The interview was very professional. They asked me valid questions. The people were very kind and made me feel welcomed. I answered many questions before it was over and left feeling good.
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at TikTok (Chicago, IL) in Nov 2021
Interview
I first went through a screening and right after I was asked for my availability for an interview with the Client Solutions Manager. I got scheduled for two interview.
Time for the interview comes around and somewhere in the middle of the interview, the manager states that they're not looking to hire a CSP. When she said that, I'm not sure why, but probably because I was so focused on the interview that my mind just blanked and I didn't think much of it.
The second interview comes and the person that was supposed to interview me originally got pulled into a meeting last minute. So I got scheduled with the talent acquisition specialist. We talked for a bit and she asks me why tiktok. Right after I answer, she says that she is not looking to hire a CSP as well because she fulfilled her headcount or something? My mind blanks out again because in my mind I was telling myself, "What was the point of all this then?"
As a result, I ask her what the next steps are? (stupid of me I know) but it was just such an abrupt ending that I didn't know how to respond. She gave me the usual cliche telling me to keep my eyes open on the website.
After we hanged up, I got so mad because I never had a chance in the beginning and I wasted all that time and energy into an interview I was going to get dropped from the beginning. Weird thing is, if you're not looking to hire somebody for a position, why have it on your website? As an app, it's great. As a company, A LOT of work to be done.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Why tiktok, tell me how you handle ambiguity, walk me through your resume
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2+ months. I interviewed at TikTok (Austin, TX)
Interview
Was reached out by recruiter and underwent a total of 5 separate interviews for 30 minutes each. The entire process was long and spanned over 2 months. My last interview was rescheduled 3 times. This led to overall interview fatigue. It is also hard to be flexible with dates and timing as I am currently working and a typical day is pretty meeting heavy.
The actual interviews were rigid. The members of the team read off questions without really having a more sincere conversation relating to my responses. They were nice, but it was a bit awkward overall. I was also alerted that the seniority of the role was changed throughout the interview process, but it did not look like that was communicated to the team, leading to overall confusion of which position I was actually interviewing for.
Because I was actively emailing the recruiter, I was a bit disappointed when an automated email came through with the update of my application. With all the time that I invested into this process, it was frustrating that at minimum a personal email could not have been sent out.