Voluntary career advisor

Of all my NS pals, I'm only in contact with one of them now. But we're pretty close pals. And being a friend from NS, we inevitably end up calling each other by our respective surnames. He has always been known as "Howe" to me. I always like to begin my e-mails to him with "Hi Howe!"; It sounds funny to me.

Howe is a mathematics teacher at a JC. Over the years, he has had quite a few students approaching him for advice about university courses and career choices, especially those associated with mathematics or statistics. Inevitably, some would ask him about the actuarial course and work. This he knew little about but fortunately he had an actuarial friend in me.

So he asked if it was ok to refer these students to me. I was more than happy to accede to his request.

In the initial years, I hardly received any enquiries. But lately, the numbers have increased appreciably. Not only that, the questions asked are much more indepth, perhaps reflecting a more serious consideration of joining the line. So much so I've taken to maintaining a Word file containing the most common questions and my previous replies.

The actuarial line is finally becoming more well-known in Singapore. I hope more widely respected too.

48 days to go.