I got through the first round and was invited to a large public building in a major city that I’m not legally allowed to disclose. I’ll just say they don’t hold any bars, and its the usual clap and cheerathon. Then they sit you down and run you through a couple of videos on what it is to be at Apple and you finish with a group exercise this is the major challenge. I feel I let myself down with a casual joke that could be taken two ways, while I meant it as an endearment to who I was working with I don’t think I passed the test of corporate standards and I didn’t get a follow up invite.
“I think I’m just going to be kneeling”
“Hi kneeling”
Nobody likes a smart alack and it wasn’t my best representation of my self in hindsight.
Six of one, half a dozen of the other if someone doesn’t want to work with me then its never going to work out anyway. They want to see how you interact and then they want to see how you react to a usual mock business scenario “sell me this pen” or whatever it is. It wont always be that but that’s one scenario. The answer is always the same with any pitch:
“This pen will make my customers life easier and they will use this pen to be more productive than they can be with any other pen, and it will lead them to riches and glory.”
Like everyone else I wanted to work there because of the conditions not because of the pay. What you get on the floor there is little more than the same entitlements as someone who works for Coles/Woolworths. Its worth pursuing even if its for the rather interesting and long-winded interview process. Even if you make it to stage three there is no guarantee you’ll be selected. Enjoy the process.
I’ve interviewed with other high profile companies and the Apple interview process has to be one of the more interesting ones. However, a lot of the tech companies are getting into this meet and greet excercise based scenario so you might as well get used to it if you intend to do interviews for other like interested companies.