A corporate recruiter with 16 years of Fortune 500 hiring went viral for telling TikTok that walking into an interview holding an iced coffee looks "a little too casual." Naturally, the internet spent a week arguing about it.
Here's the thing: the iced coffee isn't the problem, but judging a hire by it is.
The iced coffee isn't the problem
Most founders run some version of this test. A shaky intro, a messy background, a resume that doesn't "look like" the role, and the decision is made in five minutes.
It feels like instinct. The research says otherwise. A 2022 meta-analysis in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that structured interviews, with the same questions scored against the same criteria, predict job performance more than twice as well as go-with-your-gut ones.
So when we vet candidates, we don't ask how they came across. We ask one question: can they do the job? Here's how we find out.
1. We test real skills
Talking about the work and doing the work are different skills. So candidates do a slice of the actual job:
Developers take an assessment built around the work they'd ship, not brain teasers.
EAs get the job in miniature: an inbox to triage, a calendar to untangle, a follow-up to write.
Operators get a real process problem to work through.
Salespeople do a role-play: a live pitch, objection handling, the call they'd make on day one.
One South African SDR we placed at a US software company said the role-play is what stood out: "Sales is something that anyone can kind of talk about, especially if you are a good salesperson. But then doing an actual example of pitching was really great for me."
He's been on that team since spring, runs 130 to 160 dials a day and booked about 20 meetings last month. "I'm part of the furniture now," he told us.
2. We ask about the job, not the vibe
Every candidate gets the same questions, scored the same way. And the questions point at the work:
Instead of "Tell me about yourself," ask "Walk me through the last project you owned, step by step."
Instead of "What's your biggest weakness?" ask "Tell me about a deadline that slipped. What did you do next?"
Score each answer before you compare notes with anyone.
The interview rewards the performer. The job rewards the operator.
3. Yes, presentation still counts
We're not anti-polish. We ask every candidate to show up well presented, with a clean background and a setup that works, whether they're in Cape Town, Belgrade or Bogotá.
That's the minimum bar. It tells you they take the meeting seriously. It doesn't tell you they can do the job.
Before your next interview
Write down what this person must be able to do in their first 90 days.
Build one task that tests it.
Ask every candidate the same questions, and score them before you talk it over.
Let the internet argue about the coffee. You've got a seat to fill.
If this sounds like your situation, reply to this email or book a free call below.
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Until next time,
The Go Carpathian Team
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