IELTS Writing Task 2 with sample answer.
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
We all work or will work in our jobs with many different kinds of people. In your opinion, what are some important characteristics of a co-worker (someone you work closely with)?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
Sample Answer:
When it comes to the issue regarding crucial traits of a colleague, we each look for different characteristics in our co-workers. Right now I am working at a transnational company and from my experience, I feel that trust, helpful attitude, judgment are the essential quality of a co-workers. These qualities cannot be trained if they are absent in a co-worker. You can encourage or reinforce their development but without these traits, it is better to remove the co-worker from your team or be removed from the team.
First and foremost thing is trust. Trust is the subject to natural growth. It cannot be built overnight. It is built through the long practice of cooperation, shared experience, and joint risk-taking in a firm. Trust streamlines the life of an organization. If your co-worker is not trustworthy, he or she should not be part of your team. He will erode your team, create politics, and always keep you anxious. Just like anything natural, trust also requires to be nurtured, and it could be slowly decayed through bad experiences that it can be broken abruptly. In the case, you should part the team. A firm not a marriage; it cannot tolerate the years to rebuild the broken trust. Trust is the core ingredient to any relationship that bonds the relationship firmly.
Secondly, co-worker should be helpful. Your experience would be nightmare if your co-worker is not helpful. On the other hand, when co-workers are helpful, you can finish you assignment smoothly. I still can recall my first job experience of an online marketing agency, two of my colleagues helped me not only with learning of important procedures, how to write ads, but also with small things like posting an article. They really made me feel comfortable in the very beginning that I appreciate them very much.
Last but not least at all, good judgment is one of essential qualities a co-worker must have. That is to say that he or she has the ability of taking right decisions in the right time. You need people in your team who can make right decision consistently. This is not to say that they never make a mistake. To err is human. We all do mistake. But my point is that they should have the ability to take the right decision in the right moment. This means that they need to have a good sense that when to act or to stop a particular activity we feel is harmful for the organization.
To sum up, there also are many characteristics of a co-worker which are essential for running the team smoothly. But in my view, the cornerstones are trust, helpful nature, and good judgment.