Toxic "Old School" Sales. Avoid. - EMEA Sales Executive Talkdesk Employee Review

1.0
3 May 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The office in Lisbon had a nice view... though I doubt they even have that anymore due to cost cuttings.

Cons

Talkdesk is without doubt, the most embarassing and damaging company on my CV. It's common knowledge that Contact Centre is a dying sector, with the likes of Salesforce, Amazon and Google now weighing in on the battle, yet Talkdesk manages to make it feel like it's your career, mental health and will to live that's waining too. Throuhgout my time at Talkdesk, I witnessed first hand, progressing female candidates throughj an interview process purely down to their appearance, distribution of leads based purely on favoritism, flaunting and rules or processes previously stated by leadership, and outright lying to customers on functionality, security, scalability and roadmap of the product. It's a regular occurence that customers will call Talkdesk mere days/weeks after signing to ask to cancel, to threaten legal action or to express their disbelief that basic funtionality is either missing, or is charged for unlike it's competitors. It has more hidden costs that a night in Bangkok. As for the leadership, senior leadership seem to think that diversity is hiring people from different areas of the UK, all of which are male, white and 50+. And EMEA Leadership believe that leadership is bullying, lying and outright manipulation of your mental wellbeing. Multiple times I've heard team members talk of how stressed they were, how they couildn't take a holidayt without being pestered by manaagement and how their customers would not stop calling them due to problems with the product. There is no Sales support here, no customer support and no accountability from product, or leadership. So be prepared to take all that on yourself and not to take a holiday. Talkdesk will find anyway possible to cut corners, be that putting project managers on the biggest customers from day one, or just "delivering a project" in a matter of days based on "best practise" without actually consulting customer use cases, strategic alignment of business processes or even having project teams that speak the same language, or are based in the same time zone. It's embarassing. It's funny to see them brag about growth, yet not publish the fact that the average tenure their globally must be 3-6 months. People in the US left so fast it was hard to keep track of who even had responsibility for Sales, Product areas or customer support. If you value your career, your development, your mental health and/or your blood pressure, I'd sooner recommend getting a paper round in the arctic circle, than I would working here. Avoid at all costs.

Explore other reviews about Talkdesk

5.0
14 May 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great company. Moving in the right direction with Agentic platform

Cons

Not that I can think of

1.0
5 Mar 2026
Anonymous freelancer
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Do not entertain an opportunity at this firm.

Cons

I would strongly encourage candidates to proceed with caution. My experience with the hiring process was frustrating and felt like a bait-and-switch. The role was initially positioned as early career, which was communicated throughout the process. After investing time in multiple conversations and interviews, I was ultimately informed that the company had “decided to uplevel the role” and was now looking for someone with significantly more experience. It’s difficult to understand how a role can shift so dramatically after candidates have already been engaged in the process. Additionally, the salary range listed on the posting does not appear to reflect the actual compensation expectations for the role. Changes in hiring needs happen, but shifting the requirements this substantially after candidates have already invested their time reflects poor internal alignment and a lack of respect for applicants. I would encourage prospective candidates to read other reviews and approach the process with caution.

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