@typhlosion My experience with working with recruiters and HR on hiring workflows is if something is "optional" in an application process, what they mean is "We let you not do this, then will sit around and hem and haw about how 'well if they didnt go to the effort to do this...' when people do not"
You know, ignoring the fact that it's a waste of time to write one in most cases and most job seekers apply to like 50 places as fast as they can so it's a BIG waste of time.