How to write a stand out actuarial CV: tips for actuarial professionals

Whether you are part-qualified and considering your next move or an experienced actuary who has not updated their CV in several years, it can be difficult to know what to include, what to leave out and how much detail to provide.

Sellick Partnership’s specialist Actuarial recruitment team regularly reviews CVs and speaks with employers across the UK market about the experience, skills and responsibilities they are looking for.

In this guide, we share practical advice on how to structure your actuarial CV, present your experience clearly and make it easier for hiring teams to understand the value you could bring to a role. For more general advice on CV structure, content and formatting, you can also read our CV writing tips: a step-by-step guide.

Get the basics right

Start with clear, up-to-date contact details, including a mobile number and professional email address. You may also want to include a link to your LinkedIn profile, particularly if it provides additional detail about your experience without adding unnecessary length to your CV.

The main sections of an actuarial CV will usually include:

• Professional summary
• Relevant work experience
• Professional qualifications and actuarial exam progress
• Technical skills and systems experience
• Education

The order and level of detail will depend on your experience. For part-qualified and experienced actuarial professionals, your recent work, responsibilities and technical expertise should usually take priority over earlier education.

Finding the balance

There is no single ideal length for an actuarial CV. The right level of detail will depend on your experience, specialism and the role you are applying for.

For many part-qualified and experienced professionals, two or three pages can be entirely appropriate if the information is relevant and easy to follow. Trying to force several years of technical experience, qualifications and progression onto one page can mean removing useful context.

Focus on giving the hiring team a clear picture of:

• Your current level of experience and qualification status
• The actuarial work you have undertaken
• The responsibilities you have owned
• Your relevant technical skills and systems experience
• The impact you have made where this can be demonstrated clearly

Prioritise information that helps the reader understand your suitability for the role, and reduce detail that is outdated, repetitive or no longer relevant to the direction of your career.

What you should include

A clear professional summary

A short professional summary at the top of your CV can help the reader understand your experience quickly.

In two or three lines, aim to cover:

• Your current qualification status
• Your actuarial specialism
• Your level and type of experience
• The areas of work most relevant to your next move

For example, you might describe yourself as a part-qualified general insurance actuary with experience across pricing and portfolio analysis, or a qualified pensions actuary with trustee consulting and risk transfer experience. You can read more about the different roles available in the pensions actuarial market in our guide.

If you are targeting a particular type of role, location or level of responsibility, you can also make this clear where it adds useful context. Keep the summary focused on your experience and what you are looking for next rather than explaining why you want to leave your current role.

Use a clear, active tone

Use active language to make your contribution and level of responsibility easy to understand.

Words such as led, developed, implemented, reviewed, delivered and improved can help show what you personally did, rather than only describing the work of the wider team.

For example, instead of writing:

“Supported the development of a pricing model.”

You might write:

“Developed and implemented updates to a pricing model, working with underwriting and data teams.”

The most important thing is accuracy. Choose wording that reflects your actual involvement and avoids overstating the level of responsibility you held.

Use specific examples of your impact

Where possible, give clear examples of what changed as a result of your work rather than relying on broad statements such as “improved systems and processes”.

For example:

“Redesigned part of a reporting process, reducing turnaround time from four weeks to two.”

Or:

“Automated a recurring analysis process, reducing manual input and improving the consistency of reporting.”

You do not need to force a percentage or financial figure into every example. Use measurable outcomes where they are accurate and meaningful, and make sure you can explain how you contributed to the result.

If you have worked in consultancy, it can also be useful to give context around the scale or complexity of the work, such as the type of client, project or portfolio involved. However, avoid sharing confidential or commercially sensitive information.

The aim is to help the hiring team understand the scope of your experience, the level of responsibility you held and the impact of your work.

Education

The amount of education detail you include should reflect your level of experience.

For part-qualified and experienced actuarial professionals, your recent work, professional qualifications and exam progress will usually be more important than detailed information about your earlier education.

Include your degree and any other relevant qualifications or professional development. If a dissertation, thesis or particular module is directly relevant to the role you are applying for, you can include it, but there is no need to give it prominent space if your later experience is more relevant.

As your career develops, keep this section concise and focus on information that helps the employer understand your actuarial background and suitability for the role.

Technical skills

Include the systems, modelling tools and coding languages that are most relevant to your experience and the role you are targeting.

This might include tools such as Excel, Prophet, Radar, Emblem, ResQ, Python, R, SQL or other specialist actuarial software, depending on your area of work.

Where possible, show how you have used these skills in practice rather than listing them without context. For example, explain whether you have used a tool to build or review models, automate analysis, support reporting or work with large datasets.

Avoid overstating your level of expertise. Clear examples of how and where you have used a particular tool are usually more useful than generic ratings such as “advanced” or “expert”.

Exams and qualification progress

If you are part-qualified, make your actuarial exam progress easy to understand. Include:

• Exams you have passed
• Any exemptions you have received
• Exams where results are pending
• Exams you plan to sit next, where relevant

This gives employers a clear picture of your current progress and how close you may be to your next qualification milestone.

If you are already qualified, clearly state your Associate or Fellow status. You will not usually need to list your full exam history unless there is a particular reason it is relevant to the role.

