This blog post introduces how chemistry PhD candidates preparing for R&D roles can weave laboratory experience and hands-on projects into their cover letters.
Growth Journey
“Genius cannot outdo those who enjoy.”
If such a genius exists, they were likely born with exceptional genes. They possess the concentration, insight, and unique thinking skills to deeply immerse themselves in fields that interest them. However, I don’t believe these abilities are solely innate. Rather, I believe skills like concentration and critical thinking can be cultivated through consistent effort and training. For those who can truly enjoy this process, surpassing even a genius’s achievements is possible.
In that sense, I have chosen to be a ‘hardworking talent’ rather than a ‘genius’. Since childhood, I harbored a vague admiration for geniuses, but in reality, I was always just average. Nevertheless, instead of becoming discouraged, I have always strived to improve. I never once thought of myself as smart. Rather, I felt I had many shortcomings, and that meant I needed to learn more and try harder. The ‘great person’ I speak of isn’t merely someone with a successful career, but someone who finds genuine joy in their field and can grow steadily. Becoming such a person was, for me, the true meaning of success. That’s why I became interested in the field of chemical engineering and worked hard from an early age to find joy in it.
When I became a university student and began studying chemical engineering in earnest, I felt this discipline suited me well. Studying major subjects like organic and inorganic chemistry, and reading related books and original texts, was truly enjoyable. I could become so immersed that I lost track of time, and a growing desire to understand things more deeply emerged. Of course, among my peers studying together, there were friends who grasped things exceptionally quickly and achieved results seemingly without much effort. Seeing those friends, I sometimes thought, ‘That person is truly a genius,’ and at other times, I felt shaken by the thought that perhaps I was relatively lacking. However, rather than making such comparisons, I tried to focus on ‘how much I am enjoying this right now’ and ‘how much I have grown today compared to yesterday.’ In fact, the very fact that I had shortcomings made me stronger. I worked harder to fill those gaps and made an effort to willingly enjoy the process. By constantly encouraging myself like this, I’ve been able to keep moving forward until now.
Moving forward, I will continue walking slowly but steadily along the path of chemical engineering, which I love and enjoy. I believe that the joy felt during the process of striving, along with the accumulation of small but definite achievements, will one day bring me closer to the person I dream of becoming. And if I can enjoy all of that while moving forward, I think that alone makes for a life richly worthwhile.
Strengths and Weaknesses of My Personality
“My Short-Term Focus”
I possess exceptionally strong short-term focus. This ability is often regarded as a form of intellectual capacity—the skill to deeply immerse oneself in a single task within a short timeframe and produce meaningful results. While that aspect certainly exists, I prefer to interpret this ability in connection with my personality traits.
I am not particularly patient and tend to have a somewhat impatient nature. I strongly prefer reaching conclusions quickly rather than dragging things out. On the other hand, I possess intense curiosity. Once I develop interest in a field, I delve deeply into it and constantly seek to learn more. When encountering something new, questions like “Why is that?” or “How does it work?” naturally arise, and I tend to immerse myself to resolve that curiosity.
This intersection of my impatient nature and intense curiosity is where my short-term focus comes into play. While I don’t focus intensely in every situation, when I genuinely find something fascinating and want to understand it, I become deeply immersed within a short time. In other words, curiosity serves as the energy source that drives my concentration.
For example, while pursuing my master’s degree, I chose bioinorganic chemistry as my specialization. This involved analyzing complex oxygen transport processes within living organisms using metals and studying their reaction mechanisms. When I first encountered this field, I thought, “How can metals assist biological circulation?” This sparked intense curiosity as a chemical engineering researcher. This went beyond mere interest; it was a desire to resolve an unanswered question, which immediately translated into short-term focus.
Thanks to this, I could deeply immerse myself in the research, writing and publishing a paper containing meaningful discoveries within six months. This experience confirmed that short-term focus can lead to tangible results, transcending a simple personality trait.
Of course, I fully recognize the importance of long-term perseverance and consistency. However, I believe I possess the ability to recognize when and where to apply my short-term focus, and I have learned how to translate that ability into concrete results. My impatient nature, strong curiosity, and the short-term focus fueled by these traits will continue to be a crucial foundation for new challenges and explorations.
School Days
“Gaining diverse part-time work experience”
I can be considered someone with a longer academic background than most. After graduating from university, I continued my studies by pursuing both a master’s and a doctoral degree, meaning I spent far more time in laboratories than in a corporate office. While the time immersed in research was invaluable, the reality was that I constantly faced financial burdens, needing to cover substantial tuition and living expenses. Consequently, I consistently sought work that could be balanced with my studies, naturally leading me to experience a wide variety of part-time jobs.
