On the way to an interview, you arrive a bit early and purchase an iced Americano. If you haven't finished it when interview time arrives, do you carry it inside with you? Or do you finish drinking it outside before entering? A seemingly trivial question recently ignited an unexpected debate: Is it acceptable to bring coffee into a job interview?

01. A Debate Sparked by a Cup of Coffee

The debate began with KATELYN Wehniainen, a corporate recruiter in the United States. Having worked in talent acquisition for 16 years, she shared a video on TikTok with the following message:
Her point was that it can give the impression that a crucial interview is merely one routine chore among others—buying coffee, attending the interview, and heading off to the next stop.
As the video went viral, pushback followed swiftly. Multiple media outlets covered the dispute. "What does coffee have to do with job performance?" "If you bought coffee and still arrived on time, isn't that actually proof of good time management?"

Recruiting expert Steve Levy posed the question in Business Insider:
Looking at the exact same cup of coffee, one side sees a candidate taking an interview too lightly, while the other sees unnecessary scrutiny over conduct irrelevant to job performance. Why are these perspectives so different?

02. We Do Not Evaluate Candidates on Ability Alone

A job interview is ostensibly an occasion to verify a candidate's qualifications. In practice, however, recruiters look at far more than just hard skills. Tone of voice, attire, facial expressions, posture, punctuality, and even how candidates maintain eye contact are scrutinized in a brief window to gauge traits like diligence, responsibility, and workplace attitude. Interviewers infer qualities that cannot be measured directly through observable behaviors.
Evaluation does not only occur when answering questions. One U.S. hiring specialist noted that while they do not judge candidates based on the drink they hold, they carefully observe how candidates greet reception staff and how they wait in the lobby. Manners and behavior remain an integral part of evaluating a prospective employee.

An iced Americano can function as one of these "nonverbal signals." While a coffee drink does not reflect work capability, an interviewer may interpret it as a sign of how seriously the applicant regards the opportunity. The crux of this debate lies in how different people derive entirely different signals from the very same behavior.

03. The Unwritten Rules Candidates Are Expected to Follow

The Financial Times expanded on the controversy, framing it as an issue of the "petty, unwritten rules of professionalism" in the workplace. While not codified in formal company policies, certain behaviors are widely assumed to be standard etiquette. Job interviews have long been governed by such norms. In the past, covering tattoos, avoiding bold hair colors, withholding salary questions until an offer was made, and sending post-interview thank-you notes were standard advice.

Today, appearance standards have shifted across many industries, and inquiring about compensation and working conditions early in the process is viewed far differently than before. With video interviews now commonplace, entirely new interview etiquette has emerged—such as whether cameras must remain on and how meticulously home backgrounds should be arranged. Standards of "professional conduct" evolve across eras, industries, organizations, and cultures, and coffee has now found itself right on that boundary.

The Financial Times also cited researchers noting that these unwritten rules are not equally familiar to everyone. For some applicants, these norms represent an entirely unfamiliar playbook.

04. Would It Be Any Different in South Korea?

If bringing an iced coffee to an interview sparks controversy even in the United States, how would it be perceived in South Korea?
The issue is not whether carrying coffee is inherently wrong. Even if there is no explicit evaluation criterion regarding bringing beverages, candidates inevitably calculate the risk that an interviewer might take it negatively.

Job announcements in South Korea, particularly among public institutions, explicitly list attitude, demeanor, diligence, and communication skills alongside technical competence as evaluation criteria. These factors cannot be quantified like test scores. In a brief encounter, interviewers assess a candidate's character through observable cues—how they speak, how they sit, and how they respond to questions.

The dynamic underlying the U.S. "coffee debate" is entirely familiar in Korean hiring environments. Pinpointing exactly what behavior creates a favorable impression, or where necessary decorum ends and excessive formality begins, remains a difficult line to draw.

05. Good at Interviews vs. Good at the Job

Those well-versed in unwritten rules with extensive interview experience naturally appear more polished in an interview. Does that necessarily mean they will make better employees?
The objective of an interview is not to hire someone who excels at being interviewed, but to find someone capable of doing the job well. Discerning between familiarity with unspoken rules and actual competence on the job constitutes the enduring challenge of the hiring process.

06. It's Not Really About the Coffee

As the debate intensified, KATELYN Wehniainen clarified her perspective:
Faced with the same advice, applicants and employers hear entirely different messages. One side feels that unnecessary formalities are being imposed, while the other views it as a basic question of preparation and attitude. Both are reading different meanings into the same act.

Workplace formalities continue to evolve with remote work, video conferences, and casual dress codes. Yet in job interviews—where candidates are being judged for the first time—minor details are still imbued with outsized significance.

What started with the question "Can I bring coffee to an interview?" ultimately leaves us with a deeper inquiry: Why do we search for people who will perform well on the job, yet often end up hiring those who perform well in interviews? And of the impression a candidate presents, how much is authentic, and how much is simply practiced for the interview room?


Deep Dive Q&A
Q1. What are the psychological and behavioral reasons U.S. hiring expert KATELYN Wehniainen took issue with candidates bringing iced coffee into interviews?

A1. Walking in casually with coffee in hand creates the impression that the candidate treats a formal and critical occasion as just another casual "errand stop" in their daily schedule. Because interviewers cannot directly measure diligence or passion for the role, they rely on such nonverbal cues to indirectly assess attitude and earnestness.

Q2. Why is bringing coffee to an interview even less acceptable in South Korea's hiring culture than in the United States?

A2. Korean society and corporate culture place strong emphasis on etiquette, neat attire, and decorum in formal settings. Evaluation criteria at domestic public institutions and corporations directly and indirectly include attitude, posture, and diligence alongside job qualifications. Consequently, carrying coffee into an interview carries a higher likelihood of triggering negative perceptions among interviewers, such as a lack of preparation or disrespectful behavior.