Manager Wonders Why 90% of Gen Z Job Interviewees Show Up to Interviews in a T-Shirt And Hoodie: 'Are my Expectations for Interviews too High?'

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Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor
Aug 8, 2026 8:00 AM EDT

Is Gen Z being unprofessional by dressing the way they'd dress at the job for the job interview? 

Job interviews are a tough nut to crack. As the interviewee, it feels like the interviewer has all the power, and you have to read their cues and predict what they want to have a shot at the job. You feel like you have to answer every single question, no matter how silly or pointless. "Are you a morning or a night person?" obviously has a right and a wrong answer when you're interviewing for a job that starts at 8 AM. "What is your biggest weakness?" has so many wrong answers, including but not limited to, "I work too hard." When you're in an interviewing stage of life, you have your four STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) stories rolling around in your head, and you have to be incredibly strategic about which answers you give to which behavioral questions.

Some questions in job interviews are actually a trap. They don't want to hire someone who has goals and ambitions beyond working for their company. They don't want to hire people who have hobbies that enrich their lives. They want someone whose only life goal is to work as hard as possible and make their company a lot of money, without caring whether they're making any money themselves. There's a reason companies ask prospective employees about their salary expectations rather than stating the salary range outright. They're trying to manipulate them into thinking they can't ask for more. 

Some job interviewers don't have the highest expectations in the world. They just want an employee who is smart enough to wear a nice outfit, be polite, and ask smart questions at the interview. Unfortunately, that's not always what young professionals do during their first meeting with a prospective employer, and it's costing them the job. 

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  • A job interviewee wears a t-shirt during his interview.
    via charlesdeluvio

    A job interviewee wears a t-shirt during his interview.

    The people in this photo are not the real people in this story. 

  • Are my expectations for interviews too high?

    I'm a young manager in a white collar tech role. My team has been on a bit of a hiring spree as we continue to grow and I've held numerous virtual interviews the past couple of months.
    via u/Oneok-Field
  • Just about all of these interviews I've been less than impressed with that applicant's professionalism and I'm starting to wonder if it's me that's the issue.
    via u/Oneok-Field
  • 1. Maybe 90%+ of applicants don't dress up for the interview. My expectation isnt that high, maybe just a button down shirt or polo. But typically
    via u/Oneok-Field
  • it's just a tshirt or a hoodie they have on. It's very odd for me to be on any professional video call with someone wearing such casual attire, let alone when it's for a first impression.
    via u/Oneok-Field
  • 2. Maybe 30% of the time the applicants have technical issues (microphone or camera). I know tech issues happen but I feel like they should be figuring that out before the call. "Oh my camera isn't
    via u/Oneok-Field
  • working". Or having to spend the first 5 minutes figuring out how to get their mic to work. 3. A lack of gratitude. I don't need nor want them to kiss a . But for the last role I hired, only ONE
    via u/Oneok-Field
  • person said just a simple "thank you for your time". And guess who got the job? Note, i'm offering them my gratitude myself. I always close out the call acknowledging their busy
    via u/Oneok-Field
  • schedules and thanking them for joining us today, and instead of hearing that gratitude returned it's just "yeah, of course"
    via u/Oneok-Field
  • Am I just in an old school mindset? Should I lower my expectations on professionalism? Most of these individuals are young millennials or Gen Z. I'd love to blame cultural age differences but thats the age group I myself am in. And I've
    via u/Oneok-Field
  • never joined an interview without ensuring I'm appropriately dressed, that I've double checked my technology is working, and making sure I thank them for their time. H..I | do those things for any professional call, not just an interview.
    via u/Oneok-Field
  • A recruiter wears a nice suit during a professional call that isn't a job interview.
    via LinkedIn Sales Solutions

    A recruiter wears a nice suit during a professional call that isn't a job interview. 

    Represented by a model.

  • NeedleworkerEvening3 I don't think any of the things you're asking are unreasonable. First impressions go a long way and you can't make a second first impression.
    via u/NeedleworkerEvening3
  • NoMarketing9141 I interviewed a few people for a small team last year, and I noticed the same thing. The ones who tested their setup, looked presentable, and ended with a simple "thanks for your time" always left the strongest impression.
    via u/NoMarketing9141
  • LadyMRedd 1 - it's wild to me that some people are saying that you should wear to an interview what you'd wear if you worked there. That's absolutely not the case. You dress up for interviews. It's like you may wear a shirt and jeans to hang out with your friends, but if you're going to their wedding, you dress up. Because certain occasions call for additional effort. While a tshirt may not be an immediate rejection, it would make me question how serious they were about the interview.
    via u/LadyMRedd
  • 2 - this one I'd have grace on. Day to day or even minute to minute stuff can go wonky. Even if you tested the night before, if the provider pushes an update overnight it may change. (I've had that happen.) I had a work teams call a month ago that everything had worked perfectly call after call after call. Then I have a meeting with our GM and he asked me a question directly and THAT was when my mic decided to break up. I was like are you kidding me.
    via u/LadyMRedd
  • 3 - I completely understand what you're saying. To me this wouldn't be a red flag itself, but would be a data point in overall how the candidate interacted with me. I see interviews as being much more about HOW the candidate answers and their thought processes than WHAT they answer. I can usually get whether they could actually do the job itself from their resume. The interview is mostly about gaging soft skills that can't be taught. I can
    via u/LadyMRedd
  • generally tell the difference between someone who doesn't thank me because they're distracted, nervous, etc vs someone who doesn't thank me because they're an egotistical j who feels like I'm lucky to be interviewing them. (I've definitely had those people interview.) The egotistical j | isn't going to fit in with my team, but if I get the sense that they are appreciative of my time but just forgot to say it, I'll let that slide.
    via u/LadyMRedd
  • jslsAGoodLanguage I'm gonna go against the grain here because you said tech specifically so I'm assuming you're hiring software developers. 1. T-shirts and hoodies are industry standard and you'll see this in startups and FAANG alike. 2. Sometimes technical issues arise due to differences in software. Even at work with the same software and hardware, issues crop up randomly. 3. The fact that this is a deal-breaker tells me more about you than the candidates tbh. Nice to say? Yeah, but it's fluff
    via u/jslsAGoodLanguage
  • JellyDenizen Some of it depends on what kind of role you're filling. I would have different expectations for someone interviewing for a financial analyst role vs. someone interviewing for a janitorial role. Other than that, be grateful when someone who looks good on paper interviews in an unprofessional way. It allows you to exclude them from further consideration after using only a small bit of your time, which is a lot better than having to get them out after they've been hired.
    via u/JellyDenizen

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management zoom call job interviews zoom professional manager technical difficulties millennials interviews gen z clothing unprofessional job interview interview
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