Whatever you bring is part of your “costume” for the interview. This is true for your clothes, any binder or notepad you bring, and yes even a drink. It all gets measured (even if subconsciously) against the company culture and job requirements. For customer-facing roles, where an iced coffee would be inappropriate, it’s probably a bad idea to bring one.
One thing that other commenters (and the article) are missing is they are making the assumption that an interview is one-way. That you truly want the job, and you’re just doing whatever it takes to get there. And if you’re unemployed/desperate, that might be the case.
But if you’re interviewing them as well, it’s really important to locate the bullshit right away. If you won’t be a good fit, getting the job will be bad for everyone. This is especially true if you’re leaving a decent job elsewhere. If an iced coffee is a deal breaker, is that the culture you want to step into?
I’ve seen places that refuse to hire men with long hair, regardless of style. You can imagine what the rest of the culture is like. Going in with long (professional-looking) hair can bring out the problems faster and in a way that no other interview tactic would. Getting rejected here is dodging a bullet. Same with a coffee.
Ha, I’ve been following this whole thing and it’s just so funny to me. It’s such a younger generation thing, maybe I’m older and so I’ve just “played the game” a lot. The whole thing is should you be able to take your drink of choice? Of course! However, would I do that? Hell freaking no I wouldn’t.
Going into an interview from the first glance they’re judging you to see if you’re a good fit. Granted you’re also judging them but let’s be honest, it’s pretty lopsided. If I go in I want them to see my best foot forward, it means I’m putting on a show for the next hour (or more nowadays) so that you want to hire me. I’m not bringing in anything that alters that view of me. Iced coffee, hot coffee, nothing. Maybe a neat folder of a couple spare resumes and a notebook I can take notes in. I plan ahead, I’ll usually be at a coffee shop before the interview anyway (it helps make sure I’m there on time, get there 30-60 mins ahead of time and chill at a coffee shop), and then walk over for the interview.
Bringing a drink or anything extra is just something that now they’re thinking about, and you don’t want them thinking about you in that way. It’s something else that you put on the table, you’re taking sips of, for cold drinks it’s condensing and leaving a ring, and then you have to ask for a trash. All benign things but again, you’re in their house and why would you want to bring any negative attention at all to them? I’ve had interviewers who were obviously just having bad days say no to me for arbitrary bullshit already, why add to that? It all seems like an unnecessary gamble for no reason at all.
Now if they offer coffee or a drink when you get there (hopefully they do) I’m all for it. They offered, it’s free game. Go wild. Just don’t get picky.
I know this is a wall of text but I’ll also say that as an interviewer I don’t care at all if they do, as long as they’re professional and it doesn’t get in the way. If it’s distracting, you’re shaking the ice, or slurping out the last bits, or whatever, yeah it’s going to distract me. I’m not going to be annoyed because you brought coffee, but I will be annoyed if you aren’t appearing to take an interview seriously.
And now unfortunately bringing it after this whole social media thing is basically wearing a target on your… front? face? that says “I’m making a statement” and will absolutely label you a troublemaker to any HR person (because you know every HR person has seen this). It’s also probably tainted it for 5-10 years as they’ll keep remembering this.
I am a hiring manager for a small engineering team. I don’t think I would notice as long as there wasn’t extra attention drawn to the drink for some reason.
It’s a stupid reason to not hire someone, it’s a stupid reason to not get hired. Best to avoid the whole thing. People are so worried about how they should be able to do whatever they want, but people have been passed over for less. If you can afford to miss out on a job, go nuts.
as long as there wasn’t extra attention drawn to the drink for some reason
If you accidentally spill coffee everywhere, you’ve just brought a lot of extra attention to it. Best not to risk it.
as someone who has also been involved hiring for engi roles
i would give zero shits, long as the person was pleasant in resolving the accident
if anything being able to see their behaivor under stress is a good thing
Having needed to hire for engineering teams, I think the iced coffee would be a big deal if the position was client facing and wouldn’t be if it was internal.
The answer for me of “who defines professionalism” is the client. If the effective end client is me, I don’t care. I’m pretty lax and chill.
However, if I’m hiring for a client facing role and you bring an iced coffee, you are saying that you don’t know or don’t care about client expectations and that is a red flag. I work in an industry where it is still the expectation to wear a suit and tie to certain client meetings. If you can’t play the game with me, how can I trust you to play the game with the client?
Dress codes like that are racist. As a Native American I should be allowed to have my hair and clothing in a traditionally Cherokee style if I want to and if your clients have a problem with that then they are racist fucks who can go fuck themselves.
At the end of the day “the customer is always right” doesn’t mean I should be expected to sell my scruples for your ROI.
It’s wild to say that drinking something will make you look bad to an interviewer. It’s even more wild to write paragraphs of text defending it.
Never said I defended it, in fact first thing I said was that you should be able to. I said I’ve played the game for a long time and have learned the arbitrary rules, and honestly do pretty well in interviews. Feel free to do whatever you want, as I said to others, it’s your job prospects, not mine.
Wow, crazy how article went from “iced coffee” to “everything is racist and white people are evil.”
How about don’t bring ANY drinks to the interview, except maybe water.
No it has nothing to do with racism, psycho author.
