I am very excited because I am flying to Finland tomorrow morning. A client wanted to see me on Monday morning and said that if I came early they would entertain me on Sunday evening. I have always wanted to go to Helsinki and tend to grab opportunities with both hands so I’m turning it into a long weekend. Watch this space for updates on my trip.
Flying to Finland
26th November 2009 · Leave a Comment
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Tagged: Client visit, Finland, Helsinki
Networking in Scotland: Breakfast and Dining Clubs
2nd November 2009 · Comments Off
I am in Edinburgh ahead of the GAAPS Actuarial Careers Fair at Heriot Watt. I interviewed an excellent candidate first thing this morning over breakfast and am now working on placing him. I then went to visit a client who has given me international contacts for his organisation around the world.
As usual I have found time for shopping but rather than shoes I am now one skirt up.
At this morning’s meeting I was told about a Faculty meeting that I hadn’t realised was taking place and will now be attending the Faculty meeting and the Scottish actuaries dining club afterwards.
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Tagged: actuarial events, actuary, Careers fair, Edinburgh, Faculty, Scotland, Shopping
From Paris to London
19th October 2009 · Comments Off
A Few days before my business trip to London I read in the newspaper that the Eurostar train had a problem which forced passengers to stay on the train for over 5 hours! I suddenly think what again will happen to me with the journey, as I have a lot of funny stories with transports since I frequently fly or use trains..,
But I arrived in Saint Pancras on time, visiting my clients in London with no delays, and meeting with candidates where some are still amazed I still haven’t managed to lose my French accent since I borrow Shakespeare’s language to express myself. Which I nicely replied back…”have you only listened to Arsene Wenger!? “
I was impressed by walking into the city and looking in the air to check if it will actually going to rain or if I could see some sun rays, which would help me deciding whether I should wear a thick jacket or a rather summery shirt for the next day, but all I could see was big tower raising their 33 floors through the sky.
Who talks about crisis? I was surprised to see the city, although already pretty compact and full of buildings, still has a few squares meters to implant a new financial head office.
Being in London for business is always a challenge against the chronometer, but I was very happy to see the clients trust us by renewing their terms, and I was pleased to realise that the development I made in Europe is of a deep interest to our clients and candidates. Since Solvency 2 is a top concern for actuaries, Gaaps Europe can contribute to provide them with the best experts and the most valuable opportunities in Europe.
I have now head back to France, ready to put my words into European actions.
It was a pleasure to meet with the London Gaaps team as always.
To talk to me about European opportunities please contact me at sophie@gaaps.com
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Tagged: Paris, actuary, actuarial, London, Travel, Eurostar, French, City
Solvency in Edinburgh
12th October 2009 · Comments Off
My last week was spent in Edinburgh for GIRO, I have been discussing with many candidates and clients the on-going needs of Solvency II. Most interesting in regards to new needs and of course on-going needs within Solvency II and other teams within the non-life parts of the business.
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Tagged: actuarial, Conference, Edinburgh, Giro, Scotlant, Solvency II
Dust Storms across Australian East Coast
24th September 2009 · Comments Off
Yesterday both Brisbane and Sydney were affected by a dust storm that swept across the Eastern coast of Australia (over 1000km of coastline affected).
Caused by gale force winds from the west, blowing the dust from drought stricken Northern Territory over a large part of the east coast, it measured at seven times that of a “severe” dust storm.
The Australian Insurance Council are looking at setting up a task force as the cost/economic impact of the storm is likely to run into the 10’s of millions of dollars.
It was an ugly day, it looked like Armageddon!!
That said, if you love dust then register for actuarial jobs in Australia or download our Top Tips for Australia.
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Tagged: Actuarial jobs, Australia, Brisbane, Dust storm, East coast, Sydney
Sydney in Spring (post meltdown)
22nd September 2009 · Comments Off
Having our regional office in Brisbane gives me the much loved excuse to travel, and more often than not, Sydney is the destination.
It’s now Spring in Australia with the new financial year well underway, many of my clients are in budget mode. It never ceases to amaze me how many will still find the time to catch up for at least a coffee for the overview of the market. On this occasion I could only afford 4 days out of the office, but when averaging 8 – 9 meetings a day, your caffeine levels can go through the roof.
With Australia’s unemployment rate remaining steady at 5.8%, and positive sounds from the Asian and US economies, there is definitely positive sentiment in the air about the improving global economy. This seems to have many of our clients thawing out their recruitment freezes from September 08, and bringing a mixture of new and replacement roles to the table. Given Australia dodged the global trend of “mass redundancies” in the actuarial space, there is definitely more heat placed on the demand for the actuarial skill set.
With many wage freeze policies put in place at the end of 2009, there is also heat coming from the talent pool. Many young actuaries are beginning to look actively again at external opportunities to progress their careers as they are finding that staff turnover + recruitment freeze = increased workload, without increased salary compensation. And if this Spring time visit to Sydney has taught me one thing, it’s that the job market in Australia this summer may be very hot.
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Tagged: Actuarial jobs, Asian economy, Australia, Brisbane, Coffee, Sydney, US economy
The Beer Gardens
18th September 2009 · Comments Off
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Tagged: actuarial events, AFIR, Conference, GAAPS International, LIFE, Munich
Magical Munich
8th September 2009 · Comments Off
The journey from Munich Airport to the LIFE / AFIR conference was further than I had expected but was a journey through a magical green landscape and I now understand where childhood fairy-tales come from.
The conference itself is excellent and for the first time ever I have understood how Swiss pensions work – a great tribute to the presenter of that session.
In the evening, the social event was a visit to a beer garden. I was very trepiditious and even managed to miss the coach that had been arranged so I ended up walking. Again it was like a scene out of ‘The Student Prince’ (the operetta).
Very worthwhile! Very well organised!
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Tagged: actuarial events, Conference, Germany, Munich
Worlds Within Worlds
4th September 2009 · Comments Off
Unusually for Travel GAAPS this journey was a short taxi ride within London to Covent Garden, but Oh – what another world!
Amidst street performers and musicians I had a fruitful meeting and we now have a vacancy for an American startup.
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Tagged: actuarial, actuary, America, London, Meeting, Vacancy
Actuarial Hikes
2nd September 2009 · Comments Off
At Travel GAAPS we are always in search of actuaries in extreme locations. I spent the bank holiday weekend hiking in the Peak District.
Somewhat surprisingly, I did not come across the head offices of any major insurance companies whilst trekking along the Pennine Way.
It seems that actuarial vacancies are concentrated in financial centres such as London, Paris and New York, rather than on mountain-tops populated primarily by sheep.
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Tagged: actuary, Insurance, Insurance companies, actuaries, Head Office, Peak district, Pennine Way
