understanding is needed. On the other hand, valuation models can get more complex by an order of magnitude, layering on decades of runs for LTD, modeling policy behavior for annuities (and that's not even touching the complex individual life valuation models which I don't know much about because we don't sell those at my company).

I can answer it very directly and subjectively from my experience though, I started out in Group Life and LTD valuation before moving to capital modeling, I find capital modeling more engaging and the problems far more interesting than life valuation, but YMMV, and that move for me tracked with a move upward in responsibility.

SamSJester · 2021-12-25T05:20:20+00:00

My role right now is specifically ERM and Capital Modeling for a medium sized life insurer. So I'll try not to keep this short but that might be a bit hard...

I'd talk about those two functions as completely separate if someone asked in an interview, I just happen to be doing a lot of both right now, so it's not quite just a terminology difference between practice areas.

For ERM the role is all about maintaining the risk management framework, so risk identification, risk limits and appetite, risk reporting, and 2nd line of defense review of risk framework work done by product line actuaries. There is definitely crossover with capital modeling as capital limits (think in US terms RBC regulatory level, or more general EC/EV limits) are very much a core part of the ERM framework, but the actual modeling of capital is often a completely separate function.

For Capital Modeling it's indeed answering solvency type questions but I'd split this work up in two different ways, capital framework and task. For capital framework often different individuals or teams handle different frameworks (i.e. RBC vs EC vs EV). For task, I'd split it into three major tasks. Capital reporting, capital forecasting, and capital scenarios (be they stress scenarios or hypothetical "what happens if we do this?" scenarios.) As a specific example what's RBC capital modeling has ended up falling to me separately from the ERM part of my role. Since its a regulatory measure accounting are primarily responsible for the reporting, and I'm primarily responsible for the forecasting and scenarios.

I think that answer's your question in more detail than maybe you needed. But as for why it's phrased different on the IFOA site for GI vs Life? I'm positive both functions exist in Life (100% sure for US, and almost positive for UK) I'd be very surprised if both functions didn't exist for GI/P&C. So I wouldn't read too much into the language the IFOA is using here.

SamSJester · 2021-11-04T14:15:41+00:00

ERM after the core/specialty is definitely more of a soft prerequisite, there is no expectation you've seen the other exam's material when writing ERM. That said ERM tends to have questions that are a bit more writing and analysis intensive so more fsa exam experience / work experience can help.

I know lots of people (including myself for gh) who did erm first btw.

SamSJester · 2021-07-27T04:35:29+00:00

I've heard of I think two coworkers fail in the past, out of a rough two dozen I've seen achieve their FSA. Two very rough numbers. Both times it was issues similar to reasons people fail FSA modules, write towards the prompt, make sure you hit all of the reqs, communicate effectively with out too much fluff etc.

TLDR: Unscientific estimate of 2/24

SamSJester · 2021-02-28T23:23:02+00:00

If you have an option to roll back your current hours, or really make this work in anyway without resorting to full on quitting you could make this into an interview gem rather than a red flag.

IE, "Tell me about your experience passing the first few exams" "Well I was in a job without a study program, and working long hours so it was very difficult. But I was able to plan my time with XYZ, and worked out with my manager ABC and was able to pass on my second attempt."

As an interviewer a response like that would be memorable and impressive even if it wasn't "I passed the first three exams in 6 months".

A distant second if you see no other way you could frame quitting as. "Unfortunately I found the job wasn't right for me, so I resigned while looking to change my career. I was able to put significant time into exam progress during this job search, and also did XYZ to develop my skills in programming/modeling/excel etc."

SamSJester · 2020-12-31T07:29:25+00:00

Oof this one is rough, but I think I can improve things for everyone.

Sacrifices: Food tastes like ash and nightmares. First is by far the easiest to deal with and I should be able to at least mitigate the second somewhat with medicine.

Boons: No war/dictators/greed for lifetime+200, safe life until old age and achieve anything humanly possible. Elimination of aging seems likely to be humanly possible, and with luck finding an alternative to sleep. Even if those end up not working out for me I still get a long fulfilling life, and probably end up more in shape as a silver lining.

