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.
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.
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
strawman’d
Straw-manned. Apostrophes are going extinct from over-hunting and misuse.
‘’‘’‘’
Here have a few, I’ve got a captive breeding population going.
Emphasis on captive.
|”|”|”|”|”|”|”|”|”|”|”|”|”|”|”|”|”|”|
It’s fine we’ll just turn some hyphens sideways.
Sure, that|s a great way to save apostrophe|s.
Does the iced coffee do anything with the work involved? Then it should have no weight on the interview. I’m glad these fucking clowns are finally being called out for how stupid they are.
People are ignoring the Fortune 500 part because it is meaningless. Walmart is a Fortune 500 company.
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.
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.
Bringing coffee in is a power move if you’re employed already. It says “my time is just as valuable as yours and I intend to make the most of it regardless of what you think.” As someone who just interviews to keep his skills sharp at this point, it’s not the worst thing you can do so long as you don’t make a big deal out of it.
I’d be more offended if they require you to prepare a slide deck of some useless example you probably made up anyway. That’s working for free and I won’t do it.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Why blow it up at all? If it doesn’t fit in with the company culture, just don’t hire them. Making it a big deal, like yelling at the candidate simply reeks of corporate entitlement. Plus, are you really telling me yould reject the golden candidate if he or she is exhibiting some subjectively questionable personal judgement? Like turning away Gabe Newell because he didn’t shave before the interview, or Steve Jobs because he didn’t turn up in a tie? Really?
If you want to do the candidate a favor, maybe tell them on the way out, and if their behaviour is so repulsive, they’ll eventually get the idea and adjust, or find a company to which they are a better fit.
“Fitting into a company culture” is an enormous barge-sized excuse to practice every form of discrimination.
Might be more loke turning away Steve Jobs because he doesn’t shower and stinks.
I was holding a (hot) coffee in the interview for my current job tbf lol
Culture fit is part of the process for sure
For the companies that mind you bringing an iced coffee, you should be glad if they reject you. If that is part of their criteria, they probably aren’t someone you would want to work for. I didn’t like the people who were obviously putting on an act to try to be what they thought I wanted them to be during the hiring process. Culture fit is important. Two people with the same skills will not be equal candidates if one is contrary to the rest of the employment group. Also someone who will not fit in will not be able to fully use their skills due to social conflicts. Soft skills matter more in some positions/companies than others.
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.
Bring it in an insulated travel cup and as long as it doesn’t have offensive stickers you’d negate most of the negatives the article presented.
Sorry, they went with another candidate.
Interviewerscorporations just found another way to be cunts about something. Congrats on your record.What about a slice of pizza?
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.
