Career Hotline
Actualise your dreams as an actuary
Pervin Malhotra

Q Please tell me how I can become an actuary. I am doing PG Diploma in Insurance Management and have done B.Com (48 per cent).

— Anshuman Wadhera

A To be an actuary you have to enroll as a student member of a professional examining body such as the Actuarial Society of India, DN Road, Mumbai (www.actuariesindia.org), or of the Institute of Actuaries, London, which conducts exams in different centres in India (www.actuaries.org.uk).

The ASI course is divided into three groups (100, 200, 300 and 400 series). You have to clear 16 papers which may take anywhere between 5-6 years of sustained and arduous study. On clearing the 300 series of papers, you become an Associate Member of the ASI. On clearing all the exams, you will be awarded the Fellowship of the ASI.

On passing all the 100 series subjects, you will get a Certificate in Actuarial Techniques (CAT). This alone can fetch you a monthly packet of Rs 25,000 - Rs 35,000.

If you qualify from one body, you are exempted from some papers of the other.

The long and exacting study and the paucity of a real market for these skills till recently, was responsible for restricting the number of qualified actuaries in the country to a mere handful. However, IRDA’s new regulation stipulating that all insurance companies (Life as well as Non-life) must have an appointed actuary, has fuelled the demand for these specialists, now that several new players have entered the field. The non-life sector alone will need a large number of actuaries. So will the hundred-odd licensed insurance brokers. An estimated 12,000 actuaries would be required in the near future.

Realising the paucity of Actuaries in India, LIC also inducts Actuarial Apprentices. A stipend of about Rs 4,000 is paid during the 3-year training period.

The Actuarial Apprentices / Trainees must successfully clear at least 3 subjects before they can be absorbed as Actuarial Assistants, which is a regular post in the LIC.

On clearing six or more subjects, you would be appointed as an Assistant Administrative Officer.

While Actuarial Science can be pursued at various universities, the ASI alone confers the Fellowship. Exemptions are allowed in a few subjects only at the associate level.

Green avenue

Q I have just completed plus two. Ideally, I would like a career that involves working in environment-related fields. What exactly does an environmental engineer do?

— Hemlata Kaur

A Growing public concern over environmental problems ranging from the polluted waters of our major rivers to the high atmospheric and ground water pollution in most Indian metros like Delhi is pushing up the demand for environmental engineers.

But fewer than five per cent of all engineers — presently have the training and experience required for this speciality. Only a handful of engineering colleges offer this specialisation.

A majority of the technical people in this field are chemical engineers.

Environmental engineers usually specialise in what’s known as either ‘clean’ or ‘dirty’ work. The profession’s clean arm typically does preventive work, investigating the potential causes of environmental damage and developing strategies to ward off pollution and other problems. For example, a so-called clean engineer might help to determine where to build a waterfront development without destroying the area’s ecosystem or conduct an environment audit for the local municipality.

Engineers who engage in dirty work are the heroes who come to the rescue when environmental emergencies arise — for example, donning protective gear to investigate firsthand why poisonous gas is seeping from underground pipes or containing oil and chemical spills.

Whatever kind of work you choose, the demand for environmental engineers is expected to improve in the near future. In the West, ‘dirty’ work, which is considered to be the most urgent environmental need, is more remunerative than ‘clean’ work. Engineers specialising in hazardous waste — the real ‘dirty’ work of this profession — command 25 per cent more in salary than other engineers.

Apart from jobs in government agencies like the Central Pollution Control Board, openings in the private sector would essentially lie with companies engaged in infrastructure projects with environmental consulting firms.

Environment engineers also have prospects in industry. The government has notified that any industry that employs over 500 people must have a health and safety officer. An environmental engineer is ideally suited for this task.

If you are interested in working in this industry familiarise yourself with the ISO14001 standard.

The size of the market for the environmental sector is estimated at $2bn. The major areas of concern are sewage treatment ($1.2 bn), air pollution control ($140 m), and hazardous waste mgmt ($100 m).

Hospitality after MBA

Q I am a final year MBA student. Would joining the hotel industry be considered a good career move?

— Anant Goyal

A Sure, MBAs can look at the hospitality industry as a potential career avenue — particularly now that the hospitality sector is booming. A hotel job can be an ideal platform for an MBA to execute his management skills and utilise his experience and training.

