Tyk

Tyk Interviews

1. 3 Nov 2023

   Corporate & Commercial Paralegal Interview

   Anonymous Employee in United Kingdom

   No Offer

   Negative Experience

   Difficult Interview

   Application

   I applied online. The process took 5 weeks. I interviewed at Tyk (United Kingdom)

   Interview

   1. Before an interview was scheduled - HR sent me two questions to answer which were "Why Tyk?", and "Why this role?". After this, they came back the next day to confirm an interview.
   
   2. 1st interview - 30mins with a senior member of the talent team and involved some very general, standard, interview questions. The interviewer was friendly, attentive, and gave me a positive view of the company.
   
   3. 2nd stage- 30mins with a senior member of the legal team. They asked questions as if they were trying to get to know me rather than trying to get through questions on an interview list. I really enjoyed this interview and getting to know the interviewer.
   
   4. Test - within 30mins of the 2nd stage interview I was invited to do a test, which was reviewing their 20-page T&C’s which legal had redlined and made comments on. The document had around 11 or so changes to review.
   
   5. 3rd stage interview - this was with the same legal team member as before and we went through the document i reviewed, discussed my comments/changes. I got a really positive responses from the interviewer who said they thought I was great and they'd love to have me if I was still interested. After this interview, the same day, I was invited to the 4th, and final stage, interview.
   
   6. 4th stage interview - 30mins with a sales team member, and is where it all went downhill for me. The interviewer throughout made little effort to come across as welcoming, or respectful of the time I had put in to get here (the numerous prior interviews, tasks, research etc.,). They consistently looked at their laptop whilst I provided answers (the lights reflecting off of their face gave it away), and didn’t once look at me, nod or appear in any way to be listening. Once I finished, they would simply say “OK” and move swiftly onto the next question. Moreover, the questions they asked me were all over the place: “how do you deal with difficult people?”, “what issues have you encountered during negotiations?”, “do you like going to gigs?” (I couldn't help but feel that was asked because of my perceived younger age), and "was your last workplace toxic?". To this, I told them no and that with any workplace there's pain points, and maybe people you clash with, but it wasn't toxic since it was my longest role to date. Their response was "right, so it wasn't toxic, it was perfect, absolutely nothing was wrong" which kind of dumbfounded me with how passive-aggressive it was. I reiterated what i initially said, and they seemed to hear me this time, so we moved on to “what are you passionate about?”. After answering this, I posed the same question to them, and they proceeded to eat up a large chunk of my interview time telling me that sales isn't their passion and that they plan to leave this role within the next year or two and open their own business. At this point, it became clear why this interview was so starkly different to the others; the interviewer wasn't planning to stay there so wasn't very invested in helping find someone new that was. I pretty much knew then I wasn't getting the role, and chose to not respond to the additional, unprofessional complaints about how legal is usually unresponsive, difficult, and how he’s "nice to a point but will escalate you if you're difficult to work with” (understandable, but weird that it needed to be mentioned at this stage). I left the call feeling quite deflated and disappointed, which was a total contrast to the other interviews.
   
   A week later I was informed via email by a senior member of the talent team that I wasn’t successful. They thanked me for my time but said that whilst I had good commercial and contract knowledge, they were proceeding with candidates that they felt had stronger skills in these areas. This feedback was very generic so I responded, thanking them and kindly requesting further feedback on my 4 interviews and test. This request, and my follow-up 2 weeks later, were ignored. On my 3rd and final attempt I informed them how disappointed I was that they chose to ignore my fair request for helpful feedback, especially considering how much I had put into their very extensive recruitment process. They responded, apologising, and provided the exact same generic feedback.
   
   Overall, I didn’t feel like the experience was worth it in the end. Whilst most team members were friendly and engaging, the 6-stage process was far too excessive for a junior/mid-level role with an average salary. It’s also incredibly disappointing that despite requiring so much from candidates, they give very generic feedback in return (“good contract knowledge” isn’t sufficient) which provides no clarity on what they could have done better/ did well, and tips for future interviews. Lastly, they should ensure ALL staff members that interview candidates receive prior training to ensure they are interviewing respectfully, professionally, and in a way which portrays the company and its culture in a positive light.
   

   Interview

   "Why Tyk", "why this role?", "why law?"

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