Lessons in self-confidence, volunteering, taking time, and not pleasing everyone
Letter to my Younger Self
As the fourth-generation mathematician of the family (my father was an engineer, my grandfather a math professor and researcher, and my great grandfather a physics teacher), I was lucky to discover actuarial studies as soon as I got out of high school. Through this, I found a way to apply my passion for numbers to the analysis of concrete topics, with applications in many fields and offering great job opportunities.
But finding my career early didn’t mean there was nothing left to learn. It’s been quite the opposite, in fact. My career has been full of lessons – some harder than others. Since I can’t go back and share these lessons learned with my younger self, I hope the next generation of reinsurance professionals can benefit from the advice I wish I’d received.
And these lessons started early. Already, when I was in school and afterward amongst my colleagues, I was recognized as “the actuary who can talk.” I realized that it was important for me to make sure people could understand what we are doing, not just at a technical level but also in the context of the bigger picture and why the work was important. Now, I realize that this approach has definitely made a difference in my career, but it wasn’t until I officially became a manager while working at Generali France that I really learned to be assertive. I had a hard-working team and it was my role not only to tell the story of their work, but to ensure that the impact of their work was properly recognized both within the company and externally.
The next pivotal moment in my career was joining SCOR seven years ago. This is when I discovered several interesting employee resource programs like SIGN+ (SCOR Inclusion Global Network) and, later, SCOR for Good – and it’s when I learned how much I could benefit from seeking professional opportunities beyond the scope of my job description. Since then, I have been very active in developing the SIGN+ agenda and launching SCOR for Good program. It actually brought me so much and significantly boosted my career at SCOR. By volunteering just 15 minutes a day I learned a variety of new skills, including event organisation, communication, legal aspects, public speaking, and many more. These extra mini jobs provided a fantastic “oxygenation” in the middle of my week work. Tackling different tasks helped me change perspectives, making it easier to return to more difficult topics with renewed focus.
© Camille Eymard
Volunteering also provided me amazing opportunities of networking. I met colleagues from various departments of SCOR, including IT, Legal, Communication, and other business functions who I otherwise wouldn’t have the chance to meet in the scope of my day-to-day work.
This network was incredibly helpful when I was still an actuary in the R&D team and tasked with building knowledge.scor.com, a tool to create connections between SCOR experts. The network I had made enabled me to develop and implement a working solution in just a few months. I could not have opened so many doors and removed barriers without the extensive contacts I had in the company.
While launching other initiatives to facilitate knowledge sharing, I was promoted Head of Knowledge Operations. This role was even recognized externally, as I was invited to give a speech at a conference with the Society of Insurance Research. Just last year, I began representing SCOR and SIGN+ within Financi’Elles, the federation that brings together gender equity networks from the French finance and insurance industry. And here too I started to see many of the same benefits as when I got involved at SCOR: new contacts in other companies, insights into how industry leaders operate, and exposure to different corporate cultures and policies. I brought many ideas back to SCOR, not just on HR topics, but also IT and regulatory applications. I have had the opportunity to participate in discussions on improving gender balance in leadership, mentor young professionals, and attend events with top European and French leaders like Christine Lagarde, who shared their inspiring mindsets.
This year, the insurance representative co-president of Financi’Elles was up for renewal. The current leadership suggested I run, despite having two other candidates from major French direct insurance companies. I won the election and will serve in this new role for the next two years. It is another great recognition and opportunity I could not have imagined, but I have learned that embracing one opportunity often leads to others and my willingness to get involved and openness to learn from everyone and every experience have brought me here.
So, looking back at these past 20 years of my career, what would I want to say to my younger self?
Many of my strengths – that curiosity and eagerness to learn, the drive to advocate for myself and my teams, the urge to maintain a positive mindset and approach challenges as opportunities – were already in me, but I also see that many were also developed over time.
Many of the soft skills I now possess were learned just as much as my technical skills. For example, intentionally learning to use the right words when communicating. It’s amazing what doors open when you shift your perspective and simply phrase things positively. At first, I made mistakes, but the more I practiced, the more natural it became. Eventually, it trained my brain to think positively. It’s empowering to know we all have the ability to learn and act in a way that can have such a significantly positive impact for ourselves and others.
A second skill I developed was self-confidence. After a difficult first work experience, I read many books to rebuild my confidence. Years after, when I hear myself speak, I realize how far I have come. While I might sound overly confident, I believe it is also a great example for those who have not yet built that strength.
I managed to acquire these two skills very early in my career and I know they have opened many doors for me. The last one I want to mention is something that I have dared to do more recently. I allowed myself (and initially maybe forced myself) to make time during my workdays to focus on tasks that are not officially in my job description. I call it “taking time.” For myself, and for others.
One of the last things I learned while volunteering is that we can’t please everyone. I always enjoyed gathering a lot of opinions and deciding with a group of colleagues on the best options, formats, themes for new initiatives. However, I also learned that we receive a lot of criticism. While we can always strive to do better, sometimes it’s beneficial to launch a more accessible solution and learn as we go, rather than waiting for perfection. Having had roles where attention to detail and precision were crucial, it was a great boost to learn how to find the right balance between perfection and being good enough to share.
My role at SCOR is continuing to evolve and I hope to keep on learning and sharing for as long as I live. I want to thank every single person I have met along the way because they have helped shape who I am today. I know it sounds cliché but it is true: keep being yourself, staying bold, honest, and brave! There is no doubt you’ll continue to achieve great things and inspire others along the way.
Who is Camille Eymard?
Camille Eymard, Head of Knowledge and Data Operations at SCOR, has 20 years of experience as an actuary.
After five years as a consulting actuary in Life Direct insurance in Europe, she led the Life Reserving & Valuation team of Generali France. In 2017, she joined SCOR as Head of Disability R&D center. For the last couple of years, Camille has been instrumental in transforming the knowledge organization towards an agile way of working, creating the framework and tools allowing more flexibility and innovation amongst the teams.
She is actively involved in leading the SCOR Inclusion Global Network and, in September 2024, she was elected co-president of Financi’Elles, a federation of gender equity networks in the French finance and insurance industries.
Camille Eymard has a master’s degree in Actuarial Sciences from ISFA - University of Lyon 1 (France) and is a Certified Scrum Product Owner.
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