Education Blog – Online Universities and Colleges Blog

Career is gaining the prime focus in recent days; as the cut throat competitive world had set parameters for almost everyone in every field. This cut throat competition has made the world realize the difference between career and job. Since childhood students are trained to acquire a career in different fields. Almost every child is asked for his ambition at some point of time. As per the famous saying it’s always better to be safe than sorry, thus being prepared is always regarded as the best option. According to the survey approximately 73 percent of the students acquiring higher education opt for career oriented education. The ratio is increasing with passing time.

Many programs do offer career oriented courses. These courses include internships and trainee job positions, etc. The word professionalism has acquired its due importance in recent years and many institutions offer professional courses like Computers, Publishing, Athletics, and Foreign language to professional electives like Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) courses. With the increasing craze for career oriented education higher education has acquired great importance. The education has changed its format from stable, bookish and serious to flexible pertinent and quickly adaptable.

Career oriented programs more or less focus on practical knowledge thus securing place for concepts like management, advertising etc… This practical education makes it easier for the youth to enter the industry with a relevant knowledge and background of the job they are applying for. The faculty included for such programs are mostly the renowned and well established experts from the field who not only provide the education but spice them with their own experiences that enables the students to not only understand the concept but also be prepared for the possible situations, ups and downs in the field they aim to be in near future. It also helps them for planning and organizing their future career plans.

It is seen in recent times the requirement for career oriented individuals is rising and so are the institutes offering such type of programs. These programs brings out the best in the students at the college levels itself in order to make them ready for the industry to be capable of facing all the challenges surrounding the job.

Career oriented education is thought as a progressive concept. It is evolving with the time and gaining its due importance. Though career oriented education shapes the personality of the individual and makes him proficient and responsible to pursue a particular career, it is up to individual to plan his career, and be focused on his career plans to acquire success in terms of salary hike, increment and appraisal.

An actuary is a professional who is an expert at assessing the risk & uncertainties involved with financial security & minimize losses in the most analytical way. This profession was more or less behind the scenes and gauged very little attention of the students. Actuaries mathematically evaluate the probability of events and compute the contingent outcome which is helpful to take measures to minimize their financial impact when they occur. It requires analytical skills, business knowledge and understanding of human behavior and the vagaries of information systems to design and manage programs that control risk.

Actuaries have strong computer skills and be able to expand and use spreadsheets and databases, as well as standard statistical analysis software. Person with knowledge of programming languages, such as Visual Basic for Applications, SAS, or SQL, is also valuable. Companies also increasingly desire well-formed individuals who not only has well-built practical background, but also possess some training in business and seizes strong communication skills. Good interpersonal skills also are important, particularly for consulting actuaries.       

An actuary must possess certain knowledge as well as skills

Knowledge requirement

1. Mathematics: understanding of algebra, geometry, calculus, arithmetic, statistics & their application.
2. Verbal communication: understanding the content & configuration of “English language “is a necessity, plus grammar skills, spelling of words is also a must.
3. Economics & accounting: understanding of economics& accounting ethics & practices, the financial markets, banking and the analysis and coverage of financial data.
4. Administration & management: understanding of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and co-ordination of people and resources.
5. Law & government:  data & facts of law, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
6. Sales& marketing: understanding the principles & methods of showing product, promoting selling techniques. These also consist of product demonstration& marketing strategy & plans.

Skill requirement

• Must be clear with mathematical principles & its application
• Understanding the statistical reports & drawing apt conclusions from it
• Must have considerable knowledge of accounting ethics & practices & fully acquainted with economic & banking policies
• Must be an apt at showcasing, promoting & selling techniques & drawing marketing plans.
• Must have decision making skills considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
• Must give full attention to what other people are saying, asking question as appropriate.
• Should be good at understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.Coordinating with others during work.Supervising one’s own time & others timing too.

An actuary has a wide future scope. Employment in this field is expected to cultivate much faster than any other occupation. Competition will be high and soon the number of candidates is expected to increase. Actuaries are supposed to increase by 20 % over the 2008—18 periods, which is much faster than any other occupation.

Behavioral science is the study of the behavior, but is it as simple as that? Studying a behavior is no joke. Behavioral science basically studies the behavior of both the human and animal in the controlled and naturalistic world. Thus we can say behavioral sciences studies organisms’ behavior. It’s split between neural decision science and social communication science.
Neural decision science studies the link between biology and decision making while social communication sciences studies the link between communications and individual relations through social interactions.

Neural decision science covers subjects like Social Psychology, Cognitive Theory, Psychobiology, Management Science, Social Neuroscience, Ethology while social-communication science covers subjects like Anthropology, Organizational Behavior, Behavioral Finance, Social Networks, Memetics, Organizational Ecology.

Behavioral sciences prove really useful in management studies. Management basically means managing people and when you study human behavior it’s easier for you to manage them. Thus a management program includes subjects like organizational behavior or organizational finance.

In order to pursue a career in behavioral sciences you must possess certain skill. Human nature is dynamic and unpredictable but a behavioral scientist must adapt and understand the dynamic changes in the society; be it individual, group or social changes. Conversation is very important for a behavioral scientist in order to understand his subjects and thus require superior interpersonal communication skills. While studying organizations, behavioral scientists must understand the professional ethics of the organization on one hand while maintain the integrity of the profession (behavioral science) on the other hand. Data analysis is yet another important function in behavioral science. Behavioral scientist needs to analyze the data through advanced computer applications to test the data and convert it into theories. A behavioral scientist must contain good presentation and writing skills to facilitate their findings and research to lay person or a vast audience lacking behavioral science knowledge. Human behavior is dynamic and thus creating a fixed theory for a behavioral scientist is not possible thus in order to create a theory he has to be on field , critically evaluate the problems and solve them, as the problems change the theory also changes from time to time. While creating the theories a behavioral scientist must compare his research with other behavioral scientist in order to get an effective theory, thus a behavioral scientist must possess superior project management skills.

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