Is it true that no one will hire older engineers?

mathnerd15

thanks very much! so actuaries do a lot of integrals and interesting math? I always wanted to be a physicist and go do grad study somewhere like Princeton and I love the Feynman biography Genius by Gleick....
here's an interesting article on actuaries, Wikipedia has a lot of great information
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actuary

it seems like passing actuarial exams can't be that difficult? and 50% passing rate seems very high

Evo

Having been on the hiring end, a degree is usually never considered except for applicants with little or no job experience. Depending on the needs and the budget, an experienced applicant is preferred over an inexperienced applicant. (Obviously an experienced applicant will have a degree, it's just no longer important) This is where budget comes in. A younger inexperienced person can be hired for much less than someone with experience and good credentials. This also means that an older experienced person will be excluded if the position doesn't require a great deal of experience.

And harborsparrow makes a very good point, networking. In the position I was in, we only hired based on internal references. Legally, we would have to advertise the job, but we already would have the person we were hiring based on being referred from within the group.

DiracPool

Is that right? That's 20 hours a day if you take Sunday off to watch the game.

Locrian

I think the terrible job security/120 hours business is not true of quants/analysts. It is sometimes true of front desk traders at investment banks.