Alexis Jackson, graduate student in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Department of Mathematics, recently completed the Unum Scholars Internship Program at Unum in Chattanooga, TN.
Jackson began her internship on June 22, 2020. It will run through July 2021, but she is hoping to find a full-time position prior to that end date. During the internship, she worked with the Voluntary Benefits (VB) Pricing and Experience Analysis actuarial team in the finance organization. The Experience Analysis team analyzes data to develop studies and tools to support the VB business area. Her responsibilities included ensuring the log of requests that the pricing team receives from underwriters is up-to-date and accurate, creating and updating QlikView tools used by finance and underwriting, completing annual rate certifications required on a state-by-state basis, and various other ad hoc projects.
The Unum Scholars Internship was very flexible with Jackson’s schedule. This means she was able to set her own hours and be a successful graduate student throughout her internship. She also enjoyed having known some former Unum Scholar Interns that are UTC graduates. She was able to get to know about her friends better as well as get a better understanding about what they currently do at Unum and about what she could potentially do one day at Unum. Some difficulties that she ran into was beginning her internship remotely due to COVID-19. Adjusting to a new role, where she could not just go ask someone on her team a question made it difficult to start.
This internship was especially beneficial to Jackson as she is planning on applying to Unum’s Actuarial Development Program (ADP) once she graduates. The internship provided her with the opportunity to work with actuarial assistants in the ADP and regularly connect with and job shadow members of the ADP to gain a better insight into the day-to-day work expectations. The projects that she worked on allowed her the opportunity to sharpen her critical thinking and communication skills while learning how to think like an actuary.
Jackson completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Mathematics with a concentration in Actuarial Science here at UTC in Spring 2019. She continued her graduate work in Mathematics at UTC and will complete Master of Science degree in Mathematics with a concentration in Applied Mathematics in Spring 2021.
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