Every scheme you applied to has said no, and some of them took months to say so. This page is not here to tell you it happened for a reason.
It is here to do the one useful thing: work out where you were rejected. The fix at the eligibility question is not the fix at the assessment centre, and most advice you have been handed since is aimed at somebody else's stage.
Two things first. Nobody can tell you your odds next time, and anyone quoting a success rate for second attempts has made it up. And firms publish different bars, run different stages and say different things about applying again, which is the good news here: it is checkable rather than encouraging.
Start with the stage, not with the CV
The stages are published, so you can place yourself on them. WTW's 2027 Retirement Actuarial Graduate Trainee Consultant Programme posting for London, read on 2026-09-10, numbers them: apply online with a CV, then "Complete an online test and video interview", then "Attend a virtual assessment centre", then "Offer and acceptance". LCP's Graduate Programme page, read the same day, runs the same shape: a short form, online assessments, a recorded one-way interview, then an in-person assessment centre.
So go through your rejection emails and write down, for each firm, the last stage you completed. Then read the row that matches.
What a rejection at each stage tends to mean
| Where it ended | What the employers' own pages say, all read on 2026-09-10 | What to work on first |
|---|---|---|
| The eligibility questions | WTW asks for "At least 2:1 degree-qualified in a numerate discipline, or 2:1 qualified in a non-numerate discipline plus a B at A-Level Maths" | Nothing on the form. A published bar does not move, so apply where the bar is different |
| Sifted on the form, no test | Hymans Robertson says answers that "appear to be auto-generated" could affect your chances of progressing | Your own answers, in your own words, one specific example each |
| The online test | Aon says its tests are taken once and "the results will be used for all other applications you submit", each stream's own benchmarks applied | The format, under timing, before the scored attempt |
| The recorded interview | LCP says its one-way interviews "are reviewed by colleagues in the relevant department, rather than AI" | Content and finishing the story, not keywords or eye contact tricks |
| The assessment centre | Aon holds centres "on a rolling basis until we have filled all roles", selecting on location preference, scores and performance so far | The group exercise and the case, and applying earlier next time |
| The final interview | Nothing published: by here it is a small field and one team | Usually nothing technical. Reapply where the firm's page allows |
The Aon line deserves a second read if that is where you stopped: one weak sitting can settle more than one application at that employer, so treat the test as an exam. Our guide to actuarial online tests covers the formats the main providers use.
The routes that are open when the schemes have closed
Not every actuarial job starts on a branded scheme, and the roles that are not schemes ignore the autumn calendar. Four kinds are worth your time.
Analyst and trainee vacancies, posted role by role. Smaller consultancies and in-house teams advertise individual trainee roles with no programme attached. The analyst and trainee filter in our tracker is short on purpose: a row there is an employer with a standing page for such a route, not a vacancy that goes stale in weeks, and few employers publish one. Treat it as a watchlist of employers rather than a list of openings. Be realistic about the rhythm: Quantum Advisory takes actuarial trainees but runs no named scheme, and on 2026-09-10 its careers page advertised a payroll and finance officer, an assistant pensions administrator and an assistant data analyst, and no actuarial trainee vacancy. That is normal. This is a page you check weekly, not a window you wait for.
Reopened streams at the big employers. Aon's FAQ, read on 2026-09-10, says that if you miss a deadline "we encourage you to keep an eye on our Early Careers website for updates as we may re-open for certain streams or locations or add new roles". A closed window is not always a closed year.
Public sector actuarial teams. The Government Actuary's Department's own recruitment page on GOV.UK, read on 2026-09-10, says "We recruit actuarial staff in 2 ways. Directly, when specific specialist vacancies arise, or as entrants to our analyst and trainee programmes", and that its vacancies are advertised on Civil Service Jobs. That is a separate board from every careers site you have already trawled.
Pensions administration, as a way in rather than a detour. LCP's Pensions Administration Trainee Programme page, read on 2026-09-10, says "We recruit on a rolling basis across the year for both our London and Winchester offices", asks for three A levels, and adds "You do not need to have previous pensions administration experience but must be keen to learn". Read the qualification line before applying: that page supports "qualifications in pensions management through the Pensions Management Institute", whose own qualifications page, read the same day, describes training "for every career stage in workplace pensions". So it is a pensions career with its own exams rather than a side door to Fellowship. Plenty of actuarial trainees started in an administration seat. Nobody should pretend it is the same job.
What about sitting an exam yourself
Sitting a subject yourself is the most common plan people arrive at in October, and it is worth costing before you commit.
You do not have to be a member to start. The IFoA's non-members page, read on 2026-09-10, says "You can register and book IFoA CS1 and CM1 examinations as a non-member", and carries the catch in its own words: "If you have passed one of these examinations as a non-member, you will not be able to take any further IFoA examinations until you become a Student member."