To focus on my studies, I primarily sought work opportunities within the university rather than outside. During my undergraduate years, I worked as a ‘work-study student’ almost every semester. My main duties were relatively simple tasks like being a teaching assistant or managing classrooms. While these might seem easy on the surface, they required meticulous attention because they directly supported professors’ class preparations. Specifically, I had to pre-check beam projectors and lecture equipment for use during classes and constantly monitor them to prevent issues. During exam periods, I also served as an exam proctor, preparing and assisting to ensure regular exams ran smoothly. These experiences meant more than just part-time work; they fostered a sense of responsibility as a member of the university community.
After entering graduate school, the laboratory became my workplace. As my days increasingly revolved around the lab, I naturally assumed responsibilities related to research. This extended beyond merely performing experiments to designing research, managing resources, and organizing results. One memorable experience involved planning a chemistry experiment project and recruiting volunteer participants from the general public. Although it was structured as recruiting part-time workers externally, I was effectively the one leading the experiments and collecting the data. The samples obtained through the experiments and the survey results became valuable data not only for my own thesis but also for other research teams’ studies. This experience of balancing academics and work significantly broadened my perspective as a researcher and was deeply rewarding because it led to tangible outcomes.
Looking back, juggling studies and part-time work was never easy. Yet those times became a valuable asset, fostering not only academic growth but also practical problem-solving skills and a strong sense of responsibility. I believe these diverse experiences during my student years laid the foundation for who I am today.
Hobbies and Skills
“Guitar, Drums, Vocals, and a Workplace Band”
During college, while preparing for employment, I often imagined my future self. While dedicating myself to a career in chemical engineering, my major, sounded appealing, I also envisioned enjoying band activities after work. Naturally, the image of myself as the ‘office worker band’s guitarist,’ standing on stage playing the guitar, took shape in my mind. Just as I am passionate about my work, I have always held a deep passion for music, particularly feeling a special interest in playing instruments.
I have consistently played electric guitar since my university days, and with the help of a friend from the same band club, I also learned to play the drums. This naturally led me to reach a level where I can play both guitar and drums at a basic level, and if needed, I possess the skills to handle the core instruments in a band to a certain extent. Additionally, while I’m not an exceptional vocalist, I can provide basic vocal coaching based on the vocal training techniques I learned through my band activities in college.
Based on these experiences, I’ve long held the desire to organize an in-house band if I ever work at a company. Should I join your company, I would like to leverage my musical abilities and passion to personally plan and operate an in-house band. Beyond being a simple hobby, I aim to contribute to making the workplace atmosphere more vibrant and spreading positive energy by creating a channel where members can enjoy themselves and communicate together.
I believe music has the power to connect people and enrich organizational culture. I value work-life balance and am deeply interested in fostering a joyful, energetic atmosphere within the workplace. My small aspiration is to use music as a medium to bring colleagues closer together and cultivate a culture of shared growth.
Motivation and Aspirations
“I aspire to grow into a professional with expertise in research and R&D.”
During my doctoral studies, I participated in diverse experiments within chemical engineering and consistently authored related papers. This journey included being dispatched to a general corporation, where I applied experiments I designed directly to actual processes. I also gained experience operating specialized research equipment to collect and analyze practical data. These experiences significantly elevated my research capabilities and laid a solid foundation for my growth as a professional researcher. While continuing my research, I naturally developed an interest in your company. I was particularly drawn to your technological capabilities and research environment, specializing in semiconductor and LCD production, which motivated my desire to join.
I have consistently researched your company throughout my doctoral program and conducted preliminary studies in related fields. Specifically, I have performed in-depth testing multiple times on your key products, including photoresist, encapsulant, mold cleaning agents, and foaming agents. Through these experiments, I not only collected and analyzed relevant data but also contributed to validating research results and deriving improvement directions by applying them directly in actual production environments. Furthermore, I participated in various short- and long-term projects, performing R&D tasks and proactively leading the entire process from project planning and execution to the feedback stage.
Based on the hands-on capabilities I have built by experiencing both research and development, I aim to become a talent who can operate your company’s R&D system more effectively. I am particularly confident in my adaptability to analytical equipment frequently used in product research and development, such as UV/VIS spectrophotometers, enabling me to quickly adapt to and contribute to related tasks. My strength lies not merely in conducting experiments, but in analyzing results and proposing improvements to drive tangible outcomes. Moving forward, I aspire to faithfully fulfill my role as a professional researcher in the semiconductor and display industries, where change and innovation are essential, and to grow alongside your company.
