Road to Apple Store Employment

[I-Bot]

Hopefully.....this doesn't mess up my chances in any way. Two weeks ago( I believe it was), I applied for a specialist position at a local apple store near my University thinking it'd be cool to work there during my 3-4 breaks in between my classes, A week later I call to talk to the hiring manager who isn't there so I become persistent and every time I would call, He wasn't in so they'd ask for my name and number which i'd give to them every time. Finally, one day( a Friday) I decided to call them as soon as I got out of class and luckily the hiring manager was there so I thought it'd be better to talk to him in person which I did, He was a really cool guy, a guy I'd love working for. I gave him my name and number and he told me, he'll go see if he can track my application down. Came back a few days later( Monday), He wasn't there so I had spoken to a specialist who told me the best thing to do was to e-mail the store introducing myself and why i'd be good for the position(specialist)......two days after I send the e-mail out, I go check to see if he received it, He did receive it but hadn't read it yet......What he then said was...well first of all he memorized me by my first and last name and it's practically been a week since i've spoken with him. Then he told me" I'll let you know when we have hiring events or what we want to do with hires" and was like "You're definitely on my radar".....but what do I do from here? Wait? Or keep being persistent cause i've been persistent since i've applied and he's noticed cause he's memorized who I am. I don't know what else to do to try and land that first interview, maybe you guys could help me?


Note: Posting has been up for this position since Early April this year

 

[MovieCutter]

Sounds like you're being more obnoxious than productive, so my advice is to simply wait. And having spent 3 years in Apple Retail back in the glory days when it was actually fun, you're not missing a whole lot...that discount kicks ass though.

 

[I-Bot]

So i called in again today to find out if there was any open positions just to make sure the Apple Jobs website wasn't wrong and the lady told me that they are always hiring. I just talked to the Manager yesterday like stated above and e-mailed him a few days ago like stated above, I don't want to bug him anymore so how much time should I wait before giving them a call/e-mail again. Like stated previously, he told me "I was on his Radar and he'd keep in touch with me", so how long should I wait before I make contact with them once more?

 

[technicolor]

I think you might be overly persistent. You do not want to cross the line from aggressive to obnoxious. When I worked at the Apple store I got in as a seasonal temp and they kept me after the holidays. I did apply via the corporate site and the store manager called me in for an interview. I don't know about the "always hiring" bit, that was not the case with my store. Most of the people worked there took the same path seasonal temp>permanent full or part time, except the geniuses.

 

[Sun Baked]

Guess the other applicants are keeping him busy with hookers and coke.

Maybe you should try to grab a photo of him at the nearest hotel.

 

[MovieCutter]

So i called in again today to find out if there was any open positions just to make sure the Apple Jobs website wasn't wrong and the lady told me that they are always hiring. I just talked to the Manager yesterday like stated above and e-mailed him a few days ago like stated above, I don't want to bug him anymore so how much time should I wait before giving them a call/e-mail again. Like stated previously, he told me "I was on his Radar and he'd keep in touch with me", so how long should I wait before I make contact with them once more?

You don't read well do you? All you can do is wait. The more you bug him, the less likely you are to get anywhere with him. There are other jobs outside of Apple, don't put all your eggs in that basket. These days it's not worth it. Besides, "You're on my radar" sounds like a classic brush off to shut you up for a few days. You're overly eager, and it's not helping your case. These days, Apple doesn't want fanboys, they want people who can sell product. They got over hiring fanboys a few years ago...trust me.

 

[technicolor]

You don't read well do you? All you can do is wait. The more you bug him, the less likely you are to get anywhere with him. There are other jobs outside of Apple, don't put all your eggs in that basket. These days it's not worth it. Besides, "You're on my radar" sounds like a classic brush off to shut you up for a few days. You're overly eager, and it's not helping your case. These days, Apple doesn't want fanboys, they want people who can sell product. They got over hiring fanboys a few years ago...trust me.

This is soooo true,lol. I was surprised about how little the people in my hiring class knew about Apple. I might have been the only fan within the bunch, a few to them purchased their first Apple product with the employee discount or a firesale. They basically had to do a crash course during our training. They just cared about metrics and attachment of plans. Plus being a fan isn't really a plus, I mean its a job after all. Being surrounded by product wasn't really enough to make it that much better than any other job.

 

[MovieCutter]

This is soooo true,lol. I was surprised about how little the people in my hiring class knew about Apple. I might have been the only fan within the bunch, a few to them purchased their first Apple product with the employee discount or a firesale. They basically had to do a crash course during our training. They just cared about metrics and attachment of plans. Plus being a fan isn't really a plus, I mean its a job after all. Being surrounded by product wasn't really enough to make it that much better than any other job.

