Contract Work in Risk

[Teddie]

Hi,

As this is my first post here I would like to start by saying thanks, I have spent the last couple of months reading through the various posts and ebooks and have found a lot of useful information here.

I am currently in my final year studying financial maths at undergrad level and trying to choose between a career in a quantitive risk role (e.g. model validation) or a career in actuary.

An important factor for determining which career path to choose would be my time affluence.
In actuary once qualified some fellows choose to do contract work e.g. they could choose to work for 6 months and then to move onto the next contract or take a few months break.

Ideally I would like to have this much flexibility in whatever career I get into. Does anyone know if this type of flexibility is possible in a quant role?
If so what are the main drawbacks (apart from the obvious, such as less stability, no pension scheme etc.)?

 

[Andy Nguyen]

There are temp quant roles in banks. I worked with a couple of them during my previous job. You will be employed by an agency who puts you in contract jobs at client's locations.
Some assignments last months or years. Just search for contract jobs on job listing site.
You got paid hourly which can be as high as several hundred dollars per hours. The downside is that you don't get many benefits like full-time employees.