Question
At last!! A recruiter calls out naïve job applicants who should go back to school to learn how to be more professional! Imagine an applicant walking in to interview for a job holding a Starbucks latte in one hand! This fool’s story is all over the Internet and the recruiter is telling it on TikTok with over 15K likes. Yes, she’s right, GenZers don’t have a clue! They come into my office acting like it’s their office and I work for them! I’m one recruiter that won’t let this kind of behavior slide — no job for you! Wise up, kids! If you disrespect the recruiter and the office by walking in with your latte, we know all we need about you! Maybe my first interview question should be, Did you bring me a latte? Haha! I don’t know whether this is really an interview question, Nick, but do you see this in your practice? How about some stern advice to your readers?
Incensed in HR
Nick’s Reply
This ranks right up there with the Top 10 Stupid Interview Questions. But let’s take a look at what the reader in this week’s Q&A is talking about.
TikTok corporate recruiter @caitlinrecruiter called out Gen Z candidates for arriving to interviews with iced lattes in hand. Drawing on her 16 years of experience placing candidates at Fortune 500 companies, she warned job seekers against the casual habit.
“When you show up with an iced coffee or an iced latte, it is perceived — from my opinion and a hiring standpoint—that this interview is just a stop on your list of errands for the day,” she alleged in the viral clip. “It looks like you went to Target, went to Starbucks, and now you’re stopping by your interview before moving on to the next thing.” – NY Post
Here’s my advice to job applicants that carry a latte into a job interview: Immediately reach across the desk with it. “I brought you a latte!” If the recruiter doesn’t gracefully accept it with a sincere thank-you, you know all you need about that company! (Don’t miss my possibly earth-shattering suggestion a the end of this Q&A.)
Yes, this story is the latest career click-bait on the internet and tempers about it are running high.
Where’s the interview question in a latte?
But the latte is not outrageous. The real story is that a personnel jockey on TikTok is making a very costly judgment about a job candidate (who might be highly skilled and potentially outstanding). The most salient point here is that there’s zero information in that latte about the value of the candidate. Nothing in that article about people’s reactions or in the recruiter’s TikTok video reveals any focus on judging the candidate’s ability to do the job.
The entire TikTok video is about rejecting candidates for a latte.
A latte.
Would-be fatal interview gaffes
Imagine if these people showed up for job interviews clutching a latte — or like this:
Steve Jobs conducted business meetings in bare feet while emanating sickening body odors because he didn’t wash or wear deodorant.
The legendary mega-tycoon Howard Hughes never clipped his fingernails or washed his hair.
The billionaire founder of IKEA attended high-level corporate meetings dressed in second-hand, worn-out, stained and ill-fitting clothing.
I’ll bet the people those three worked with would wish each of them just walked around with a cold latte dripping condensation on the carpet. I’ll bet if any of them showed up for a job interview you never would have heard of them.
The first cut is the deepest
The job of that TikTok creator — she’s a recruiter — is first and foremost to make sure the employer she works for doesn’t miss any of the best candidates. Any good headhunter will tell you one of our greatest fears is relying on the wrong criteria and cutting a good candidate from consideration at the beginning of the selection process. A good headhunter doesn’t want to lose the best candidates.
So why is this recruiter rejecting potentially excellent candidates before the employer has a chance to judge them on criteria that matter the most? Whether those candidates walk around with a cold drink is not a factor that matters at all.
So we’re left with a stark example of a corporate recruiter displaying behavior that materially affects whether she can find the best hires for her employer. She does not disclose her real name in her videos, but I expect the employers she has worked for will recognize her. Will they estimate what her opinion of a $5 latte may have cost them in the long run?
Why harp on the meaning of a latte?
Why harp on something that might appear so silly?
This story is just one reflection of a massive problem in the American employment system: the pre-filtering of all candidates by personnel jockeys (or by algorithms or A.I. or keyword sieves) before actual hiring managers get to judge those candidates.
Yet this is how all recruiting today is done!
Every time @caitlinrecruiter discards a candidate before assessing ability to do the job, her client or employer loses. And if we look at the comments of other recruiters that agree with her assessment of the meaning of a latte, we can see one very dangerous, hidden problem with prevalent hiring practices: the wrong people are making the first cut of candidates in an ever-more competitive hiring market.
Who is rejecting candidates and based on what?
