Topline
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 social media’s latest viral debate is really about shifting 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 took over social media this week. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
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Key Facts
A seemingly random question—is it OK to bring a cup of iced coffee with you to a job interview?—blew up on social media this week after Caitlin Wehniainen, president of a recruiting firm, posted a TikTok video saying doing so “looks a little too casual” to hiring managers.
Save the coffee for before or after the interview, Wehniainen said, setting off a debate on social media between some who say the rattling ice and potential spills could be a bad look, while others defended young people who have to navigate a tough job market.
Two career counselors who spoke with Forbes both said job candidates probably shouldn’t bring an iced coffee with them to an interview to avoid leaving a bad impression, though both said they understand why young job seekers might feel inclined to do so—whether it’s to manage anxiety or because they are unaware of workplace norms.
“No, you should not bring it with you,” said Beth Hendler-Grunt, founder and president of Next Great Step, a career coaching company for college students and recent graduates, though she thinks the viral debate is really about a “disconnect between what young job seekers think they are ready and prepared for and what employers expect.”
J.T. O’Donnell, founder and CEO of career coaching company Work It Daily, told Forbes she would encourage job seekers to consider, “Is coffee going to help you or hurt you? Are you clumsy? Are you going to spill that all over you?”
O’Donnell, who is also a content creator with more than 1.2 million followers on TikTok, said if a job candidate has a “valid reason,” like managing anxiety, then it may be more understandable, but still cautioned job seekers that hiring managers may not take kindly to it.
crucial quote
“My honest advice to a job seeker is, I wouldn’t bring anything else to an interview that could distract you, but if this is something that will help you, then you have to do what you want to do,” O’Donnell told Forbes. “Just understand, thanks to this debate, there are going to be some people that aren’t a fan.”
What Does The Iced Coffee Debate Say About Gen Z Job Seekers?
Both O’Donnell and Hendler-Grunt noted the iced coffee debate may have roots in a generational gap between young job hunters and the hiring managers conducting interviews. The question of the iced coffee is a “symptom of a bigger issue that’s been happening,” Hendler-Grunt said, suggesting Gen Z job candidates might be unprepared for the workforce because of the COVID-19 pandemic and inexperience searching for jobs. “I’ll say, to really give young adults a pass, is they honestly don’t know. They honestly haven’t had the practice, they lost all these years during the pandemic,” Hendler-Grunt said, noting some young adults may have never had an in-person job interview before and haven’t experienced a corporate environment firsthand. O’Donnell argued the debate may have struck a nerve because many job seekers of all generations are lamenting they cannot find work. “It’s triggering in a very competitive job market,” O’Donnell said. “I think you had older individuals who want confirmation bias that it’s the younger generation, and they have no etiquette, and they should be hiring me instead,” while younger people are frustrated with an “old school mindset.”
Could Bringing Iced Coffee To An Interview Become Normalized?
“Every generation brings to the workplace new rules 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 themselves.” Between the 1980s and 1990s, as Gen X employees entered the workforce, work attire became more relaxed as acceptance of “casual Fridays” and business casual rose, O’Donnell said, a trend that also faced resistance. “I’m a Gen Xer. We were the ones that they were horrified with because we didn’t want to wear suits to work. We’re the ones that were like, ‘We’re going to make it business casual,’” she said, criticizing older generations for maintaining an “old school” view of workplace culture.
key background
The iced coffee debate took off on social media this week, sparking discourse about whether bringing an iced coffee to a job interview is unprofessional or not that big of a big deal. Plenty of social media users, though, poked fun at the debate and turned it into a meme. A TikTok creator by the name @ariisaysso turned the debate into a skit, acting out a faux interview in a video captioned, “POV: You brought iced coffee to your job interview.” In the video, which has more than 1 million views, the creator plays an interviewee whose iced coffee stained a copy of her resume—she jokes she used it as a “coaster for my drink”—and whose voice is drowned out by the rattling ice. At the end of her skit, the interviewer, who was initially impressed because the candidate went to Harvard University, tells her to leave, calling the beverage “distracting.”
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