Apparently, having an iced coffee accompany you to a job interview is perceived as unprofessional. I can’t believe that the internet’s discourse has stooped to the level of using iced beverages as a means of measuring a person’s seriousness about wanting a position, but here we are.
Whether you walk into an interview with an iced coffee or not doesn’t matter. What actually matters is the perception around it. When recruiter Caitlin Wehnianen brought her opinion to the internet, positioned as advice for job seekers, she made her stance clear. According to Wehnianen, “It is perceived, when you show up with an iced coffee or an iced latte, that this interview is just a stop on your list of errands for the day.” She also says, “It looks like you went to Target, then you went to Starbucks now you’re stopping by your interview, then you’re on to the next thing. It looks a little too casual.”
But perception and professionalism are two heavily objective concepts. Perception, for one, is dually rooted in personal opinion and belief. Professionalism, on the other hand, is a tactic that often remains anything but constant, especially as it pertains to ethnicity and even age. Maybe I’m reaching, but I believe that Wehnianen’s comment was never about the simplicity of helpful advice. Whether she sees it or not, it is partially about othering Gen Z. The other part seems to further paint the disparity in job opportunities that young job seekers are experiencing as more about how they show up and less about the reality of the job market.
So, where are the jobs?
The labor market isn’t nonexistent, but the pressure young workers are experiencing is real. In July, the U.S. had 7.3 million job openings, while 16-to-24-year-olds faced a 9.1% unemployment rate. And while August brought 162,000 new nonfarm jobs, the unemployment rate remained at 4.1%. Furthermore, over 600,000 Black women have been forced out of the job market since January 2025.
That context matters. Because when recent college graduates are navigating a difficult transition into the workforce due to job scarcity, is an iced coffee really the conversation we want to have?
Some people are arguing that the basis of the iced coffee debate is about reading the room, first impressions, and the skill of assimilation into a specific work environment. So let’s read the room. What is professionalism and who’s setting the standards? Both the state of professionalism and workplace standards are greatly influenced by human relations departments. The HR industry as a whole is overwhelmingly saturated by white women (biz women). With white women making up around 65% of HR representation, it is within reason to acknowledge white women as the gatekeepers of most job opportunities. That in itself warrants apprehension around hiring practices and precarious conditions of perception.
This iced coffee debate is just another opportunity to ask whether we’re scrutinizing the small behaviors of job seekers because they’re actually consequential, or because they’re easier to talk about than the larger conditions shaping who gets hired.
Today it’s an iced coffee, tomorrow it’s our hair. It’s all connected.
Maybe the better question isn’t whether someone brought Starbucks into an interview. Maybe it’s why we’re so comfortable treating the smallest signs of personality as evidence of someone’s ability to work, while the larger realities of the labor market barely make the conversation.