In recent years, many small local shops have closed because customers travel to large shopping centres or malls to do their shopping. Do you think this is a positive or negative development?

286 words, band 8.0+


6.

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 views and give your opinion.

It is sometimes believed that asking job applicants for personal details of their lives, like their leisure activities or marital status, is useful for the employer. Although it is true that this may help hiring managers in some ways, in my view, the usefulness of these questions during job interviews is limited.

On the one hand, there seem to be some valid reasons for asking candidates about their private lives. One argument is that sports-related questions may allow employers to identify whether the would-be worker is a team player or not, which is important for jobs involving teamwork. Secondly, the job applicant's answers to these questions could also help the manager to choose the most suitable position for them. In other words, married applicants can be offered a vacancy that involves day shifts and little travel. Therefore, it could be argued that interview questions related to personal life are relevant.
However, the candidate's personal information is not as useful as many people think. First of all, some people can opt for lies about their free time activities and marriage. This often results in hiring the wrong person who is a good liar instead of the right one. Furthermore, even if they tell the truth, their achievements in their personal life do not always translate well into their workplace. This means that the captain of a local football team may not be able to lead a team at work.
Thus, asking these questions may end up harming than benefitting companies.

To sum up, despite some benefits these questions might bring to the worker and the employer, to my mind, their effectiveness is very small. Therefore, it is too narrow minded a way to choose a candidate based on their answer to personal questions.