Phone interviews split Gen Z job hunters and recruiters
Career experts say smartphone video interviews can work in some fields, but a laptop is still the safer bet for applicants trying to impress.
By Frankie Delgado · News Reporter
4 min read
A job interview on a phone can get you hired. It can also make a recruiter wonder whether you understand the room.
MarketWatch reported that Jason Rogers used his iPhone in 2020 for a remote interview for his first post-college job, a content-writing role. Rogers told MarketWatch he chose the phone because its front camera was clearer and gave him better control of the angle. He got the job.
Rogers said he has since done several interviews by phone rather than computer and has not been criticized by recruiters, according to MarketWatch. His experience sits at the center of a workplace etiquette fight now picking up steam among younger applicants and hiring pros.
The debate flared after Gen Z TikTok influencer Sophie Rocha criticized the habit in a viral post, according to MarketWatch. Rocha said she had interviewed a candidate who used a phone and wrote that the experience made her lose faith in her generation. The post drew heated responses, including comments from users who said candidates had taken interviews from a bed or wondered why they remained unemployed if this was the competition.
Recruiters can tell
Melissa Marcus, a career coach who spent 20 years as a recruiter, told MarketWatch that phone users are easy to spot on video calls because they appear in a vertical frame and take up less screen space, similar to a FaceTime call.
Marcus said smartphones still read as personal devices, while laptops and desktops are more strongly associated with work. She told MarketWatch that joining an interview by phone is “incredibly disrespectful” and said interviews are too valuable in the current job market to risk a weaker connection with the interviewer.
The stakes are especially high for younger job seekers, MarketWatch reported. The outlet noted that unemployment among people in their 20s is above the national average, concern is growing that artificial intelligence is eating into entry-level work, and teens and college students are working less than in the past, reducing chances to build early experience.
AI has also changed the job hunt itself, according to MarketWatch, with résumé filters screening for keywords and cover letters carrying less influence than they once did.
Remote interviews are here to stay
Virtual interviews are no longer a pandemic workaround. MarketWatch cited 2024 data showing 93% of companies said that after adopting virtual interviews during the pandemic, they planned to keep conducting job interviews remotely.
That leaves applicants to decide which device gives them the most polished presence. Lindsay Boccardo, a career coach who works specifically with Gen Z employees, told MarketWatch that younger workers’ use of phones is tied more to the technology they grew up with than to disrespect.
The iPhone was introduced in 2007, when the oldest Gen Z members were around 10, MarketWatch noted. Census Bureau data cited by the outlet shows 90% of U.S. households have a smartphone, compared with 81% that have a laptop.
Income also shapes access. MarketWatch cited Pew Research Center data showing 92% of people earning at least $100,000 have a laptop, compared with 59% of people earning under $30,000.
The safest move is still the laptop
Boccardo told MarketWatch that industry norms matter. A phone might seem natural for a social-media role at a startup, while it may land differently in law or finance. Her usual advice to recent graduates is to use a laptop in a quiet, well-lit place with clear audio.
Megan Slabinski, a hiring expert at Robert Half, told MarketWatch that a handheld device is not automatically a red flag, but a laptop or desktop is preferable when possible because a video interview should be treated like an in-person meeting.
Rogers told MarketWatch that his field, content writing and digital marketing, made phone interviews feel less unusual because the work relies on remote tools. He said expectations are different in more formal industries.
Boccardo also warned that older interviewers may still carry pre-pandemic ideas about professionalism. Slabinski told MarketWatch that because applicants may not know the interviewer’s generation, the safer choice is to appear more professional rather than less.
This story draws on original reporting from MarketWatch.