Exactly. I worked in one of the first batches of stores to open. It was great. We all loved the company, drank the Kool-Aid, got the stock options (buying AAPL at $13/share was never a bad idea!), and sold the experience. These days it's all about ProCare, AppleCare, MobileMe, and One on One attachments. They hire people who know nothing about the Apple community, but can sell a line to sell a product. It's a sad state, but it seems to be working for them as far as the customers are concerned. Employees on the other hand...I know plenty of my former colleagues who have either quit retail or moved on to the Cupertino campus. And they stopped offering the open box/EOL/firesale deals to their employees a while back. That's what made working Apple retail worth it back in the day. Getting iMacs for 50% off once they were refreshed, getting iPods for $100 and 3rd party deals for half off too. These days it's a heavily regulated 25% discount on a single Mac per year, whereas when I worked there, nobody cared how many Macs you bought with your 25% discount. Oh well.

 

[Sun Baked]

I want a job at the Kool-Aid store, even if I have to be the one handing out free samples or running around in the Kool-Aid costume.

 

[Ivan P]

So i called in again today to find out if there was any open positions just to make sure the Apple Jobs website wasn't wrong and the lady told me that they are always hiring. I just talked to the Manager yesterday like stated above and e-mailed him a few days ago like stated above, I don't want to bug him anymore so how much time should I wait before giving them a call/e-mail again. Like stated previously, he told me "I was on his Radar and he'd keep in touch with me", so how long should I wait before I make contact with them once more?

Generally what Apple does is they organise "seminars" when the store is really getting serious about hiring people. They will do things in stages, where you will go in for a group session where there may be a dozen other applicants in the same room as you, then they go through a selection process to narrow it down then do more stages and more selections. It's not like a 'normal' retail job where you submit an application and have an interview and then you either get it or you don't.

This is the part that really needs to be stressed - the Apple Careers site you would have signed up through is pretty much nothing but an expression of interest where they find out if you'd be even remotely capable of doing the job - the resume/cover letter part is there just so they can refer to it after the first group session (that's what they did when I was going through this process, anyway). That's also why many of these jobs have opening dates of many months ago, they just wait until there's lots of applicants so that they can do the group sessions and resume the standard Apple recruitment process. I submitted my details on the Careers site in December last year for a store here in Australia, I wasn't contacted until April this year. It's all about being patient. Just because it's been posted on the site for months doesn't mean they are necessarily absolutely desperate for staff, as I said they're just waiting to be able to organise the recruitment sessions.

As other people have said, constantly trying to contact the store, and one person in particular, is possibly the worst thing you could do. What it comes down to is if the other applicants are considered better than you then they will go with them; being this persistent will just make that outcome more likely. No one wants to hire the whiny kid. I know it sounds harsh, but that's the truth.

 

[Abstract]

I'm sorry, but apply to other jobs. Any retail job will be essentially the same. The difference is that you'd be selling clothes, coffee, other computer brands, etc. It's not a huge difference. Customers are still annoying, and any enjoyment you get out of such a job will depend on the type of people you work with. Crappy boss or co-workers = bad experience with job.

 

[I-Bot]

I understand which is why I have applied to various other jobs at other retail locations. I recently received an e-mail from Apple though inviting me to an Apple Seminar, Although I got invited to this seminar, I am looking for other jobs as well and am not just gonna rely on this Apple retail position because I know getting into Apple is pretty hard so i'm crossing my fingers and hoping I do well at the seminar if not then hopefully I can find another retail job soon.

 

[Xavier]

The best thing about working for Apple is the T-Shirts. Otherwise, its pretty much just retail.

 

[talkingparrot]

Generally what Apple does is they organise "seminars" when the store is really getting serious about hiring people. They will do things in stages, where you will go in for a group session where there may be a dozen other applicants in the same room as you, then they go through a selection process to narrow it down then do more stages and more selections. It's not like a 'normal' retail job where you submit an application and have an interview and then you either get it or you don't.

This is the part that really needs to be stressed - the Apple Careers site you would have signed up through is pretty much nothing but an expression of interest where they find out if you'd be even remotely capable of doing the job - the resume/cover letter part is there just so they can refer to it after the first group session (that's what they did when I was going through this process, anyway). That's also why many of these jobs have opening dates of many months ago, they just wait until there's lots of applicants so that they can do the group sessions and resume the standard Apple recruitment process. I submitted my details on the Careers site in December last year for a store here in Australia, I wasn't contacted until April this year. It's all about being patient. Just because it's been posted on the site for months doesn't mean they are necessarily absolutely desperate for staff, as I said they're just waiting to be able to organise the recruitment sessions.