This column is supposed to be advice primarily for job seekers. I think you see what you need to do when personnel jockeys are in apparent control of your job future because they — not an engineer, not a finance manager, not a scientist — judge your worth as an engineer, as a finance professional or as a scientist. You will have to make a choice about who you will let decide whether you make the first cut for a job.
As for employers, my advice is, if you let anyone — other than the manager with expertise in the job they’re trying to fill — make the first cut of candidates you’re hoping to hire, you will lose the race to hire the best.
To Incensed in HR: If you disrespect the applicant just because they’re carrying a coffee, we know all we need about you! And, if a candidate hands you a latte at the beginning of a job interview, make sure you know what to do with it. You do know what to do with it, right?
Finally, here’s my attempt to call nationwide attention to stupid “rules” about how personnel jockeys make the first cut of job candidates: I encourage every job applicant to show up at their next job interview with a cold latte in hand — and hand it, with a smile, to the recruiter before your interview begins!
What is there in a latte? Just how perverted has candidate screening and selection become? What are the foremost criteria candidates should be judged on when recruiters and employers make the all-important first cut? Who should be allowed to make the first cut to the candidate list — recruiters, managers, or experts in the work?
: :
Don’t bring me a latte, please. I don’t want to have to spend a few extra minutes assessing whether the candidate is a con artist or games player.
OTOH, as was said, everything depends on the position for which we’re hiring.
Especially since we’re supposed to be making a break from the previous long running Command and Control culture.
As a hiring manager, my only response to a candidate who arrives with a coffee or latte that appears full is to not ask them if they would like a cup of coffee or a water right away.
Why do Recruiters puff their chest with entitlement and privilege to judge based on “Appearance” then assess with Prejudicial Bias who is a ‘Good fit’?
Who gave this Recruiter the illusion of power to control the human essence of a qualified candidate?
Do your job with human respect and dignity, Recruiter . That’s your only job. With your Perception of Value based on a latte clearly spells High School Hallway mentality. Someday you will learn a lesson
Wow…I’m a retired Sales and Marketing Exec. This story reminded me when an HR Director brought me a sales candidate. I was looking for a person with experience selling oil and gas equipment. When reviewing the candidates resume and qualifications the only sales experience this person had was being a shoe sales person (not relevant today). When I asked about the qualifications she told me that this was a great candidate because they fit in the compensation band. All I could think about was you get what you pay for. No I didn’t interview the candidate much to the dismay of the HR Director.
LOL! I work in the oil industry. Assume that would make me great at selling shoes!
This incident is rife with issues for which a philosophical perspective might help. For example, I’m pretty sure if the applicant showed up with a water bottle rather than a latte, no one would object. But why ? What’s the difference ? I’m not necessarily saying there is no difference, but which ever side you fall on, can you clearly articulate your reasoning ?
Or suppose they were wearing a swastica pin, or a racist slogan – would rejecting them out of hand regardless of ability to do the job be OK ? Why or why not ?
Nick’s and his supporters’ position seems to be that, at least today, there are no things that “are just not done”. Do you really believe that ?
What about context ? Is it one thing to walk in with a latte to a software development interview, but quite another to do it for a CFO interview ? How about wearing formal business attire to the interview ? Is that never relevant vs whether you can do the job ? If the job requires dressing that way and you show up seemingly unaware of or unconcerned with that, why isn’t that grounds for polite dismissal ?
IMO these thought experiments and countless more I could make show that it is much more nuanced than simply “can you do the job ?”. Isn’t one’s awareness of and respect for social norms and expectations, especially as they relate to the specific job, an essential element of being able to do the job ? I’m not convinced that doing things that flaunt these, deliberately or out of naivete, do not justify rejecting out of hand, Jobs et al notwithstanding. For every Jobs there are ten million regular applicants; are we to be guided by principles for the one-in-ten-million, or the ten million ?
In sum, all I’m trying to say is that I think the question is far more nuanced and fraught than the discussion, including the TikTokker who started it, is allowing for.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
Is this real? Does the recruiter live in Utah where coffee drinking is not a social norm? The hiring process is a disaster. Hundreds of applications, screened by people (or software) who don’t understand the job. I tell friends who are looking for jobs or who may be shortly that they need to invest time in networking now.
This is hardly a new story. I remember all the job hunting advice before I graduated college in 1991. Apparently, if one’s tie was too bright that meant you weren’t hireable. The rules for women’s clothes were even more severe. I also remember that if the interview process included a restaurant meal, salting your mashed potatoes before taking a bite made you unhirable.