Keep this section factual and easy to scan. Detailed exam marks are generally unnecessary unless there is a specific achievement you feel adds useful context.

What to remove

Your CV should focus on information that helps an employer understand your experience, skills and suitability for the role. In most cases, you can leave out:

• A photo or unnecessary personal information: You do not usually need to include details such as your full home address, age, gender or marital status on a UK CV
• Referee contact details: Employers can request references later in the recruitment process if needed, so there is usually no need to include names and contact details on your CV
• Generic statements such as “references available on request”: These take up space without adding much value
• Visual proficiency scales: Avoid graphics such as stars, circles or progress bars to show your level of technical skill. It is more useful to explain how you have used a system or tool in practice
• Outdated or irrelevant detail: As your career develops, reduce information that no longer helps explain your current experience or the type of role you are targeting
• Prioritise clear, standard text and relevant evidence over decorative elements. The aim is to make your CV easy to read and easy for the hiring team to assess

Do you need a cover letter on your actuarial CV?

A cover letter is not always necessary for an actuarial application, so check the employer’s instructions before submitting one.

It can add value where you need to explain something that is not immediately clear from your CV, for example:

• Why you are interested in the organisation or role
• Why you want to move into a different actuarial specialism
• How your experience relates to a position with a different remit
• Any relevant context around your career move

If you do include a cover letter, keep it focused and avoid repeating your CV. Use it to add context and explain why the opportunity is a good fit for your experience and career direction. For more general advice, read our guide on how to write a cover letter.

Final checks before submitting your CV

Before sending your CV, take time to check the detail as well as the content.

Look for:

• Spelling and grammar errors
• Consistent fonts, spacing and formatting
• Accurate capitalisation of job titles, qualifications and organisations
• Clear dates and employment history
• Consistent tense across current and previous roles
• Any outdated information or duplicated content

Reading your CV aloud can help you spot awkward wording or sentences that are too long. It can also be useful to ask someone else to review it, particularly if you have been working on the document for a while.

A well-presented CV should be easy to follow and give the reader confidence that you have approached your application carefully.

Keep your CV up to date

Updating your CV should involve more than adding your latest role or responsibilities.

Review the whole document and check that older information is still accurate and relevant. For example, make sure previous roles are written in the past tense and that dates, job titles and responsibilities are consistent throughout.

It is also worth revisiting earlier experience when you apply for a new role. A project or responsibility from a previous position may be highly relevant to the opportunity you are considering, even if it has not featured prominently on your CV before.

As your career develops, remove or reduce information that no longer adds value and give more space to the experience, responsibilities and achievements that best demonstrate your suitability for the role.

Earlier or non-actuarial experience: include or remove?

You do not need to remove every role that sits outside actuarial, but the amount of detail you include should reflect how relevant it is to your current career.

For part-qualified and experienced actuarial professionals, older or unrelated positions can usually be kept brief. Include them where they help explain your career history or demonstrate transferable skills such as communication, leadership, client service or project management.

As your actuarial experience grows, give more space to the roles, projects and responsibilities that are most relevant to the opportunity you are applying for.

If an earlier role no longer adds useful context, it may be enough to include the job title, organisation and dates rather than a full list of responsibilities.

Communication and stakeholder experience

Strong communication skills are important in actuarial roles, particularly as you take on more responsibility and work with a wider range of stakeholders.

Rather than simply stating that you have “engaged with stakeholders”, give the reader more context. For example:

• Who were you communicating with?
• Were they clients, trustees, underwriters, senior leaders or other teams?
• Were you presenting findings, writing reports or making recommendations?
• Was this a regular part of your role or linked to a specific project?

The same applies to people management and mentoring. If you have formally managed others, supported junior colleagues, allocated work or helped train graduates, include enough detail to show the level of responsibility involved.

This helps the hiring team understand how you communicate, influence and work with others, rather than leaving them to infer it from a generic statement.

Structure matters

There is no single correct structure for every actuarial CV, but the most relevant information should be easy to find.

For many part-qualified and experienced professionals, a clear structure could be:

• Professional summary
• Relevant experience, in reverse chronological order
• Technical skills and systems experience
• Professional qualifications and exam progress
• Education

If you have held several roles within the same organisation, show internal promotions and changes in responsibility clearly rather than grouping everything under one job title.

For longer roles, use enough detail to explain your responsibilities, technical work and achievements without repeating similar points. Focus on the work that best demonstrates your suitability for the role you are applying for.

The aim is to make it easy for the hiring team to understand your experience, progression and current level of responsibility.

Ready to take the next step in your actuarial career?

A strong actuarial CV should make it easy for employers to understand your experience, responsibilities, technical skills and progression. Keep it relevant to the role you are applying for and focus on clear examples of the work you have undertaken and the impact you have made.

Sellick Partnership’s specialist actuarial recruitment team works with part-qualified, qualified and experienced professionals across the UK market. We regularly review CVs, advise candidates on how to present their experience and help them understand what employers are looking for.

If you are considering your next move, browse our latest actuarial jobs or speak to one of our specialist actuarial consultants for confidential advice on your CV and current opportunities.