New partnership between ERGO and actupool

ERGO is one of the largest insurance groups in Germany and Europe and is one of the leading providers across all lines in its home market of Germany. Actuaries are a very important professional group in your company. In what areas do they primarily work and what tasks do they perform?

In my view, actuaries are flexible specialists who can be found in many areas at ERGO precisely because of their flexibility. For example, actuaries can be found in the classic fields of pricing and reserving or accounting in all lines of business. But actuaries are also needed in newer fields such as risk management or investment. Other areas for actuaries include product management, but also IT or controlling - not to mention supporting international companies or working on M&A projects. In short, wherever numbers are involved, it is very likely that an actuary will be involved too.

Actuaries are in great demand. What is the current situation in your company - can vacancies for actuaries be filled quickly?

Major trends such as big data or upheavals such as the introduction of IFRS 9/IFRS 17 as new accounting standards are central topics for many companies in the insurance industry that provide employment for actuaries in particular. At ERGO, we are also finding that it is not so easy to fill vacancies nowadays - but here ERGO has good opportunities to make good offers with its locations in attractive major cities throughout Germany.

What qualifications or soft skills do you particularly value for actuaries?

In terms of qualifications for actuaries, the DAV's training ensures a high standard of actuarial education. Many young students also take the opportunity to acquire knowledge of probability theory, statistics or actuarial mathematics during their studies, which definitely makes them interesting for ERGO as an employer.
When it comes to soft skills, I could mention many things here - curiosity, enthusiasm and good communication skills - in short, the ability to work in a team. If you're a team player, you are interested in listening to your counterpart, in understanding him or her, but also to be understood yourself, and you remain inquisitive and open to change throughout your life.

You are an actuary yourself - in your opinion, have the requirements for actuaries changed in recent years? How important do you consider CPD to be?

I have been an actuary (DAV) since 2004. Especially the last ten years have dramatically expanded the working life of actuaries with the introduction of Solvency II, IFRS 17 and with the wide availability of statistical tools and methods. For this reason, it is much more important today than it used to be to continue to develop professionally, because the market and products are also constantly changing. For example, it is not yet possible to estimate what impact climate change will have on our business models.
I find this development very exciting and can only advise everyone to be open to new things and not to rest on their laurels.

ERGO has been advertising its jobs on our platform for some time now and has now decided to partner with actupool. What advantages do you see in this cooperation with actupool?

We see key advantages in the fact that we have a very specific presence on a platform that has equally high importance and high visibility among actuaries. This brings us a step closer to them than before. For us, this is another piece in the jigsaw puzzle of our success.  

ERGO's cooperation with actupool will also extend to our career blog and actupool newsletter. What content and topics can we look forward to?

For example, you can look forward to insights into the diverse everyday life in an international insurance group. Exciting interviews with employees from various areas or articles on individual topics are available here.

We are very much looking forward to working with ERGO and thank you very much for the interview!