Passion

Reading a recent blog post from an old classmate on passion and work really struck a chord with me. Basically, her story is she's from a pretty well-to-do family but she's still very humble and not snoot at all. She managed to get in to LSE and after that reached a crossroads where she got an amazing opportunity to do a postgraduate degree at some really prestigious university or go back and work for her dad in his business. She chose the latter.

So that's the backstory. She wrote the post talking about how lucky she is to be in a job that she is passionate about, in an industry that she is passionate about. Well, I find it hard to believe that she can be as passionate about the construction industry as she is about the Chanel Fall/Winter line, but I guess an interest seed was planted in her from a really young age and so she is where she is now.

Obviously, this got me thinking about my own situation. Currently unemployed (but looking!), my initial impression coming straight out of uni was that I was going to kill myself at an investment bank. Why? Well, it just seemed the natural progression from a Finance degree, and the pinnacle of the financial industry is investment banking. So that was my aim, investment banking.

But a year on I have to say I'm probably glad that I didn't get into that. I know I have no right to say this - I still have no job and am still going to apply for them this recruitment period, and if I get an offer (unlikely) I would accept - but it's just an industry I don't have a passion for.

I think it's pretty undisputed that the people at the very top of their industry are passionate about what they do. Jamie Dimon probably gets a hard-on from a 1 basis point rise in hedge fund returns. Vincent Tan probably rips his clothes off and gyrates vigorously to "You Sexy Thing" everytime a Cosway store opens up. (At this rate he's going to break a hip). Tiger Woods probably blows a load everytime the ball goes into the hole. Yup, I'm just gonna gloss over that one.

The thing is, these guys have a passion for what they do. Do what you love and you never have to work a day in your life. That's the old saying and how true it is. I recently attended an information session by JPMorgan and was just struck at the questions people were asking during the networking period. What's JPMorgan's policy towards risk management? How has the landscape changed since the GFC? What would you say are the core values of your firm? And they were genuinely interested in the answers to these questions GENUINELY INTERESTED. And the guy at IB wasn't giving simple one or two line answer either. Noooo, he was taking at least 7 minutes to answer a question. 7 minutes of constant talking. About risk management policies.

I think it was then that it really struck me that investment banking is not for me. It really is a 24/7 job, and I can't imagine surrounding myself with forex rates and securitised loan figures and debt market capitalisation numbers all the time.

So what am I passionate about? Hmm - Manchester United, hating on the iPhone, FIFA, the fried sotong at Nirwana, managing my love/hate relationship with Korean culture (hate) and their women (love) - not things I can envision building a conglomerate out of. But what I am looking for in a job I know much better too - good work/life balance, opportunity to pursue personal goals, the opportunity to work on different things, mobility (!). I don't see myself chained to a desk. I see myself out and about, meeting people and doing a varied range of work in different countries. That's the sort of work I can see myself enjoying and therefore, working my hardest at.

This time round, maybe I've found the industry. Management consulting. It's very interesting. And very very appealing. And it makes me excited about working. In the big players there. Much much more so than at a big investment bank. But it's as hard to get into as one of those big boys on Wall Street. So hopefully fingers crossed I get a chance. I'm just hoping to get interviews. One step at a time.