To avoid getting iced out by hiring managers, you might want to leave your iced coffee at home.
In a viral TikTok video, recruiter Caitlin Wehniainen discussed Gen Z candidates arriving at interviews with iced coffees and lattes. She thinks this comes across too casually, as though the interview is "a stop on your list of errands for the day."
The video prompted plenty of reactions. Some questioned why an iced coffee should factor into a hiring decision at all.
"I wanna vomit watching this take and seeing this kind of stuff," one TikToker said. "This is why I left the corporate world three and a half years ago and have never looked back."
Others said the debate plays into perceptions of Gen Z as entitled, arguing that younger workers may disagree with corporate America's unspoken rules but still have to navigate them. One TikToker said that candidates who believe things unrelated to job performance shouldn't matter should try showing up to an interview with a plate of chicken wings.
"If you want the job, you do have to kind of play the game," another TikToker said.
The debate highlights the reality of today's tough job market. Slower hiring has allowed many employers to be more selective as they sift through candidates. For struggling job seekers who often don't know why they were rejected, every little choice can feel consequential.
Maybe an iced coffee didn't cost someone a job, but it's easy to wonder whether some other small misstep did.
An ice-cold hiring market
The job market has been as frozen as a Zoomer job candidate's ill-advised latte. Both hiring and firing have been low for the last couple of years. There are 1.1 job openings per unemployed person, up slightly in recent months, but well below the 2022 peak of 2.0.
That ratio doesn't include people who have given up looking for work. Labor force participation has tumbled from the November 2025 rate of 62.5%, partly due to an aging population.
Hiring has been comparable to the slow recovery from the 2008 financial crisis in the early 2010s. Workers' confidence is low, as suggested by the measly quits rate compared to the Great Resignation a few years ago.
While employers have their pick of talent, job seekers have told Business Insider that looking for work can be exhausting and a full-time job of its own. Some have moved on to self-employment; others are upskilling and trying strategies that may or may not give them an edge.
Thomas Heep, a Denver job seeker in his 60s, has been looking for full-time work since he was laid off from his operations manager role last year. In the meantime, he's working part time delivering prescriptions and collecting Social Security early to help make ends meet. He thinks the job-search system is "broken."
"Companies are looking for people who fully match every skill they list and don't need any training," he said. "That's just not going to happen."
Kymberly McClain struggled to find work for nearly two years after leaving her nonprofit job in 2024. As the rejections piled up, she wondered whether her race, age, lack of a college education, or something else was holding her back.
"I started questioning everything," said McClain, who's in her 40s and lives in Las Vegas.
The low-fire, low-hire job market amid decent economic growth doesn't indicate a recession. Persistent low unemployment and layoffs have been two bright spots, but some white-collar sectors have been losing jobs.
What iced coffee tells us about the job hunt in 2026
Hiring experts had a long menu of opinions on the Great Iced Coffee debate, ranging from viewing it as a non-issue to warning that the condensation from their takeout cup could be a devastating interview distraction.
"If a hiring manager told me the reason they were declining someone was due to them bringing an iced coffee to the interview, I would simply need to coach them through this silliness," Bonnie Dilber, recruiting leader at Zapier, said on LinkedIn.
Wehniainen followed up her viral video with a LinkedIn post, writing that job candidates and employers are convinced that they don't understand each other. "Nobody is actually arguing about coffee," she wrote. "Candidates hear: 'Be perfect. Don't be human.' Employers hear: 'Be prepared. Take this seriously.'"
She added that she wasn't saying bringing coffee to an interview automatically means someone is a bad job candidate. "Part of my job is helping job seekers understand how something may be perceived in certain environments," she said.
Career coach Courtney Hartman said in a LinkedIn post that she doesn't have an issue with someone showing up with iced coffee and doesn't think it takes away from being "the best version of your professional self." However, she still thinks it's best not to bring one.
"Just really picture the scenario: You get to a job interview, coffee in hand, and you're asked for your resume," Hartman said. "Now you're scrambling to find somewhere to put your coffee so you can put your bag down and take it out."
She goes on to talk about what happens when you eventually put the wet cup on the desk. "Are you leaving a puddle on their desk that they're thinking about while you're trying to look your most professional self?" Hartman said.
With competition for roles fierce, some job seekers on TikTok had a message for their rivals: Bring the iced coffee, even if it could sabotage your chances.
"Let them bring it. Let them not get hired," one millennial TikToker said. "Because we need the jobs too."
Let us know your thoughts on the iced coffee debate in the comments.
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Jacob Zinkula is a senior economy reporter with Business Insider. He joined in 2022 and covers the job market, the tech industry, and careers.Before joining Business Insider, Jacob earned a Master’s in Business & Economic Reporting from Columbia University. Prior to graduate school, he worked as a credit analyst. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a bachelor’s degree in Finance and a minor in Journalism.
Madison Hoff is a reporter on Business Insider’s economy team. She covers the labor market, inflation, spending, and other data. In addition to covering new estimates and trends, her workforce reporting includes career pivots, job searching, and side hustles.She also covers downsizing, particularly people selling their houses to pursue RV living. She has also reported on how much teachers spend out of pocket and what it’s like being a caregiver.Her stories often cover the state of the economy, what experts are saying, and how people are navigating the workplace or their careers.Previously, she was a junior reporter and data editorial fellow on the Strategy team.