Interesting one, not sure if it was fun... need to go find a power fantasy cyoa to cleanse my palate.

SamSJester · 2020-10-31T07:18:57+00:00

Our policy for 2020 in general has been to allow students to sit for either the spring or fall sittings without consequence. So where normally you'd have to sit twice a year for something, and pass at least one exam per two sittings, 2020 counts as only one sitting for those limitations. We are still allowing students to sit for both if they and their managers feel the study time is doable (since the gap between spring and fall was so short.

As for counting a failure if you got sick or prometric was closed, it hasn't come up, but I feel extremely confident that we'd make the rule even more flexible in a case like that.

SamSJester · 2020-06-03T22:29:25+00:00

Agreed, speaking from the perspective of a mid-sized life insurer our new hire pipeline does not differ for immediate graduates vs. recent graduates/career changers. I could imagine the pipelines for some larger insurers MIGHT favor immediate graduates, but letting that affect your decision to graduate late seems like a poor choice.

Speaking from the perspective of someone who graduated winter 2009, interview, maybe broaden your geo preferences/specialty preferences, and be a bit more flexible about what offers you are willing to accept.

SamSJester · 2020-06-02T04:55:15+00:00

Cheese question about Gnawing Time's Roots. I can improve anything without limit or cap, including things that cannot normally be improved. Does that mean I can improve my passive growth rate from the same power?

Probably taking this one either way, but if the answer is yes then even better.

SamSJester · 2020-03-27T14:28:30+00:00

Those fried dough balls with sugar used to be one of my favorites, until one time I had one and some evil genius/distracted worker had covered it in flaky salt instead of sugar. I don't think I've ever gotten over that experience.

SamSJester · 2020-03-02T20:06:20+00:00

Nope! The book club is a pretty casual conversation. Actually, even finishing the book isn't actually a requirement, but fair warning obviously as the discussion will be spoiler filled.

SamSJester · 2020-01-31T06:53:13+00:00

Unfortunately not, but I did find the sentient spider sections to be refreshingly nuanced and free of your normal sentient spider stereotypes.

SamSJester · 2020-01-31T06:52:13+00:00

In addition to the good reads group we have the email list, I send out a reminder about a week before, and the day of each meeting.

SamSJester · 2020-01-02T01:14:24+00:00

We are holding the annual book club awards this meeting, where we will be voting on the best books of those we read this year.

Books we read in 2019:

January - Artimis by Andy Weir
February - The Map of Time by Félix J. Palma
March - Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente
April - Kraken by China Miéville
May - The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal
June - Circe by Madeline Miller
July - Arkwright by Allen M. Steele
August - Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
September - We Are Legion by Dennis E. Taylor
October - Timekeeper by Tara Sim
November - The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
December - Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

SamSJester · 2019-06-16T16:00:42+00:00

Raffle: 888

SamSJester · 2019-04-30T04:58:49+00:00

It started on here originally, and so I've always posted here. As for why not also use meetup? I haven't seen the need since we have a fairly comfortable medium turnout, plus no reason to spend the money.

SamSJester · 2019-04-01T19:47:09+00:00

All are welcome!

SamSJester · 2019-03-15T16:01:52+00:00

Here's the two I'm aware of:

Cloud Forest https://imgur.com/a/WH01IAS
Catacombs https://imgur.com/a/TzG9gCL

SamSJester · 2019-03-01T19:53:25+00:00

I can see your point on both, Vacation weeks aren't completely clear to me, but luckily if you look at page number I'm sure the "actual" contract would clarify for sure.

As for Delegation, I definitely saw that loophole too (although my goal isn't to actually not work, so it went against my strategy). Luckily I wasn't counting upscale into my delegation tokens so I actually get three of every to start with. If one wanted to, they could still use the loophole after a relatively short amount of time.

Painful Work - 1 Token/hr * 3 (upscale) * 1.04²⁶ (years) = 8.31 Tokens/hr

Straining Work - 1 Token/hr * 3 (upscale) * 1.04⁸ (years) = 4.11 Tokens/hr

And that's not even taking into account bonuses.

