“How do you even know you want to do this?” That’s a question which has been posed to me by traders in bulge brackets, consultants from the likes of Bain and BCG, hedge fund managers and commodities traders about their respective industries.

It’s a fair question. I have changed career aspirations at least five times since I was 21. Although my career counselor told me that one typically works for four different firms before retiring – I doubt this indecisiveness was what she had in mind.

Each time I would confidently list my reasons for wanting to work in investment banking, trading, consulting, etc and then dismiss those aspirations once I discovered what the role actually entails. So if there are impressionable, young college-going minds reading this, I implore you: throw those goal-setting ideas out of your head and instead, start seriously thinking about what you don’t want to do.

An internship too many

Some of my friends, for example, have decided they never want to work for an investment bank again after 10-week internships at these so-called dream firms. One of these people is now a proud owner of a chain of tailoring shops, another is pursuing ship brokering, while the third has been drawn into academia. We must be truthful to ourselves. Do we lay down these ambitions of prestigious jobs because we truly understand the roles, or is it all about money, fame and ego?

Money’s nothing without passion

A senior consultant once told me that if you went for a job with a monthly salary of $15k, you might grit your teeth at the first hurdle, pull out your hair at the second, and type your resignation letter at the final. I drew tough lessons from him and it made me sit up and think about what I didn’t want to do.

I write this not as someone who has earned my big bucks and is speaking from hindsight, but rather as a final-year undergraduate who has seen the light and now truly knows what he wants to do. I know now that passion naturally brings determination and resilience.

P.S: To those who have given me lessons based on your experience, or everyday struggles, thank you.

The writer is a final-year undergraduate in Singapore with ambitions to work in commodities brokering. Read some of his previous blogs here: The Undergraduate: 2011 came and went, the world didn’t end, and neither did my graduate job hunt, The Undergraduate: I haven’t even graduated, but my Gordon Gekko dreams may be over already and The Undergraduate: Why grade-A grads often make awful bankers