Band 8 IELTS Essay Sample | Employers Sometimes Ask For Personal Information Of Job Applicants

Here is a band 8 IELTS essay sample submitted by one of our students. Send us your writing samples for a free band score estimate or get a detailed analysis of your writing for a fee.

Employers sometimes ask people applying for jobs for personal information, such as their hobbies and interests, and whether they are married or single. Some people say that this information may be relevant and useful. Others disagree. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

Band 8 IELTS essay sample

It is often argued that requiring / asking an applicant to provide additional personal information such as hobbies or marital status is beneficial for the employer; however, many people disagree with this view and claim that this information is useless and holds no value. This essay will elaborate on both points of view and present my opinion.

On the one hand, there are grounds to believe that employers need more than just the professional information to better assess their prospective candidates. With increasing emphasis on collaborative work culture and need for every employee to fit into the team dynamics, collecting extracurricular and personal information will help the employer select the right candidates and match them with right opportunities. For instance, several applicants may be deemed fit for a marketing position based on their qualification and work history. Those among them having special interests in traveling and meeting people are certainly more suited for this position and an employer needs to ask about their hobbies to figure this out.

Nonetheless, many of those who disagree with this argument doubt the authenticity of such information provided in the job applications. They believe that the job applicants tend to make up some hobbies and interests just to impress the employers.  According to a survey conducted by a student group from London School of Economics, only 40% of the respondents of a survey gave genuine answers when asked about their extracurricular interests.

In conclusion, while some are still doubtful of the veracity / truthfulness of information provided by candidates for a job position, it is believed that collecting this information greatly helps an employer in better decision making. In my opinion, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages, and hence, the more information an employer gathers about an applicant, the better the decision making process will be.

Manjusha Nambiar

Hi, I'm Manjusha. This is my blog where I give IELTS preparation tips.

2 Responses

  1. FARHAD says:

    Everyone should become vegetarian because they do not need to eat meat to have a healthy diet.

    To what extent do you agree or disagree?

    Many nowadays are of the opinion that in order to become healthier and fitter the global citizens should give up any meat product. I largely disagree with this statement but with the few exceptions mostly related to some crucial factors.
    Proponents of this theory often point to numerous facts which support this trend. To begin with, the negative impact of the consumption of meat products has already been proven by numerous studies both in rich and developing countries. The outsized number of fatty acids, in animal fat, led to obesity and diabetes, while stress-related hormones and various chemical compounds ultimately leading an increase in the number of oncological diseases, not to mention the range of digestive issues created by eating meat, like diarrhea or constipation, which are often caused by consumption of processed animal products. Therefore is essential to get rid of animal products and switch to healthier vegetarian options.
    Nevertheless, considering some valuable arguments listed above, the majority of planet dwellers simply could not sufficiently work or study without red meat and other animal products, especially the most vulnerable parts of our society, like children. The proteins in the red meats play the role of the bricks which build an undeveloped adolescent’s body, while fatty acids boost a child’s immune system and allow him or her to fight against diseases. Ordinary mature individuals could also suffer from the vegetarian diet, as their bodies could become weaker and more vulnerable to contagious infections, due to the lack of protective elements in fruit and vegetables, and eventually lead to the increase in the number of diseases affecting people and widespread of the highly-dead infections like Covid-19 and SARS. As a prime example of the negative effect of the vegetarian diet, we could observe from high death rate from atopic pneumonia in India, where the majority of citizens consume only green products, and as a result, suffers and died from infectious diseases.
    In conclusion, in addition to those rare times when a vegetarian diet can be beneficial to maintaining the health of some people on the planet, in most other cases, a strict green diet can be disastrous and exacerbate a health problem rather than solve it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *