IELTS Advantages and Disadvantages Essay
This essay provides a plan and model response for an advantages and disadvantages essay in your writing paper.
Essay question:
Nowadays many people choose to be self-employed, rather than to work for a company or organisation.
Why might this be the case?
What could be the disadvantages of being self-employed?
My initial ideas:
Advantages-
- You can create your own schedule
- You can dictate your own pay
- You can travel with work
- You can experience a wider variety of work
- You’re in control
- You can expand and personalise your skill set and knowledge base
Disadvantages-
- It may not be consistently financially successful
- There may be periods of unemployment
- You are responsible for your income
- You are competing with many others
- It may feel lonely
Essay structure
Introduction
Paraphrase the question
Outline main ideas
State opinion (if required)
Main body paragraph 1- Advantage
Topic sentence- example
Explanation- explain the benefits/advantages
Consequence- state the result
Main body paragraph 2- Disadvantage
Topic sentence- example
Explanation- explain the problems/disadvantages
Consequence- state the result
Conclusion
Summarise key points
Loop back to beginning
State opinion (if required)
Nowadays many people choose to be self-employed, rather than to work for a company or organisation.
Why might this be the case?
What could be the disadvantages of being self-employed?
Many people nowadays are opting to work for themselves, rather than for a company. There is a more palpable shift towards self-employment and a greater detachment from more traditional working structures. This essay will demonstrate how self-employment can lead to financial freedom and more flexibility of one’s output, but it will also show how financial freedom can be risky and the idea of creative flexibility can be illusionary. Whilst acknowledging the drawbacks, this essay will argue how the advantages of self-employment outweigh the disadvantages.
One clear benefit of working for one’s self, is the possibility of financial freedom and creative autonomy. By being self-employed, one has the room to create your own salary. Rather than being hemmed in by a fixed monthly amount, a person working for themselves can exceed this and create a salary that is reflective of their work and one that does not impede them by wider company policy. Although some people can see pay rises, this is seldom seen in many industries and despite the extra hours people work, their pay quickly hits a ceiling. Whereas, self-employment means you are not determined by someone else’s view of what you should be paid. As well as this, someone who is self-employed has more creative control. This is highly important as being passionate about what you do should be a key characteristic with any job. By having more creative control, we can determine what we produce and the effect we want it to have. Therefore, we are in control and can enjoy the work we ultimately decide to produce.
On the other hand, there are obvious disadvantages to being self-employed. Firstly, it can involve some financial risk where each month does not necessarily look financially the same. There may be dips and troughs where the individual is learning less than the previous month. This could seep into other aspects of their life and make certain things difficult, such as paying bills. Secondly, having to be constantly creative can be more difficult than perceived and its reality not as utopian as it may seem. For example, if someone is starting their own business or creating a course, the sole creative output rests on their shoulders and this can be difficult to routinely produce, rather than having a brief to fill which is passed down from a senior or fellow colleague.
In conclusion, whilst there are disadvantages to being self-employed, I believe the potential possibilities and benefits of being self-employed outweigh working for a company. Whilst working for a company is preferred by some, the working world is shifting to a model that is more innovative, creative and less reliant on the traditional ways of work.
word count- 446