As other people have said, constantly trying to contact the store, and one person in particular, is possibly the worst thing you could do. What it comes down to is if the other applicants are considered better than you then they will go with them; being this persistent will just make that outcome more likely. No one wants to hire the whiny kid. I know it sounds harsh, but that's the truth.

I have recently applied to a store in Brisbane and you seem to be talking what I have been called for. Its a seminar about what they do at apple store. My question here is what follows after this? If you could be a bit descriptive in the same regard, it'll help me prepare well in advance.
What exactly is the Apple Retail selection process and what are the expectations. What all should I expect before the Final YES.

Thanks

 

[talkingparrot]

Exactly. I worked in one of the first batches of stores to open. It was great. We all loved the company, drank the Kool-Aid, got the stock options (buying AAPL at $13/share was never a bad idea!), and sold the experience. These days it's all about ProCare, AppleCare, MobileMe, and One on One attachments. They hire people who know nothing about the Apple community, but can sell a line to sell a product. It's a sad state, but it seems to be working for them as far as the customers are concerned. Employees on the other hand...I know plenty of my former colleagues who have either quit retail or moved on to the Cupertino campus. And they stopped offering the open box/EOL/firesale deals to their employees a while back. That's what made working Apple retail worth it back in the day. Getting iMacs for 50% off once they were refreshed, getting iPods for $100 and 3rd party deals for half off too. These days it's a heavily regulated 25% discount on a single Mac per year, whereas when I worked there, nobody cared how many Macs you bought with your 25% discount. Oh well.

HI,
I am going through a selection procedure with one of the local Apple Stores in Australia. I was wondering if you could be able to shed some light about what all to expect after the information seminar till the FINAL YES. It will be of great help to me.
Thanks

 

[I-Bot]

So, I went to the Seminar two days ago(Monday) and everything seemed fine, they said they'd contact us for a date for the follow-up interview within the next few days. I was wondering how long that usually is after a seminar. It's been two days since the seminar and I still haven't heard one thing, yesterday they were holding more seminars so they were busy but I don't believe seminars were being held today so how long should it usually take for them to contact applicants after they've been through their seminar?



ohhpppp Nevermind, Apple Hates me( I just went through a seminar and they don't want to set up a follow-up)

First of all, thank you for your interest in Apple Retail and for your participation in our interview process. It was truly our pleasure to meet you.

With the large amount of talented applicants, we had some tough decisions to make. At this time we have chosen to move ahead with other candidates.

Thank you again for your time and interest in Apple. We wish you the best in your future endeavors.


Sincerely,

Apple Staffing
sfcareers@apple.com

 

[davegreb]

So, I went to the Seminar two days ago(Monday) and everything seemed fine, they said they'd contact us for a date for the follow-up interview within the next few days. I was wondering how long that usually is after a seminar. It's been two days since the seminar and I still haven't heard one thing, yesterday they were holding more seminars so they were busy but I don't believe seminars were being held today so how long should it usually take for them to contact applicants after they've been through their seminar?



ohhpppp Nevermind, Apple Hates me( I just went through a seminar and they don't want to set up a follow-up)

Are you like surprised? "It's been two days since the seminar". If you sounded this desperate at the seminar, don't be surprised by the reply. You sound a little immature and impatient so I'd work on that. If you don't like the honesty, sorry.

 

[I-Bot]

Are you like surprised? "It's been two days since the seminar". If you sounded this desperate at the seminar, don't be surprised by the reply. You sound a little immature and impatient so I'd work on that. If you don't like the honesty, sorry.

Actually I was quite level-headed at the seminar, although I did talk alot at the seminar.....maybe they don't like talkers. Maybe, it's time for me to switch bacl to Microsoft....

 

[waloshin]

These threads temp me to place my head on my keyboard and smash my Macbook's screen over my head so the pain will go away!

 

[waloshin]

Also this is what you did to his desk phoning in everyday leaving your name and number so have fun ever getting hired.

Actually I was quite level-headed at the seminar, although I did talk alot at the seminar.....maybe they don't like talkers. Maybe, it's time for me to switch bacl to Microsoft....

Ok then even though you wont be living up to your signature. "Once you go Mac, you never go back."

 

[MovieCutter]

Like I said, Apple doesn't want fanboys working in retail...not anymore anyway.

 

[r1ch4rd]

You should ask them for some feedback on why you didn't get through so that you know for future interviews at other places. After that though, don't dwell and move on, someone has to be eliminated (it's just unfortunate that it was you). I'm sure that you can find a great job somewhere else.