In this blog post, we will introduce the key elements that must be included in a new bank employee’s application letter and how to effectively highlight the applicant’s strengths.

 

Growth process

Look before you leap. I remember being curious when I first heard this proverb, which has now become my motto in life. Why do you have to look before you leap? Don’t you have to look before you jump off a bridge? On my way home from school, I searched hard for a stone bridge to look at, but all I could find was a hard cement overpass. My mother explained that concrete is as hard as stone, so it means the same thing, and after hearing that, I happily tapped the ground with my toes.
At that time, I was a child who would rush across the street as soon as the red light turned green. No matter how much my mother warned me, I couldn’t break the habit. However, while I was tapping my feet to check the asphalt-covered crosswalk, enjoying the proverb, I saw a car speed by right in front of me. If I hadn’t checked the asphalt crosswalk, I would have been hit by a car.
“I have to check carefully even at crosswalks!” From that moment on, I became more cautious. I took the saying, ‘Look both ways before crossing the street,’ to heart, and I became patient, able to suppress my impatience to cross quickly.
After my mischievous personality changed, adults complimented me on becoming more mature and cautious. My friends from junior high school still tease me, saying that I am serious and boring. However, the incident that became a turning point in my life allowed me to become a more careful and cautious person. Even now, I start each day by repeating the motto that saved me. “Look before you leap.”

 

School days

When I was in school, I tried hard to make friends. Perhaps because of my serious personality, the other boys thought I was too strict. I often heard that I seemed boring, so it was difficult to make friends unless I approached them first. However, once I started talking to people and became friends with them, I tried hard to show my sense of humor and liveliness, and my friends who thought I was boring because I was usually so cautious told me that I had a surprising side to me.
I realized early on that in order to compensate for my personality flaws, I needed to be more open-minded and approach other friends first. Therefore, at the beginning of each new semester, I put a lot of pressure on myself to show my humorous side, but my friends advised me that it made me seem more awkward, so I worked hard to find a balance. It is good to have many friends, but if you befriend someone without showing your true self, it is not real.
It was a transitional period, but thanks to that, I was able to make many good friends, and I think it was a good experience to be able to try and fail as much as I wanted during a time when such trials and failures were allowed. Thanks to the experience I gained during that time, I was able to realize how to mix my strengths and weaknesses when dealing with people in society and what my unique charms are. In addition, another enjoyable aspect of my school days was the diversity I gained from not shying away from friends with different personalities, but instead closing my eyes and approaching them.

 

Strengths and weaknesses

I am cautious, but sometimes I can be overly cautious. I am meticulous in my work and am second to none, but sometimes I get stressed out by my perfectionism. I have vivid memories of the events that changed my personality, so when I feel that I need to put my heart and soul into making a decision, I tend to get so caught up in it that I lose my balance. When I feel that I haven’t finished something to the best of my ability, I start to worry about it, putting other things aside, because I am obsessed with the idea that “something bad might happen if I don’t do it right.”
My mother, who was worried that I was too careless when I was young, advised me to remember my childhood when I knew nothing. A time when I knew nothing, looked at things with innocence and purity, and had no doubts. When I was told to check a stone bridge before crossing it, I would tap the ground with my fingers as I walked, wondering what would happen if I tapped the ground. I didn’t have any worries because I didn’t have to think about anything.
How would I have acted as a child? When my head is filled with worries about things, my mother’s advice reminds me of the innocence of my childhood and revives the positive attitude that I had forgotten. Even now, my head is filled with worries, but sometimes I forget my worries when I think back on my memories.

 

Passionate experience

When I was a college student, I volunteered to tutor children from low-income families. The children assigned to me were mostly enthusiastic, but there were also some who gave up on themselves, saying that even if they listened to their teachers, they would end up working on a construction site like their fathers. I remember breaking out in a cold sweat when I gave them homework and they didn’t do it, always playing around.
When I asked other teachers, they said that there were many teachers who couldn’t teach properly because of the children’s frustrated attitudes. However, I felt sorry for the child who had given up so easily, so I copied dozens of stories of people who had succeeded through studying despite coming from poor families and gave them to the child, trying to show him that building a future through studying was not a complete fantasy. I emphasized that even if he started now, he could still have hope, and that it was never too late to have hope. After several weeks of persistent visits, the child asked me if he could really be successful like other people and handed me his clumsily done homework. How can I describe the joy I felt at that moment?
I still meet with that child and give him advice on entrance exams and studying. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so strongly that my passion can help someone else.

 

Visiting ○○ Bank

I have used XX Bank as my main bank since I was a child, and it was at the XX Bank branch near my house that I got my first check card and signed up for internet banking. XX Bank has been with me for all my “first” experiences with banking. I remember the excitement of my first transaction, the thrill of going to save my allowance, the convenience of phone banking and internet banking services, and the friendly explanations that impressed me. I also remember the pride I felt when I paid my parents’ bills on their behalf, feeling like I had become an adult. Whenever I visit XX Bank, I am reminded of those exciting first moments.

 

Reasons for applying and plans

I have always been interested in banking, and I am particularly interested in ○○ Bank, which is my main bank and the one I am most familiar with. I applied to ○○ Bank because I believe that I can best demonstrate my abilities at a bank that feels as comfortable and welcoming as my own home. This is because ○○ Bank is not a strange place to me, but a comfortable neighborhood that has already become a part of my life. If I am hired by ○○ Bank, I will work hard to increase the number of customers who have warm memories like mine and do my best to provide friendly service.