In this blog post, I’ll show you how to effectively incorporate your expertise and deep insights into your cover letter when applying for a consulting job.
Growing up
My father, an English professor, and my mother, a rehabilitation medicine specialist, have always been researchers in their fields. Their study was filled with English and medical books, and as a child with nothing better to do, I spent a lot of time in the study. My mother was so proud of me that she gave me my own bookshelf in our parents’ study, and every Sunday, my father, mother, and I would gather in the study and immerse ourselves in our respective research. I seem to have inherited my father’s liberal arts tendencies and my mother’s science tendencies evenly. I had a hard time deciding between the sciences and the humanities in my sophomore year of high school because I was interested in both fields, and I was evenly split between the sciences and humanities on various personality tests. I chose liberal arts because I liked social studies more. At that time, I was interested in social phenomena, so I read a lot of humanities books. It was fascinating to me that I could get clues on how to solve problems in modern society from the classics. I think this process helped me develop my insight.
My academic career
My father always advised me to ‘be a person who can put knowledge into practice. He said that if you don’t practice what you know, it’s dead knowledge and useless. So I was able to grow up as an exemplary person by practicing the moral knowledge I learned in school, and I always led by example. This attitude continued through elementary, middle, and high school and into my university life, and I have always tried to apply my academic knowledge, which I deepened through my master’s and doctoral degrees, to society. I majored in business administration in college and planned to work as a corporate consultant. While studying business administration, I learned about corporate management in general and realized that a company’s management philosophy is important to become a great company. I minored in philosophy to better understand the applied field of business administration, and I pursued a Ph.D. in philosophy to deepen my knowledge of philosophy. I think my insightful thinking skills were very helpful in studying philosophy, because it is difficult to think in a way that connects business and philosophy. While preparing for my doctoral thesis, I developed the power to think deeply. I also spent time thinking about what I should do to apply philosophical thinking to practice. I believe that these reflections helped me to publish the best paper in the ○○ journal. I hope that my reflections can help you in your work.
Personality strengths and weaknesses
Cautiousness and calmness are my strengths. This has been a great advantage in my philosophy research, which requires me to constantly think and question things. This prudence and calmness has made me responsible among my friends, and it is the basis of my reputation as a person who can be trusted with anything. I also have a good sense of humor, which plays a big role in setting the tone of a gathering. I believe that laughter is a great energizer in life, and when I’m tired and exhausted, I try to think of something funny, even if it’s just a partial thought, or laugh out loud. I’m a straightforward person, but I’ve realized that this straightforwardness can be unintentionally hurtful to others. I still believe that it’s better to be honest and let people know what’s going on rather than tell them a lie, but I try to think about the other person’s point of view and try to be more euphemistic if it might hurt them.
Work experience (or experience that can showcase your skills)
While studying for my PhD, I taught principles of economics and philosophy of management to business students at a university. I also taught philosophy as a liberal arts course, connecting philosophy to real life. Teaching students made me think a lot about how to make them understand what I know. I realized that in order to understand someone, you need to build empathy, and this is possible when you have a clear understanding of the other person. I realized that students often think of college classes as just ‘classes’, and if there is a disconnect between classes and real life, then college education is useless, so I made a lot of real-life connections in my lectures. I wanted students to become practical intellectuals who are active participants in modern society, not just attend classes to get good grades. I would like to use the know-how I have gained through research and lectures in your company.
Motivation and aspirations
I have been working hard to become a ‘practical intellectual’. I thought that in order to become a practical intellectual, professional knowledge along with a heart for society is essential, so I was able to study hard despite difficulties. The field I studied is management philosophy. I believe that a company’s goals can be set and direction can be given based on its management philosophy. Therefore, a company with a poor management philosophy is bound to become a failing company. Based on this idea, I am confident that I can provide accurate consulting by studying corporate management and analyzing the company. As I value management philosophy in this way, I thought that I should apply for a job with full consideration of the management philosophy of the place where I will be working, because if we have different goals, we cannot expect synergy between the company and its employees. Your company’s management philosophy and goals in pursuit of ○○ resonated with me, and I am applying because I am convinced that your company will be able to realize the things I have studied. If you give me the opportunity to help you realize your goals based on your management philosophy, I will repay you with my full enthusiasm.
