Wow I could never imagine bringing iced coffee to an interview. Why? Because coffee makes me need to poop like immediately. If I need to rush out mid interview because I might shit my pants, I'm probably not going tk get the job.
~~Interviewers~~ corporations just found another way to be cunts about something. Congrats on your record.
I interview candidates several times per year. I cannot imagine caring if they're drinking a coffee during the interview. I often am drinking coffee or water. We need competent people who are good collaborators. Paying attention to irrelevant nonsense would be shooting ourselves in the foot. I have to work with and rely on these people afterwards to get stuff done. If I miss out on a good person because I needed a power trip, I'm the one who suffers.
The way I see it, this whole "controversy" is a lot of people who don't actually do real work telling on themselves.
My last job had nitro cold brew on tap and we offered it to the candidates because we want them to want the job. That's what it really comes down to: is the employer competing for candidates or is the candidate competing for jobs. Where does the power lie. That's all that matters.
I've taken more than enough psychic damage from the arguments over this but I'm really glad this place has a smaller ratio of people blindly defending the arbitrary and superficial unspoken criteria of corporations when it comes to deciding who does/doesn't deserve to live.
It's bad enough living in a world where someone's dumb-ass incorrect perception of you can drastically make your life worse, but I especially don't want to live in a world where the working class not only accepts that but deliberately reinforces it. - Vire (vi/vim)
This place has a large portion of people who are here because they got tired of reddit's shit and wanted something better.
I think the type that thinks being arbitrary about this stuff is ok mostly stayed at reddit because they are used to accepting arbitrary shit.
And I think the type that defends this are either the bootlickers hoping to get brownie points for supporting the boss' arbitrary shit (or sometimes the arbitrary shit they assume the boss supports), or they are the type that enjoys abusing any power they get to make arbitrary judgements, sometimes even hypocritically because they don't oppose the thing itself but are currently using it to lord over someone. The ones of those that are here are probably here because they were reddit mods and left after a power struggle with reddit admins and are doing similar shit here, though maybe not as extreme given that so many are only here after getting tired of power abuses.
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.
No it has nothing to do with racism, psycho author.
No, they have a point. Historically a lot of these norms were established for that purpose, just like the origin of homeowners associations. You'd be surprised by how much is there if you dig down further.
Plus, as others have pointed out here there's plenty of jobs where nitpicking like this is detrimental due to passing on skilled workers for a dumb reason
That being said, holy shit that pivot was too hard. The abruptness just detracts from their point
Am I missing something here, or does the whole iced coffee thing not just amount to the question of whether you should take food or drink to an interview?
If someone brings a half eaten big mac to an interview, that's not creating the best impression. It doesn't suggest they are taking the interview very seriously. Same goes for iced coffee, popcorn, red bull or whatever. You could make the case that some "professionalism" norms are inherently racist, and no doubt they are mostly arbitrary rules made up by white men. But I'm at a loss as to how this particular one might be. Should we do away with the whole concept of professionalism and just say anything goes in the workplace? I'm not convinced that would go well.
You must be a white dude
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.
Why can't you have iced coffee in front of a customer? I am not primarily customer facing but do a lot of integration and onboarding work in the field and have brought way weirder things to customer sites. Like a whole gallon of tea, and a six pack to put in their fridge for later.
Nobody - and I cannot stress this enough - fucking cares. Unless the job is some fake corporate butt sniffing gig where none of the people involved actually do any real work.
Oh yeah, long hair. I wear mine in a braid at work, down to my lower back. I had a job that I was hired for, met all the requirements but someone fairly high up saw my hair and was like "Nope, let him go, men don't have long hair." The guy who hired me told him "Ok, seeing as I hired him and YOU want him gone YOU can pay him 6 months salary, for no work, and he's gone today." Kept that job for 5 years, the higher up that wanted me gone? Gone that summer, 3 months after I started.
I'm glad somebody else understands this. Normies are so fucking easy to game because they often care more about appearances over anything else. Just gotta put on a good costume and play their game against them.
I dream of the day we get over this stupid lust of appearances and start focusing more on actual value and abilities. Anybody can get dressed in the morning, not anybody can do what I do when it comes to work and abilities.
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.
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.
I have twelve years of experience working at a bunch of different companies. I'll be okay.
I legitimately cannot conceive of any situation where I would care what kind of drink a candidate brought with them. All I care about is that you make the right shapes on the white board and don't give Trump supporter.
