Ever since the culture of Stanley cups has come into the mainstream, Gen Z have made beverages into a full-blown personality. Tumblers are held throughout the day just like phones. Workouts and hard days are soothed over a matcha latte. And in the Gulf, being seen with an indie coffee cup in hand signals social and economic status and cultural capital rather than just getting a drink.
Needless to say, Gen Z’s beverage culture dictates a lot behind their everyday routines. So you can understand exactly why the “iced coffee discourse” got so heated so quickly.
It all started when recruiter Caitlin Wehniainen posted a TikTok, explaining her POV of Gen Z candidates showing up to interviews with iced lattes in hand. “In my opinion, when you show up with an iced coffee or an iced latte, it looks like this interview is just like a stop on your list of errands for the day.” Wehniainen says in the video. For Wehniainen, who uses her social media platform to advise the next generation of candidates, the iced coffee leaves a casual impression for what is supposed to be a serious meeting.
And like all things on the internet, both sides of the argument came out to share their thoughts. Some people in the comments mentioned that an interview is a stop in the day and that their whole day shouldn’t revolve around a 30-minute meeting. Older generations spoke on the art of professionalism and how Gen Z have lost its touch. Coffee companies humorously commented that they’d hire on the spot.
But who’s afraid of a little coffee?
The Brewing Discourse
Certain recruiters and older professionals agree with Wehniainen’s take. The coffee is distracting with its ice sloshing around, iced drinks—no matter the beverage—give off an air of unseriousness, and in a nit-picky way, it makes shaking hands with someone holding a cup in the process of condensation kinda icky.
But as Gen Z and other millennials in the workforce have pointed out, shouldn’t the ability to do the job trump the coffee in hand? Should it really matter if someone is drinking coffee during an interview?
Between both arguments, the iced coffee discourse points to an even bigger divide, and that is sticking up to corporate rules.
After all, the basis of the argument was diminishing the art of professionalism. The unspoken rules that glue professional etiquette. For many navigating the corporate world, competency matters, but it’s etiquette that continues to keep you in the room.
And with a Gen Z workforce, these rules get challenged. It’s not hard to see why. They grew up in a globally unstable environment while watching older generations burn out trying to keep up. And with a desensitised mind to hard, earth-shattering events, why kowtow to unnecessary social rules? It’s precisely why the generation gets labelled as being so difficult to work with. Between career minimalism and quiet quitting, Gen Z’s professional ideals are set to frontline competency and a healthy work-life balance.
When you look at it, holding an iced coffee is only a matter of impressions, not capability. But depending on the industry, if an impression can take you far, is it worth sacrificing over a cup of coffee? For those applying to creative, indie, or even mid-sized companies, the coffee might not mean so much. But if it’s a Fortune 500 company, as Wehniainen says in her TikTok, it’s actually worth tossing the cup before entering the room.