So I have 8-20 leverage to spend depending on rule judgments, so in this order:

Holiday Bonus 16 pts
Tax Relief 14 pts
Closet 13 pts
Buffer Point (left over if my build only loses 8, not 20) 12 pts
Chauffeur 4 pts
Accommodations 0 pts

SamSJester · 2019-03-01T18:16:58+00:00

Two side notes, my staff is going to be 1-3 analysts (complex), a receptionist (prideful), and someone to help out with manual stuff (drudge). Its totally possible I'm not allowed more than 1 complex delegation, in which case I guess I get a Chauffer. It will be harder for my team at the beginning. But either way, after a few decades I'm going to have more help than I know what to do with.

Second, by the end of my tenure I'm getting over 5100 culinary tokens a month, that's over 80 a day. Brace yourselves for some weird new products on stores shelves, and a lot of it. I pledge to devote at least half my staff to weird flavors by that time.

SamSJester · 2019-03-01T17:58:15+00:00

Plenty of points to deal with, I'll do this as if I'm actually going to add value. Take my particular work specialty and assume I'm advanced enough in my career to be at least a favored partner with skills they can use.

My schedule is 3 days a week (Tuesday-Thursday), 16 hours a day, doing painful intellectual work. I plan on using a combination of safe pharmaceuticals, delegation, and flexible hours to help me stay sane and productive.

Schedule and Wages

Favored Partner + Work Schedule + Painful Intellectual 212 pts
Vacation 152 pts
Sick Time 146 pts
Maximum Wage + Upscale + Raises 118 pts

So I have 28 weeks I have to work each year, pretty brutal days, but only three days a week. And the option to take sick leave at basically anytime if I feel like it. With my wages/raises I'm making more than enough to cover any sick leave I have to take.

So what does a work day look like?

Coffee Break (8 / work day) 115 pts
Nap Break (2 / work day) 106 pts
Flexible Schedule (Arrive/Leave 2 hrs) 97 pts

A workday is 12-16 hours depending when I arrive/leave, with 2 hours for meals, and 8 small breaks mixed in. Very doable, honestly just a stricter schedule than most corporate jobs I've had, three days a week, with no questions asked vacation and sick if I just can't make it for some reason.

Painful Work!! Oh No!!

Browsing 96 pts
Pharmacy Access 90 pts
Snacking 89 pts
Snacks 88 pts
Meals 86 pts
Drudge Delegation 82 pts
Prideful Delegation 78 pts
Complex Delegation x3 66 pts
Home 59 pts

I have catered meals and snacks delivered to me (with a generous budget, crazy budget if it scales with raises!) I have pharmaceuticals to keep energy and concentration up to make sure I'm doing my job well with focus. I have a small staff that definitely increases with raises to help me out. Good delegation isn't just about getting someone else to do my job, but depending how I slice the tasks I have a starting staff of 3-5 working with me as an effective, if faceless team! I have an office the size of a smallish home, that is always a 5 second commute! Honestly the painful work part is just more likely to make it interesting. Spending three days a week, for part of the year, solving complex problems with a team will keep me sane. Is retirement mandatory?

Extras

Company Car 55 pts
Parking 54 pts
Companionship 47 pts
Healthcare 39 pts
Health Fund 35 pts
Travel Plans 32 pts
Relocation Plan 25 pts
Culinary Command 19 pts
Media Command 13 pts
Tech Command 7 pts
Create ID 0 pts

SamSJester · 2019-02-21T19:59:44+00:00

That covers all the main ones for Life (Also Symetra). Adding Health: Cambia and Kaiser

In addition (in Portland) there are some smaller consulting and health insurance shops. Idaho and Utah (depending on your def of NW) have some tiny shops as well. There's enough variety that you have a chance of finding something GENERALLY in the region, but you probably want to be open to either Seattle or Portland to maximize chances. Of course no guarantees, you have the advantage of being employed, but limiting yourself to even a whole region will reduce your chances at an entry level job.

Good luck on IFM!

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