To reach one’s destination, one must start. As we near the last leg of our education and start dreaming about the new professional life that we are to begin, we look forward to our internship period. As an intern, we familiarize ourselves with the industry we desire to step-in and receive a hands-on education. This internship period is often described as the launchpad to a successful career ahead.
However, what if the internship doesn’t turn out the way we imagined? What if instead of enjoying the industry-exposure we end up detesting it? And what if we don’t get an internship at all? Is it an end to our dreams or a start to something new? When we asked Trishala Doshi about her professional beginnings, she confided that it took her 7 months to bag her 1st internship. Her only disadvantage? She was an undergraduate.
Over 100 posts on LinkedIn got her 10 replies and just 1 asking for her CV. It did get her an internship, but it only lasted 5 days as they wanted full-time interns and she couldn’t commit full time due to college. So she started something new. She started posting her struggles, motivation and actuarial facts on LinkedIn daily. She created the #actuarialfact on LinkedIn, which now has 820 followers where she researches and posts short, simple but impactful facts to increase knowledge of actuarial, insurance and mathematics field.
Today, Trishala owns a start-up, The Actuary Intern, which is focused on the problem and the desire to minimize, and eventually eliminate the problem that she had to face. Through her firm, she wants to enable the next generation with skills that matter to them without the need to spend full time and months on applying to competitive programs. “Instead, gain knowledge from people who have worked at top Companies, take practical knowledge and then apply, except this time, you are Tough and Prepared,” says Trishala.
The Start-Up
The Actuary Intern provides Virtual Actuarial Internship Program in Health Insurance designed by Trishla. The current program is motivated by her learnings from her internship at HDFC Ergo General Insurance.
The Actuarial Virtual Internship Program in Health Insurance gives information and knowledge of Insurance products utilizing knowledge videos, quiz and final three projects to test that knowledge. The projects test Insurance Product Research, Insurance Product Comparison and Research skills. The program experience can be added to the candidates’ CV. The firm plans to introduce more programs by Experienced and Qualified Actuaries in Life, Pension, Employee Benefits, etc.
The Actuarial Difference
The Actuary Intern gives importance to content. It seeks experienced Instructors who can share their knowledge from working in different companies in different positions. The firm gives them full creative freedom to design their Programs with only 3 conditions-
- the content should be a simulation of actual work in that role;
- candidates should have a greater working knowledge after completing the program; and
- their chances of being selected at Competitive programs must increase.
The firm emphasizes Individual learnings and experiences because each person who becomes an Instructor on the platform has started at the entry-level, climbed the corporate ladder in different Companies in varied departments and roles and they are unique in terms of their life experiences and knowledge. The Actuary simply trains candidates for a particular requirement from a job perspective.
A Blessing in Disguise
While most of us went cribbing about how the current pandemic has severed our lives, Trishala chose to start her venture in April 2020. Lockdown, she says, was the main limitation as well as the main motivation. It was difficult to have a work and a personal space due to lockdown. She faced problems with Website Development and had to solve any problems that came as a result of a communication gap. Having a GST during lockdown was further delayed and payment problems were difficult to solve due to limited customer service. She had to learn how to enable screen recording, search for good website developers on LinkedIn, negotiate a good deal, self-study and implement adding subtitles, marketing, etc.
But, with each problem she solved, she gained experience. “My main clientele base came from LinkedIn, actuarial students in India knew me from my #actuarialfact and networking with them before helped in growing my business. I went out of my way to solve students’ doubts 24/7. I took the criticism in stride and I plan to implement suggestions that the participants provided me for my future programs,” shares Trishala.
The lockdown also made her understand that technology here is the key enabler. So Actuary Intern has taken measures to ensure that the student experience is as flawless as possible. To save candidates’ time, the website has been designed to be simple and effective. “You log in, make the payment, and start watching the videos, attempt quiz and submit projects. We have submission portals for each of the projects where word and excel formats are supported,” explains Trishala.
After uploading their projects, students can access Model projects, created by the Instructor to compare their work. Once completing all videos, quiz and projects, a Certificate is generated automatically, so that students can instantly add them to their LinkedIn profile.
Plans of Expansion
The Actuary Intern is expected to add more programs to its portfolio ranging from Life, Pension, Employee Benefits, etc to Pricing, Reserving, Modelling, etc from Experienced Instructors in those domains. The firm also plans to have another venture with Internship Programs in Investment Banking, Accountancy, Software Engineering, and a lot of different professions from Experts in those fields.
For those interested in being an Instructor, feel free to message Trishala on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/trishla-doshi-b1aa75176/
Check out the website www.theactuaryintern.com for more details.