The prices come from the IFoA's own fee schedule for exams sat after 1 July 2026, read on 2026-09-10: a non-member sitting CM1 or CS1 pays £423.00, and the schedule's reduced rate for the same paper is £275.00. A student member pays £375.00 for the same CM and CS subjects, on top of a one off £50 admission fee, stated on the IFoA's student membership page, and the subscription, which the IFoA's 2026/2027 table puts at £290 for a Student from 1 October 2026. Our exam cost calculator totals whichever route you are weighing.
Then the calendar, from the IFoA's exam dates page read on 2026-09-10. The September 2026 session runs 14 to 25 September and its entry deadline passed at midday on 24 July 2026. The next session you can enter is April 2027, 12 to 21 April, with entry closing at midday on 5 February 2027, and after that September 2027, 13 to 22 September, closing at midday on 23 July 2027. Those ranges are the page's own "Exams start" and "Exams end" lines, not the width of the grid beside them, whose last cells can read "Passover" or "No exams". The exam sitting planner stacks those sessions against a qualification date.
When it does help: the IFoA's student membership page says there are "no academic admissions criteria for student membership" but recommends a maths-based degree, and adds that if you do not have one, "we recommend you take one of our non-member exams before applying to join". If your degree is not numerate, that is the profession's own suggestion, not ours.
When it does not: no graduate page read for this guide makes an exam pass a condition of applying, and employers fund the exams for the people they hire, which is why Hymans Robertson's page describes a study support package. If your rejections came at the test, the recorded interview or the centre, £423 on CM1 is an expensive way to avoid the thing that actually went wrong.
Reapplying next cycle
Ask the firm, not the internet: the firms differ, and both of these are published.
Aon's FAQ, read on 2026-09-10, says: "We welcome re-applications from unsuccessful candidates. We recommend 12 months between applications to allow you time to demonstrate that you have taken feedback onboard and worked on the advice provided." The same page limits you to "a maximum of 2 different streams or programmes". WTW's posting is stricter within a cycle: "Please note that we do not accept multiple applications and you should only select and apply to one programme per year". Neither tells you anything about a third firm, and no page we read describes holding a permanent record against you. Where a firm's own page is silent, its recruitment inbox is the only place that answer exists.
The windows are what you can plan around now. LCP's graduate page, read on 2026-09-10, says applications "will open on Monday 28 September 2026 and are due to close on Friday 23 October 2026", and warns that "due to application volume, we may close applications as early as Friday 9 October 2026". Hymans Robertson's page says only "Our application windows open in autumn". Aon's FAQ puts graduate assessment centres "from November/December" and fills places as it goes. The conclusion is unglamorous: apply in the first week of a window, not the last.
Change the stage you lost at first, and only then everything else. Rewriting a CV that already reached a final interview is displacement activity. Our CV guide and the free CV check are for the people whose applications stopped at the form.
Twelve months, month by month
| When | What is happening | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| September 2026 | Windows open. LCP's on 28 September, WTW's 2027 retirement posting closing 30 September | Diagnose the stage, fix that one thing, apply in week one |
| October 2026 | LCP closes 23 October, or as early as 9 October | Finish every application you started. Chase nothing |
| November to December 2026 | Assessment centres run, Aon's from November or December, filling as they go | Practise the case and the group exercise out loud |
| January 2027 | Off-cycle analyst roles appear while schemes are interviewing | Check the tracker and two or three careers pages weekly |
| February 2027 | April exam entry closes at midday on 5 February | Decide on an exam with the costs in front of you, or decide against it |
| March to April 2027 | The April session runs 12 to 21 April | Study, or keep applying. Not both badly |
| May to July 2027 | Results, and September entry closes at midday on 23 July | Bank one project or one piece of work you can be questioned on |
| August to September 2027 | Autumn windows open again | Apply with new evidence rather than a new adjective |
If a printable version of the cycle helps, the free application timeline sheet has it laid out.
When paying for help is worth it
Start with what costs nothing: the CV check scores the sections a reviewer works through, the Become an actuary course covers what the work involves, and the interview questions guide sets out what each type of question is asking for.
Paying is worth considering when you can name the stage and want to go through your own material with an actuary who knows the profession and the kinds of question actuarial recruitment asks. That is what the one hour coaching session is for: application strategy, interviews, offers or a practice area decision, whichever is blocking you. The CV review is written feedback on the document itself.
It is not worth paying when the block is a published academic bar, because no advice moves that, or before you know which stage failed, because then you are buying general advice. And nobody, us included, can sell you an outcome. What an hour buys is a straight answer about your own material.
What to do next
Write down the last stage you reached at each firm, because everything above depends on it. Open the analyst and trainee filter and set a weekly reminder for those employers' vacancy lists and Civil Service Jobs. Then take the stage that ended most of your applications and spend a fortnight on nothing else.