What this HR drone is screening for is a compliant bland drone who won’t rock the boat. That’s the only thing these culture tests are good for.
I work in a professional white collar office. An extremely large fraction of my colleagues walk in with some sort of coffee. Is this unprofessional? Why should I care if an applicant does it?
Almost everyone under 35 won’t take 3 steps without their water bottle. Is that a disqualification too, or is it just lattes? Is black coffee OK?
This nonsense has been going on a long time. Nothing new here, and a lot of small minded folks still like making judgements based on inconsequential personal behaviors.
Some people just like to feel powerful and want to ensure that anyone hired is “less” than them. Apparently being in HR is a good taste of that power. It’s safer to refuse a candidate than to hire one. *shrug*
@ Mike L: what is acceptable behavior once you’ve been accepted by the tribe may be and usually is quite different from what is acceptable when you are seeking admittance. We all know this from day to day life, whether you’re talking work, family, friends or in general, relationships.
I am in no way trying to defend personnel jockeys – but still say this is more nuanced than power trips and incompetence.
I’m just going to file the latte story over here under T for “Things That Didn’t Happen.”
As for personnel jockeys making judgments about candidates, I no longer recommend candidates to the company that I work for. The last time I did, I learned that HR was not presenting all qualified candidates to the hiring manager. She later implied that she screened her out for reasons that were family-related, probably illegally. She was returning to work after time off, and had two toddlers. This was for a 40 hour per week desk job with no travel requirement. And her bachelors degree in business gave her potential to grow within the company. Since then, the job has turned over three times. So never mind the lattes, when we still have people getting screened out for the very reason they want the job in the first place – to support their families.
Never occurred to companies to offer child care compensation as a benefit. Losing a lot of good employees. Why doesn’t upper management see a pattern here?
Yes, interviewers need to evaluate candidates with an open mind based on their ability to do the job and fit in with the team. Still, impressions count, and someone who breezily shows up with a latte could be akin to someone opening up a candy bar and eating it during the interview. It’s generally understood that coffee or water will be offered. That doesn’t reflect on job-worthiness or team fit, but it’s a small initial avoidable turn-off.
I have a friend who helps restaurants start up, and part of that is hiring servers. If candidates, even young ones, show up in dirty and torn clothing, or are seen slouching and grumpy looking while they wait, both of these things are “fair game” potential red flags, for a role where appearance and attitude count.
@Dave: I can see how a candidate for a waiter job who shows up disheveled or grumpy might indicate that’s how they’d show up for work. But should we be worried that a candidate who shows up with coffee in hand might carry around a cup of coffee on the job?
I’ll repeat my overriding concern: Allowing someone who is not the manager or another expert in the job to make the first cut (of who will continue thru the hiring process) is a fool’s errand. It’s how an employer risks losing excellent candidates. The incident with the latte is just a striking revelation of that far bigger problem with candidate selection.
You gotta admit, though.
What’s next ?
A doughnut ?
A piece of pizza ?
Sucking on a Tootsie Roll Pop like Kojak ?
Biting your fingernails ?
Or worse, bringing your poodle or cat presumptively to the interview ?
I mean, the cap on the decorum genie bottle is now off so how far will the smoke dissipate because once it’s outta the bottle, there t’ain’t no goin’ back …
And here’s the penultimate question(s) :
You couldn’t wait 1 more hour for latte ?
Needed it right then n there ?
So, if you crave latte in Church, yer gonna slurp it in The Pew throughout The Homily ?
Common human sense and decency dictates here.
Unspoken unwritten “rules”.
There’s just some things you don’t do, especially things that possibly poke the sleeping bear …
Agreed with SR on every point.
Try riding the public transit, where some young riders think it’s okay to vape or smoke out in the open.
I’m not really into coffee—I’ve disliked the taste since I was a teenager. If I’m dressed appropriately for an interview, I don’t see much reason to bring a cup of coffee or one. It’s easy to spill or jostle the cup when you’re nervous, and, more importantly, it’s not the interviewer’s job to clean up after me. I usually stick with bottled water, but I don’t typically bring it in because interviewers often pay close attention to how you handle liquids—they take it seriously.
The recruiter’s concern isn’t about the latte itself but about a candidate approaching her in her office, which is a different setting than in public, as SR pointed out above.
