The Market for Professionalsim

I’ve often heard lawyers joke that law school applications should include the question “Do you realize that becoming a lawyer requires you to actually practice law?” because so many law school graduates end up not wanting to be lawyers. It seems like a common thing for people to start down a path because it’s there, or because it seems like a good idea, or because that’s what successful people do. Observe the many people in the current generation with majors in either unemployment or employment they hate.

I suspect this problem is less pronounced for actuaries. For one thing, it’s still fairly uncommon to major in being an actuary (in fact, I strongly disapprove of such a thing, but that discussion is for another day.) Whatever you chose to study on your way to becoming an actuary is likely useful across a variety of fields. Additionally, actuaries work in the field whilst obtaining their qualifications; in fact work experience is one of the required qualifications. Few obtain Associateship or Fellowship without knowing what they’ve gotten themselves into in terms of the day-to-day life of being an actuary.

Despite this, and despite working for or with actuaries for nearly five years, I have found that I didn’t quite recognize all of what I was getting myself into when I started down this path. I knew what the work would be like and how grueling the exam process would be, but I never really stopped to think about what it would mean to join a profession, a legal monopoly with rules, standards, governance, and disciplinary authority, whose approval I am required by law to maintain in order to practice in my chosen field.

On the one hand, there wasn’t much reason to think about this earlier since the law gives me no choice. On the other, I’m still entering this union and must uphold its rules. This, to me, was the primary value of the Course on Professionalism, which I completed last December in Atlanta. Although much of the Course was of dubious value to me, it does force you to take a breath and recognize that Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) and American Academy of Actuaries (AAA) membership should not be taken lightly.

Being a member of a profession has always meant more than just doing your job in accordance with certain standards. The professional’s entire life is subject to the standards of his profession. For instance an attorney is subject to review by the BAR if he files for personal bankruptcy. You represent your profession even when not acting in the capacity of a professional. The line between your personal life and your professional life isn’t fine- it’s non-existent.

Of course neither the CAS nor Society of Actuaries (SOA) are known for being overly-meddlesome, but, as the attorney representing the Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline (ABCD) made quite clear at the Course, even the non-actuarial, non-job-related actions of AAA members can be cause for disciplinary action if they reflect negatively on the actuarial profession. The specific example given was of an actuary’s name ending up in the newspaper because of a DUI. While the attorney stated that he knew of no such cases to date, he did say that it would be within the ABCD’s jurisdiction to pursue such a case.

The legal potential for draconian interference in the personal lives of actuaries exists, then. Culturally, however, is such interference likely? On the one hand, historically the actuarial organizations have concerned themselves only with actuarial and work-related matters. On the other, there are certain elements, represented by the lunch speaker at the Course, that would like to push the historical boundaries.

If you haven’t heard, this speaker caused quite a stir over his comments about Actuarial Outpost and Facebook. To summarize the pertinent portion his remarks very briefly, he described a CAS effort he was involved in to assert authority over the Actuarial Outpost forum and in general lamented the unprofessional manner in which some actuaries behave online. He even stated that he once decided not to hire someone on the basis of the applicant's Facebook profile picture, which showed the applicant involved in “some sort of Satanic ritual.”

It’s impossible to tell this story without taking a brief aside to address the absurdity of it. If you’re internet-savvy enough to be reading a blog, you probably noticed straight-off that it’s just silly to draw conclusions about a person’s beliefs from their profile picture. What’s more likely: that this applicant actively sacrifices goats or that his profile picture came from a Halloween party or a film or something? If you’re one of the unfortunate souls described earlier who went to law school, you probably also noticed that refusing someone a job because of his religion is illegal. It gets worse, however, because the job was with a state department of insurance; if any employer has a moral obligation to be indifferent to religious preferences and to keep out of social media, that employer is the government.

Formally, the CAS and AAA certainly do not endorse illegal hiring practices, nor do they encourage internet-stalking of prospective employees. However the policies and behavior of professional organizations stem from the beliefs and practices of their membership. Beyond that, certain members- those who are more involved and more vocal -will have greater influence than others.

Online privacy is a hot-button topic all over these days (and one we know the CAS has taken an interest in), and it’s no surprise: the internet and social media represent a significant shift in the way we engage with others and present ourselves, both personally and professionally. It’s no surprise that many people find that disconcerting. The old rules of etiquette, privacy, and even professionalism simply don’t translate to this new world. In general my own belief is that people shouldn't care about things that don't affect work performance and that employers certainly shouldn't seek private information about current or prospective employees. If you make your personal information public, however, you can and should be held accountable. I believe this perspective is pretty standard among the internet crowd, and maybe that causes us to take it for granted. But as my anecdote shows, privacy principles are far from settled in the broader culture. If those of us with similar "live and let live" ideals don’t represent our views on privacy in organizations like the CAS, we risk losing the culture battle within such organizations to people like the Course lunch speaker.

It may sound overly dramatic, but this is a call to action. The last month has seen a lot of drama in the sphere of professional actuarial organizations (and that’s a sentence that likely won’t ever be typed again.) With the CAS leadership seriously rethinking the exam process* and the SOA announcing that it will now offer a competing property-casualty professional designation, the time to shape the future of actuarial professional standards is now.

My biggest gripe with professional organizations- that they typically face little to no competitive market pressures -is no longer true for P&C actuaries. Soon we will have a choice of organizations to align ourselves with, which means we also have to decide what it is we want from a professional organization. Even those who aren’t currently members can exert influence in this unique situation. It would be a shame if this opportunity were to pass and leave us only with the status quo. One issue to consider is what I’ve been discussing here: how involved do you want your professional organization to be in your personal life? There are many other issues on the table, though, and I hope we all (even those who aren’t actuaries yet) take the time to evaluate our priorities in the comings months. Your commitment to your professional organization will likely last longer than the average U.S. marriage, after all. Make it count.

*The CAS recently announced key changes. Starting in 2013, Exams 5 and 6 will be offered twice a year. Additionally those sitting for Exam 9 this May will be given an extra hour to complete the exam. The CAS is also hiring consultants to review the exam process in light of the low pass rates in 2011.

My First Future Fellows Article

The hectic reserving season has only just ended, so I won't be producing a real post this month. However you can peruse the article I co-authored in the latest issue of Future Fellows. You can view the publication online here: http://casact.org/newsletter/index.cfm?fa=ffmain

I did bring up the issue of exam start times and sleep (my pet project) with the Candidate Liaison Committee. It wasn't met with much enthusiasm; there are concerns about late exam end-times that might require lunch breaks. However I intend to continue promoting later start times, because I really believe it will help candidates.

Speaking of things that will help candidates, I'm learning more about the appeals process through my involvement with the CLC. I hope to post something extensive on that soon. We've discussed having a Future Fellows article on the subject as well. From the feedback I've been getting, it sounds like people really need some clarification on that process. I hope to provide that for you soon. Until then, keep studying!