I get recruited a lot and occasionally agree to do an interview just to stay on my toes, and I am 100% going to bring a mega-gulp sized ice coffee, and wear a tshirt that says "Iced coffee fan" the next time I do this.
Actually I might order catered iced coffee for the entire office.
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.
Same. I am going to start talking about how much I fucking love iced coffee in phone screens from now on.
If some HR fuckwit wants to make this a thing then I will allocate a solid portion of my smug to it.
Can't break the stupid norms if we just keep confirming to them. I used to think I was born too late, but the older I get the more I realize I am way more fit for this current generation. They managed to rally the masses I never could.
You can't bring coffee or drinks of any kind into a cleanroom environment so bringing one during the interview says to me nothing because if you get the job you're still not bringing coffee into the cleanroom. You can drink it outside and you can vape and smoke and get a tattoo in between your ball sack or buttcheeks but none of that will ever be done in a cleanroom environment. "One" other thing you are not allowed to do in a cleanroom is wear hair spray or aromatic aerosols or perfumes or makeup or clothing that sheds, or play loud music or wear your headphones or wear baggy clothes or not shower or bring your shoes or spit, pee or poo. But you can do all those one things outside. There are rules for every job and the rules may prohibit you from doing things you would otherwise do. Like doctors don't drink coffee during a surgery right over the open cavity. I'm not sure if a doctor may be allowed coffee on a table nearby. I'm not a doctor, so I don't know. A car mechanic could probably be allowed to drink coffee or other drinks while working on a car. A stunt pilot cannot be driving coffee during flight. A racecar driver also cannot drink coffee from a coffee cup while driving during a race. They might be able to drink from a helmet straw. So in sort I don't care what you drink during an interview.
I think it depends on the situation. My interviews typically lasted all day. Lunch was included and I believe at least once I was actually offered coffee. Personally I wouldn't bring mine. I don't consider it a burden to go without for one interview. Plus I usually had some kind of notebook with me with examples of my work and a copy of the interview schedule that was provided to me as well as other documentation. It all becomes a bit too much to carry if you add coffee. But if it's a more casual atmosphere, no biggie. I mean, I wouldn't likely show up in a suit for a job at the Mc Donald's drive-thru.
On the other hand how does the coffee drinker act. Is this person placing a sweaty drink container on the interviewer's desk? Slurping loudly during an interview question?
So I think it's situation dependent.
wouldn't likely show up in a suit for a job at the Mc Donald's drive-thru.
Aaaand that's why you didn't get the job
/s
LOL. I like your moxie.
8h of interview? New age torture chamber?
I'm an engineer. Typically I interviewed with various disciplines and bosses. Lunch was usually a softball interview to make a candidate more comfortable. The last interview I had, I was considered a high value interviewee (not sure if I deserved that) but it meant I was asked to give a presentation during lunch. It can be pretty brutal honestly. Some places are worse than others. I heard that Google and Agilent would sometimes ask candidates to solve equations. There's no way I could perform like that in front of people.
To bring it back to the topic, I do think it would be a bad look to bring in a Starbucks to the interview.
I had all-day interviews for my job too, including lunch. For me, they were already pretty sure I was the right person to hire, so it was only the one round of interviews. I was even a few minutes late due to my employer having several buildings and the one the interviews started in was unmarked. I showed up early to the wrong location.
That being said, while a single round of all-day interviews isn't bad, it would really suck if you had to do that multiple times, and would likely be a waste of time for everyone involved
In my previous job, we interviewed people for several positions, usually 4 to 6. Each area was looking for different things, so multiple interviews made sense, then it was up to each area if they wanted to make an offer. We'd include break for lunch and get non-managers to take them for lunch so they could chat. So not one 8h interview, several one hour interviews. This is pretty common with large organizations.
As someone in a position to hire, I don't give a shit if you bring something to drink as long as it isn't booze. Show me you know your stuff and that's what really matters.
I'd give you bonus points for booze as long as you bring enough to share. Good culture fit and generous?!
I would never bring food or drink to a job interview.
However, the debate has been distorted and a bit strawman'd. The original question was "would you bring an iced coffee to an interview for a Fortune 500 job?"
I'd agree that most interviewers probably wouldn't care but also most interviews are not for Fortune 500 companies.
also working for fortune 500 companies is extremely overrated anyway
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