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 this information may be relevant and useful. Others disagree. Discuss both views and give your opinion

The need for

job

applicants to provide sensitive and personal

information

has been debated more in recent times with a side arguing why

this

information

are relevant and the other why it is unnecessary and unethical. In the process of hiring new employees, employers believe these personal

information

goes a long way in filling the vacant

job

roles, but

on the other hand

, advocates for privacy believe the collection of

this

data is not justifiable and can form a basis of bias against applicants. In my opinion,

this

information

is relevant to employers as it forms a part of the decision making in choosing the best

applicant

suitable for the

job

. Personal

information

such

as marital status, hobbies and interest helps the employer to build a personality

profile

for each

applicant

and

this

is

then

used to match the applicants to the desired

profile

required for the

job

. Often, data regarding educational qualifications and previous experiences are gathered from the resume and in some cases or certain

job

roles,

this

is insufficient to make a correct assessment of the

applicant

. An instance, a

job

role requires constant travelling out of town, the desired

job

profile

indicates that the best fit would be a person whose marital status is single or unmarried.

This

can only be known to the employer only if the

applicant

has provided that personal detail of his/her life.

On the contrary

, it is argued that the personal data collated from applicants can be misused and be a bias in the selection and with recent data breaches, the safety of the data is not guaranteed as it can fall into the wrong hands.

Also

, there have been cases where people’s personal

information

has been shared with

third

parties without the

applicant

’s consent.

This

therefore

poses a threat to the applicants. In conclusion, the collection of sensitive

information

by employers from

job

applicants can be for good reason, in matching their

profile

to the expectations of the

job

. It is

also

important that applicants carry out due diligence to be sure employers are genuine and personal

information

if provided would be secured.