Archive for the ‘Career Advice’ Category

PhDs in the insurance industry

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

I went to a combinatorics meeting recently. Among the technical talks there was one talk by Dr. Angela Koller on graph theory in industry. Dr. Koller is a mathematician by training who had worked as a research assistant at Royal Holloway. She was now part of the business research team as an actuarial consultant in JLT Insurance.

Dr. Koller gave an overview of the aims of her company and her team. The team dealt with dynamic financial analysis, financial modeling, pricing, natural catastrophe modeling, insurance aggregation analysis. She stressed the stability of the insurance industry which is needed where ever there is an insurable interest.

She outlined the mathematical aspect of her role and said that her team-mates had backgrounds from accounting, engineering, physics, computer science, geography and mathematics. There were a couple of PhDs in her team and a good percentage of Masters holders. Dr. Koller presented a few cases where she had to use general mathematical problem solving skills to model and solve problems in risk analysis especially related to catastrophes.

Dr. Koller stressed the importance of gaining the actuarial certification to do well in the Insurance industry. However, she did not plan to get an official certification as she had picked up the required skills and an official certification required a further three to four years of intense study and examinations. She was of the view, that even if an insurance employee is not taking actuarial exams, it is worth refreshing the concepts and regularly consulting the training material.

It was really helpful for her to stay after the talk and answer various questions from final year PhDs concerning the job market. Some one asked if she was using her graph theory training in her job. Although, her PhD did not directly apply to her job, she maintained that it was the skills acquired during her PhD which were valuable. She was of the view, that it is these skills which should be emphasized in non-academic job applications. It was interesting to see that where as most PhD seeking a job in the city turn to investment banking, there are other industries with interesting challenges and rewarding careers.

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Posted in Career Advice, Problem Solving, Transferable Skills | 1 Comment »

Publishing before the PhD

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

The PhD process involves producing publishable research. However, does that also imply that one should publish before submitting the thesis? There are a growing number of reasons to do so:

  1. Most university guidelines themselves encourage publications based on the undergoing PhD work. Certain universities make this requirement fairly explicit. In any case, a published work sounds like a decent proof of publishable work!
  2. Presenting one’s work is good for confidence and can encourage one to take on more challenging research.
  3. Peer review by specialists in the sub area can give detailed feedback and can greatly complement one’s supervisor’s comments. This is useful in understanding criticism, refining the ideas and improving the presentation. It may be helpful to take the suggestions on board rather than wait for the examiner to say the same thing.
  4. If one is going for a research job right after the PhD, many employers are looking for the right publication in the right places. If the PhD work is yet to be published, this could be a drawback.
  5. Presenting at different venues helps one meet people from other countries with the same research interests. This helps to foster a sense of community and can lead to exchange of ideas and collaboration.
  6. If there is a chance that some one else may come up with a similar result sooner rather than later, it is sensible to publish the result and not hold on to it.
  7. Timely dissemination of results may give new research opportunities.

If you have other reasons for or against publishing before the PhD, let me know and I’ll add to the list.

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Posted in Academics, Career Advice, Higher Education, PhD, Research | No Comments »

Dependable References

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

Since I applied for some jobs last winters, I realized that not only are good references important but it is also necessary that one’s references are attentive and timely in their response if asked to send a letter. Thankfully, there were no hiccups in the reference process. The need to have dependable references is the topic of a recent Wall Street Journal article. The article stresses that having great names as references is not enough and infect it is more important to have people who will back you in the application process.

Important people are generally short on time, so it is necessary to request early and give one’s referees sufficient time. Sometimes requesting way before the deadline is also not great because the matter may be ignored. Gentle reminders especially when the deadlines are approaching are useful. It is also a good habit to keep in touch with your reference and keep him/her in the loop irrespective of the decision. This shows that one is genuine in one’s approach and also acknowledges the help from one’s reference. The last point is highlighted in an interesting story in the Wall Street Journal article:

When a California accounting professional sought a newspaper job last year, a former supervisor provided a glowing recommendation. She turned down the offer because she was afraid to join a sick industry.

But the woman neglected to alert the ex-boss, who she thinks would have appreciated knowing why she rejected the job offer.

The best way to repair a gaffe like that? Simply apologize.

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How to Have a Bad Research Career

Thursday, November 6th, 2008

David Patterson has an amusing way of giving advice on research careers. He advises on ‘How to have a bad research career‘! Well, if one wants to avoid pitfalls it is always good to know what the pitfalls are. Among the bad choices one may make, he mentions the following three: (more…)

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