Top line
Bringing a cup of iced coffee to a job interview probably isn’t the best way to get hired, career counselors told Forbes, who also said the latest viral social media debate is actually about changing workplace norms amid a generational divide between hiring managers and Gen Z candidates.
A heated debate over whether it’s inappropriate to bring iced coffee to a job interview has taken over social media this week. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
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Key facts
A seemingly random question – is it okay to bring a cup of iced coffee with you to a job interview? – exploded on social media this week after Caitlin Wehniainen, president of a recruitment company, posted a TikTok video saying it “seems a little too casual” to hiring managers.
Save the coffee for before or after the interview, Wehniainen said, sparking a debate on social media between some who say ice noise and potential spills could be a bad image, while others defended young people who must navigate a tough job market.
Two career counselors who spoke with Forbes both said job candidates probably shouldn’t bring iced coffee to an interview to avoid leaving a bad impression, although they both said they understand why younger job seekers might feel inclined to do so, whether to manage their anxiety or because they’re unfamiliar with workplace norms.
“No, you shouldn’t take it with you,” said Beth Hendler-Grunt, founder and president of Next Great Step, a career coaching company for students and recent graduates, although she believes the viral debate is actually about a “disconnect between what young job seekers think they are ready and prepared for and what employers expect.”
JT O’Donnell, founder and CEO of career coaching company Work It Daily, told Forbes that she would encourage job seekers to ask themselves: “Is coffee going to help you or hurt you? Are you clumsy? Are you going to spill this all over you?”
O’Donnell, who is also a content creator with more than 1.2 million followers on TikTok, said that if a job candidate has a “valid reason,” such as dealing with anxiety, that may be more understandable, but he still warned job seekers that hiring managers might not like it.
crucial quote
“My honest advice to a job seeker is: I wouldn’t bring anything else to an interview that might distract you, but if it’s something that can help you, then you have to do what you want to do,” O’Donnell told Forbes. “Just understand that through this debate, there will be people who are not fans.”
What does the iced coffee debate say about Gen Z job seekers?
Both O’Donnell and Hendler-Grunt noted that the iced coffee debate may have its roots in a generational gap between younger job seekers and the hiring managers who conduct the interviews. The iced coffee issue is a “symptom of a bigger problem that’s happening,” Hendler-Grunt said, suggesting that Gen Z candidates may be unprepared for the job market due to the COVID-19 pandemic and their inexperience in job searching. “I will say that to really give young adults a pass is that honestly, they don’t know. Honestly, they haven’t had the practice, they’ve wasted all those years during the pandemic,” Hendler-Grunt said, noting that some young adults may have never had an in-person job interview before and haven’t experienced a corporate environment firsthand. O’Donnell argued that the debate may have struck a chord because many job seekers of all generations complain about not finding work. “This is triggered in a very competitive job market,” O’Donnell said. “I think there are older people who want to have a confirmation bias that this is the younger generation, that they don’t have a label and they should hire me instead,” while younger people are frustrated by an “old school mindset.”
Could bringing iced coffee to an interview become normal?
“Every generation brings new rules to the workplace because the old rules just don’t apply,” O’Donnell said, suggesting the iced coffee debate is “an example of how Gen Z is asserting itself.” Between the 1980s and 1990s, as Generation X employees entered the workforce, work attire became more relaxed as acceptance of “casual Fridays” and business casual has grown, O’Donnell said, a trend that has also been met with resistance. “I’m a Gen
key background
The iced coffee debate gained momentum on social media this week, sparking debate over whether bringing an iced coffee to a job interview is unprofessional or not that big of a deal. However, many social media users mocked the debate and turned it into a meme. A TikTok creator named @ariisaysso turned the debate into a skit, staging a fake interview in a video captioned: “POV: You brought iced coffee to your job interview.” In the video, which has more than a million views, the designer plays an interviewee whose iced coffee stained a copy of her CV (she jokes that she used it as a “coaster for my drink”) and whose voice is drowned out by the noise of the ice. At the end of her skit, the interviewer, who was initially impressed because the contestant went to Harvard University, tells her to leave, calling the drink “distracting.”
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