Next it will be bring mom and dad to the interview. As for sucking a latte in church, some times I have to to get through a very boring sermon.
@Nick: The topic has staying power for sure, and https://www.askamanager.org/2026/09/is-it-ok-to-bring-an-iced-coffee-to-an-interview.html is one of several articles I’ve since seen on it. Comments in them are heavily skewed against the coffee-toter mindset. What it comes down to are two equally-valid points:
1) Bringing coffee to an interview, “not dressing right,” etc., etc. are myriad reasons why managers, companies, **HR IN PARTICULAR**, turn down difference-making pros from whose hiring they’d benefit
2) BUT, from a candidate perspective, for the most part, interview candidates want/need a job. And by not neutralizing/negating those irrelevant knockout factors, they’re basically DOA before they even sit down.
So interviewers on the hiring team can help themselves by looking past these “transgressions,” and candidates on an interview can help themselves by very much keeping these concerns in mind as part of their basic interview prep. It’s a lot easier to skip coffee and dress neutrally, than it is to properly prepare for the substance of an interview, after all.
This made me think about this topic from the perspective of the sought after, highly desirable candidate with options. Would this type of candidate want to work for an organization that would view something so ridiculous as bringing in an iced coffee as a disqualifier? What does that say about the company’s selection process? What kind of candidates get jobs there? Is this a form over function organization? Would this type of candidate want to work there?
If I drank coffee, I am wondering if bringing in a cup of iced coffee might be a good idea. I guess I can always get a cup from Starbucks.
@Just Me: I think those are all the right questions! And if an employer or recruiter disagrees with that, consider what they’re really assuming: This is not a highly desirable candidate. And if that’s their assumption, they have only themselves to blame for bringing in a candidate that’s not so hot.
It all starts and ends with the employer: Are they bringing in the right candidates to begin with? I honestly think most employers don’t even know what I’m talking about.
@Dave: All good points! But HR likes to claim, “We want people that think out of the box!” Yet HR programs candidates to all stand in line the same way.
My point: HR should teach managers and recruiters the old saw, “Don’t you DARE judge a book by its cover!”
I’ve written about this elsewhere. As a newly minted high-income headhunter I walked into Palo Alto Porsche dealership with money burning a hole in my pocket. I was wearing old shorts, worn sneakers and a slightly torn t-shirt. A well-coiffed sales woman walked over and told me I’d probably find what I was looking for at some other car dealer. She was right. And I told that story so many times that I figure I cost that dealership dozens of sales.
I wonder how many excellent candidates the latte recruiter has cost her company?
“When you show up with an iced coffee or an iced latte, it is perceived — from my opinion and a hiring standpoint—that this interview is just a stop on your list of errands for the day,” – well, that would in any case likely shine through in the attitude during the interview, so there is ample time to judge.
Some commenters have made relevant points that attitude counts. I would hesitate to hire a bare-foot, stinking, unwashed candidate. It is about respect for the colleagues, and the eccentrics mentioned in the intro clearly showed lack of respect for their subordinates. (Probably why they could do it; they had the power).
On the other hand, we all know the cliches about how data nerds look, so there is a balance.
The IT manager at our company is a classic nerd; introvert, thick glasses, in his own words not good with social skills, his office a mess, including Coke bottles and crisp bags – but he is brilliant and super-structured at his work, surely the highest IQ in the company. And he does wash and shave, and wear socks.
@Karsten: Your comments beg the question, if a candidate walked in and the manager was holding a latte, would the candidate be offended or walk out?
You can actually do both things in the same interview. Ignore the latte, conduct the interview as you normally would. Can the candidate show you they can do the job and make money for the company? This is Ask the Headhunter 101. As you are wrapping up, ask “So tell me – why did you bring the latte to the interview?” The answer could be anything from “I was thirsty” to “Career Builder told me to.” You will then have the opportunity to tell the candidate that you were surprised/offended/shocked they did. Or that you didn’t care, but another recruiter might dismiss you out of hand (see above) for doing so. If the candidate was younger and unaware, you might be doing them a very big favor by making them aware of something that hadn’t crossed their mind. We could all use a little career advice now and then.
Great answer Larry, you expanded on Nick’s point with a practical advice and compassion for the younger candidates. The question about the latte could also be made in a pinch during a lull in the interview or as an ice breaker, that’s how I’d probably do it myself if I was the one interviewing.