As college students, we all know that interviews are so stressful. Whether you are interviewing for a job, internship, or even to join a club on campus, it can be so nerve-wracking to deal with the pressure of making sure that you are putting your best foot forward, and showing the interviewer why you are the best person for the role. Personally, in interviews, I stress so much about every word I say, how professional my appearance seems, and my demeanor, that the whole experience feels so overwhelming (but the post-interview relief is always the best feeling ever).Â
Interviews can feel so tricky, because at the end of the day, you never really know what a recruiter is going to be looking for, or what aspect of you they are really gauging for the job. It can sometimes feel like you’re taking a test but not being told any of the actual questions or the guidelines, you just have to go in and try as best as you can to impress them. And even though you hope that you are just being evaluated based on your resume and responses to the questions, the interviewer might have other ways of evaluating you that you could be completely unaware of. A classic example of this kind of tactic is the coffee cup test.Â
Essentially, the coffee cup test is something interviewers might do while they are evaluating a new candidate to get to know a different side of them beyond their professional experience. The way the test is completed is that the interviewer will offer the candidate a drink for the interview, and (assuming that they take it) will evaluate them based on how they handle the empty cup after the interview is over. Will they offer to clean it up, or ask where they can put it? Or will they simply just leave the empty cup on the desk when they leave? This kind of test can go completely unnoticed by the candidate for the role, but if the recruiter is employing this kind of tactic, they will still be watching you like a hawk, even when you think the interview is over. Â
The creator of this test, Trent Innes, former managing director of Xero Australia, said on the Venture Podcast with Lambros Photios in 2019 that he was looking for candidates to take their cup back to the kitchen where it came from, and that this test really helped him to determine the attitude of the candidate, something that their resume and experience would not as easily reveal. When candidates take their cup or offer to clean it, they are showing the recruiter they are considerate and that they have a team-player attitude, or that no task is too small for them or “beneath” them. Not offering to do anything with the cup could come off as rude or unbothered. The test itself is pretty simple, but for the hirers who believe in it and practice it, it reveals important aspects of the candidate that they will be evaluated on.Â
Although Innes publicly talked about the tactic in 2019, it has recently become viral again on the internet, with videos popping up featuring candidates who have faced the coffee cup test in recent interviews. Creator @chelsea.pixels recently went viral for a video saying, “When you thought your job went well but then realize you failed the coffee cup test.” This video sparked a renewed conversation about what the tactic is, and the video’s comment section is filled with people who also claim to have also experienced this kind of test in job interviews before.Â
As the tactic once again becomes a popular conversation on the internet, the actual practice of it during interviews has become a bit controversial. Victoria Gates, part of the interview coaching page @expertinterviewers on TikTok, has strongly criticized the technique, calling it a weird mind game. “What interviewers need to understand is attitudes and actions are best evaluated with actual job-related experience and not made up social experiments,” she said. “Candidates have choices and if you find out that you didn’t get a job because of this weird social experiment you’re probably better off.”Â
Ultimately, interviews are tricky, whether or not the coffee cup test is going to be used on you. At the end of the day, all you can do is be confident in yourself and be a good person, and hope the interviewer will see you for the amazing candidate you are.