A hospitality venture is a highly professional business. Moreover, the industry is undergoing visible transformation — both in terms of work as well as function; MBAs are generally preferred in the sales and marketing department. Business building, brand building and positioning — the job will give you ample opportunity to put all the principles of management that you’ve learnt to effective use. You can also test your leadership skills in areas of human resources development.

Opportunities in the hospitality industry are growing wider and better with more international chains making inroads in the country. Convention Management has emerged as yet another hot area.

Though this industry is yet to offer the sort of package other industries pay at a similar level, it has a number of hidden value add-ons attached to it. Besides the growth opportunities and empowerment, working for a reputed brand name can prove to be quite challenging professionally. Also, dealing with professionals and clients from varied backgrounds gives you a wider platform for interaction. Who knows, one of them could well be your future employer or a probable business partner.

So, all things considered, exploring the hospitality sector may be a good idea for management professionals, especially when the industry is looking at them to bring in modern and effective business practices.

Sow seeds of growth

Q I have done BSc (Agriculture). I am very ambitious and feel I am cut out for agribusiness. However, people tell me that I can’t make it big in farming. Is this true?

A Did you know that the founder of the Reliance Empire, Dhirubhai Ambani’s first foray was in agro-exports while Wipro’s Azim Premji, the only Indian to be declared the richest man in the world, started his career in food processing. So, if you think you are cut out for agribusiness I would say — just go for it. And here is why`85

You can do business in any of the following areas: herbal or food products, seafood and flowers. The global trade in these items is estimated to be a mind boggling $395 billion.

Nonetheless, agriculture business in India has a lot of catching up to do and it is young, ambitious entrepreneurs like you who can make all the difference in capturing this huge untapped market. With 20 per cent of the world’s irrigated and fertile lands, plenty of sunshine and an average rainfall of 1000 mm, India has a tremendous natural advantage.

Another area that you can explore is bio-diesel. Even the 41.5 million waste and barren lands in India can be used to grow 400 different types of bio-diesel plants like Jatropha, Neem and Karanj. Ethanol and bio-diesel also called green gold can be sold to oil companies for processing and blending with diesel and petrol.

If you are planning to strike out on your own, you can look for funding through 14 nationalised banks under the Venture Capital scheme of the M/o Agriculture to encourage agribusiness. It is being promoted through the Small Farmers’ Agri-business Consortium and provides assistance in terms of equity participation in agri-projects up to 10 per cent of the total project cost or 26 per cent of the total project equity or Rs 75 lakh whichever is lower.

Log onto www.sfacindia.com for details.

Material gain

Q I am a first year electrical engg student. Can you tell me something about Material Science? Where it is taught at the M.Tech level?

A Increasingly, products such as electronic gadgets, automobiles, space based communications, biomaterials and many other engineered items, are playing a pivotal role in our daily lives. High performance materials are being designed and fabricated by mixing very similar or different materials at the nano-meter scale level.

Not only can do we build a variety of functions each carried by one phase into a given material, but we can also expect new properties to arise due to the interaction at the molecular level between the two admixed phases.

Hence the importance of understanding materials from the fundamental viewpoint of molecular engineering for developing advanced materials is increasing day by day.

Materials Science is a specialisation at the M.Tech level. It is taught at IIT, Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Mumbai, IIT Roorkee, Institute of Technology, BHU, Varanasi and Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology, Patiala (Deemed University).

Share knowledge

Q I am an advocate. I want to learn about the working of share markets so that I can invest my money in stocks. Please suggest how I can update my knowledge about the share market.

— Sandeep Singh Bhular, Muktsar

A You could look up National Stock Exchange website (www.nse-india.com) for relevant information.

Web-based e-learning courses for professionals, retail investors and students designed by the NSE.IT, a wholly owned subsidiary of NSE, can be accessed on www.finvarsity.com

Also, a good way to orient yourself to the stock market would be to read up as much as you can on the subject. Professional books would improve your understanding and enhance your skills.

The writer is a noted career consultant

Please send in your query, preferably on a postcard, along with your full name, complete address and academic qualifications to: Editor, Jobs and Careers, The Tribune, Sector 29, Chandigarh-160030, or at careers@tribunemail.com