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 these views and give your own opinion.

It has become, a common culture these days that

employers

ask prospective candidates for their personal information. While a group of people accept

this

, others don't. In

this

essay, I am going to discuss both sides and provide my opinion. In

this

digital era,

Employers

have been increasingly wanting to know more about the interview candidates,

hence

in the job application form, they tend to collect personal details

such

as marital status, favourite pastimes and interests. On one hand,

this

data collection sometimes favours the

employers

.

Firstly

, the

employers

can figure out if the

candidate

would fit in the team culture, else the new hire could potentially feel left out.

Next

,

this

helps

employers

to understand if they could get achieve business goals.

For example

, for a sales position, someone with a soccer-playing hobby would show that the person is sociable and would be able to fit in the position.

Lastly

, it helps the

employer

to plan health care and child care etc.,

On the other hand

, the data collection at times impacts both the prospective hire and as well the

employer

.

To begin

with,

this

activity could lead to preconceived notions and may impact the hiring decision.

For example

, for an actuarial position in an insurance company, the

employer

could foresee that someone with bungy jumping as interest could be risky.

Moreover

,

this

could burden the

employer

to comply with data collection and privacy laws, which is not needed at the

candidate

selection stage. As

such

to conclude, selecting a

candidate

to hire should be based on skills, experience and attitude and not based on personal interests, these details could be collected post

candidate

selection and offer roll-out phase.