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Launching CAS Future Fellows

By JOANNE SPALLA posted 11-06-2015 08:38

  

As chair of the Candidate Working Group of the Brand Marketing Implementation Task Force, I’m proud to write the first blog post in the new Future Fellows online community. This new platform and several other website enhancements are the tangible result of our efforts, which all started last year with market research.

Last September, in an effort to better understand the wants and needs of our candidates, my working group sent an online survey to all candidates who had registered for a CAS exam in the preceding 36 months. We were delighted that 26% of the candidates responded to the survey. The survey responses, along with 20 telephone interviews with a representative sample of candidates, provided a wealth of information.  

The research indicated that candidates have a strong positive outlook for the P/C insurance industry driven by the high demand and positive opportunities associated with actuarial jobs. While your perceptions of the CAS are generally positive, your responses provided valuable suggestions on additional ways the CAS could serve candidates.

The CAS website and Future Fellows newsletter were the CAS resources that candidates are most familiar with—and that received the highest levels of satisfaction. You also expressed an interest in a candidate program that would establish a stronger sense of belonging within the CAS community.

So, in response to this feedback, the CAS is pleased to announce the launch of Future Fellows, an expansion of the brand beyond the quarterly newsletter to now represent the entire community of CAS candidates, with plans for increasing engagement through new channels such as this blog.

FutureFellows-logo.jpg

In addition, we launched a new Candidate web portal on the CAS Website that provides a user-friendly interface to resources for Candidates to Get Credentialed, Get Informed, Get Connected and Get Involved.

As my working group wraps up its work, I wanted to share other learnings from the research with candidates and how the CAS has responded:

  • The working group learned that many candidates were not fully aware of all the resources available to CAS candidates, such as the discounted rate for registration fees for CAS meetings and seminars and receipt of CAS publications including The Actuarial Review. The new benefits page linked from the Candidate portal outlines all of the benefits to being a CAS Candidate.
  • As another means to keep candidates informed, the CAS will be sending a monthly email with curated CAS content for candidates, beginning in December.
  • The Future Fellows online community has been established for candidates to connect to one another and to CAS members. In addition, communities have been established for candidates preparing for specific exams.
  • This blog within the community will be a forum for CAS members and candidates to discuss topics to help candidates advance their careers. 80% of survey respondents indicated that they were interested in reading about technical topics related to their work.
  • Finally, more than half of the candidates surveyed indicated that they are interested in volunteering for the CAS, particularly in order to broaden their technical knowledge/skills and keep up with industry trends. The CAS Candidate Portal will let candidates know how they can get involved as a CAS volunteer.

We would love to hear what you think about the expanded resources for CAS Future Fellows. Please respond by commenting on the blog.

8 comments
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Comments

Edgar Pal
03-03-2016 11:14

lack of activity on Exam Communities

Still no activity on the exam communities, despite the fact that many students are now studying for the Spring 2016 exams. Maybe we need to take another look at how we engage with the student community on this important topic.

JOANNE SPALLA
01-14-2016 21:04

Exam Communities

First of all, thank you for your feedback on Future Fellows.   In my experience with discussion forums (both professional and otherwise), the community is whatever the members make it.   As Agatha noted, the CAS Community is not anonymous and it remains to be seen how that will impact the CAS exam communities.   IMO, the best way to see how they will work is to start using them.   You can find the exam communities by clicking on communities in the yellow bar and then scrolling down to see the exam communities link.   Post a question and tell your colleagues about the Future Fellows Community.   Lets see what develops

Edgar Pal
01-12-2016 11:13

comparison to the Actuarial Outpost

The discussions on the AO can get off track, but I don't think the anonymity is the primary or sole driver. On the AO, messages are displayed linearly, i.e. in chronological order. This makes it difficult to follow a conversation, especially when there are many digressions and replies. Thus, a discussion can quickly deviate from the original topic. It seems that the Future Fellows blog could present similar challenges. (Alas, I was trying to reply to Agatha, but I could not find a "reply" button to maintain the integrity of the thread!) I'm a huge fan of Reddit's approach to organize threads hierarchically, making it easier to rank and show/hide discussions as desired.

Also, I agree with Mark that the AO already has a robust discussion group, and I wonder what would be the best way to cultivate that community spirit here on Future Fellows. It's promising that we're already having a productive discussion amongst ourselves!

Agatha Caleo
01-05-2016 09:43

exam communities vs AO

Mark said that study group discussions on Actuarial Outpost sometimes get off track, and I think that's one way the Future Fellows exam communities/"study groups" will be different.  The way I understand it, posters will be required to be identified just as they are in these comments.  I think that will help keep the group on topic and hopefully prevent some of the negativity I've seen on AO.  I expect the lack of anonymity in this forum to keep the conversations more professional.

Mark Maenche
12-01-2015 12:18

Comments

I really like the new Future Fellows web portal - layout is very user friendly.

I think that the new resources and/or new emphasis on the resources available to candidates like me is very helpful.

Edgar's question from 11/23 about the exam study groups is an interesting one. I think it deserves some diaglogue within the candidate community because the Actuarial Outpost does have a robust discussion group for exams although discussions can get off track sometimes. What is the vision for the exam study groups on the CAS community?

One of my main concerns/interests for the CAS community is to have relevent material that helps me advance my career. It sounds and look like the CAS is attempting to address this need. This is the beginning but I am excited about the possibilities.

Edgar Pal
11-23-2015 12:33

exam study groups

How are the exam study groups expected to differ from the forums already available on the Actuarial Outpost?

JOANNE SPALLA
11-18-2015 16:30

Comments

Thanks for your feedback!

Edgar Pal
11-18-2015 14:24

Future Fellows: going from print to online

Great post, Joanne! A few months ago, I wrote to the Candidate Liaison Committee of the need to embrace online communication to improve student engagement. A blog (such as this one) promotes discussion and a sense of community. It also removes space and time limitations that you would normally see in the publishing and editing process. I'm glad that the CAS is moving in this direction!