For a moment there, it was everywhere. The question dominating (and dividing) the group chat: Is it bad form to bring an iced coffee to a job interview?
One half of the internet, it seemed, saw nothing strange about toting a little refreshment along to the proceedings; don't your interviewers offer you coffee, anyway? The other half saw the iced coffee not as a peppy beverage but instead as some kind of new low for workplace informality, a sign that kids today simply don't have the respect or deference they should.
Farnoosh Torabi, financial expert and host of the podcast So Money, weighed in on the coffee question on her Instagram account, definitively stating that to her, bringing any beverage was a no-go. ("It's giving 'I was doing errands before this,'" as she put it.) Given the nerve it touched online, we wondered whether there was more to this debate, and spoke to Torabi to dig a layer deeper.
KCM: Was this debate really about iced coffee?
Farnoosh Torabi: I think there are a number of things going on, but the iced coffee is really a proxy for a bigger question: What is appropriate during a job interview now?
That "now" is interesting. What are some of the factors that make this moment in the workplace different than before?
Gen Z largely entered the workforce during the pandemic, on Zoom, at a moment when workplace norms were becoming more casual, and workers had more leverage. So an iced coffee may genuinely register to them as no big deal.
Is that really going to cost someone the job? Maybe not. But now that more interviews are happening in person and employers have more leverage in the hiring market, I think it’s a bigger risk. The coffee itself isn’t offensive. It’s that you’ve introduced something unnecessary and potentially distracting into a situation where people are forming impressions very quickly.
So you think this is about differences between the generations at work?
There is definitely a generational divide, but it feels like Gen Z versus everyone else. Possibly even Gen Alpha. I asked my 9-year-old daughter if it would be OK to bring an iced coffee to a job interview. She has zero context for job interviews, and even she was on the fence. Her compromise was to bring coffee for yourself and the interviewer.
You mentioned the pandemic. How did that change the way we view workplace formality?
The pandemic accelerated a loosening of workplace norms that was already underway. And I think Gen Z understandably has a different relationship with those traditions because many of them entered professional life when the old rules were already being rewritten. Older workers may still instinctively think, This is an interview. Dress up. Put the phone away. Don’t bring lunch. Be a little more formal than you think you need to be. Younger workers may reasonably wonder why some of those rules matter at all.
Is there anything else you would never do in a job interview?
Years ago, I had an interview with a talent manager at a network. Before the meeting, I’d been at the tailor getting a bridesmaid dress hemmed, and when I changed back into my interview outfit, I somehow buttoned my cardigan incorrectly. I noticed almost immediately after walking into the interview and awkwardly tried to fix it on the spot, which only made the moment more uncomfortable. The woman interviewing me definitely noticed. I did not get the job. So, maybe do a quick wardrobe check before you walk into an interview. Buttons, zippers, everything. And I’d also turn my phone completely off.
That said, I’ve been on the receiving end of questionable interview etiquette, too. One hiring manager played solitaire on his computer while interviewing me. Another asked what my husband did for a living. So candidates aren’t the only people capable of making an interview awkward.
Are there any seemingly minor things that would turn you off if a job candidate did them?
Speaking poorly about a former employer would turn me off pretty quickly. Most of us have had a difficult boss or a bad work experience, but an interview isn’t the place to unload it. You can absolutely explain why you’re leaving or what you’re looking for next without trashing the people you worked with. To me, the bigger question is, can you talk about a difficult experience with some perspective and professionalism? Because that's someone that I would definitely be interested in.
