Working as an AppleCare Senior Chat Advisor

[lolkthxbai]

I came across this thread looking for more information about the Apple@HomeAdvisor (AHA) role. Really interesting stuff here!

My question is for an AHA that is directly employed by Apple. Do you have some sort of a quota or cadence you need to maintain or follow in terms of how many calls/chats/emails your respond to/resolve? How about a time limit?

Also, how do you take your break or lunch? What happens if you need walk away from your desk, for example: to use the bathroom, do you turn off your headset to stop the calls or...?

 

[TheHorsesMouth]

I came across this thread looking for more information about the Apple@HomeAdvisor (AHA) role. Really interesting stuff here!

My question is for an AHA that is directly employed by Apple. Do you have some sort of a quota or cadence you need to maintain or follow in terms of how many calls/chats/emails your respond to/resolve? How about a time limit?

Also, how do you take your break or lunch? What happens if you need walk away from your desk, for example: to use the bathroom, do you turn off your headset to stop the calls or...?

I cant speak for Apple AHA but I am pretty sure they have the same rules/guidelines as those of us that are 3rd party. I could write a book on what you have asked so if you want me to give some insight from a contractor pov i will do so.

 

[lolkthxbai]

I cant speak for Apple AHA but I am pretty sure they have the same rules/guidelines as those of us that are 3rd party. I could write a book on what you have asked so if you want me to give some insight from a contractor pov i will do so.

Sure! I’d love to hear your POV too

 

[PSUGrad07]

Hey I apologize for not responding to this a long time ago. I actually totally forgot about this thread and just recently remembered it. I wish I had some advice for your resume, but I for sure dont. If you do find the answers for the resume please forward that info to me! Since I dont actually work for Apple I couldnt really say what they look for exactly. As for your feelings towards 3rd party contractor companies I 100% understand where you are coming from there. I have worked for 3 (I think) different contractor companies and 2 of them were pretty good, and 1 was flat out horrible so I suppose it can vary greatly from one company to another. I think another big part of being contracted is what the client expects from the company as well. I feel like a lot of my feelings towards my current employer can actually be blamed on the ridiculous requirements coming from Apple. With Apple being such a huge client, of course just about anything they demand and no matter how ludicrous, will be given by the contracted company.

Sorry for not getting back sooner. Totally forgot about your response. Apple is finally opening a lot of jobs up more suited to what I want to do and I try a different approach everytime with what I say in my cover letter and what I include in my resume and so far no luck. Kind of bummed because I would really love to work for Apple (as most everyone) and I know I can do these jobs. I even applied for what I think would be a lower level job than what I can do and didn't hear anything back just to see if I can get an interview. It's driving me nuts because I had my resume looked at by a professional service and I even used a professional template to form my cover letter. I feel like I need to live in the movie 21 and find a way to leap off the page, but haven't found that secret sauce yet, lol. Anyways, I am always open to advice. Thank you for your response.

 

[Oak817]

First time on the forum in months and came across this thread. Very interesting stuff here, great job. I have been applying to Apple for years. Got an interview for an At Home Adviser role about 4 years back but got the thanks for playing email and I probably would not have accepted the position anyways due to the pay being a lot lower than I was making at the position I held then and even more so now. I am always hesitant about using 3rd party contractors/recruiting agencies because I had a bad experience with one years back and it has always left a bad taste in my mouth when applying for positions. Anyways, I can explain in more detail if asked. I have applied to many Apple positions since then that are more closely suited to what I am doing now and have not even gotten a thanks for playing email or an interview since that time 4 years ago. My question is what is the key to making your resume stand out for a company like Apple? I had my resume reviewed by supposed experts and taken their feedback and rebuilt my resume from the ground up and feel as though it is strong and I have been able to get interviews at other companies and gotten offers, but haven't taken anything yet because of one reason or another and I am very happy at where I am at, but always looking for the next best thing. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you again for the great thread.

A cover letter helps tremendously. When I originally applied at Apple, I didn't receive a response until I updated my profile with a cover letter. After that I received a call with a couple of weeks. I didn't use any type of generic template for my cover letter. I spoke from the heart like I was just having a conversation with them. I guess it worked.

 

[Oak817]

I came across this thread looking for more information about the Apple@HomeAdvisor (AHA) role. Really interesting stuff here!

My question is for an AHA that is directly employed by Apple. Do you have some sort of a quota or cadence you need to maintain or follow in terms of how many calls/chats/emails your respond to/resolve? How about a time limit?

Also, how do you take your break or lunch? What happens if you need walk away from your desk, for example: to use the bathroom, do you turn off your headset to stop the calls or...?

I worked directly for Apple as an AHA advisor in iTunes Chat for a few years. We didn't have a quota per se, but our stats were tied into how many chats we took. There was a certain threshold of chats we were expected to take, and was adjusted depending on the time of year. Time limits were also apart of our stats, we were encouraged to focus on the customer's issue and not rush them. And there were times you could have a long interaction, but the nature of the department I was in (iTunes) majority of it was billing. So the interactions were mostly short.

Breaks and lunches are handled like any other normal job. Once it's your break/lunch time, you'd set yourself into the proper availability code which stops the chats/calls from coming in. Sometimes a customer interaction will take longer than expected, so there are times when you don't take your break or lunch on time. Technically if you need to walk away from your desk for anything (bathroom breaks, answer the front door, let the dog out, etc.) there is a code you can go into, which 99.9% you won't use because it messes your stats and if you go into the code too many times, your manager will have a conversation with you. So as you get better at your job, you learn to leave your desk during strategic points while chatting/talking with a customer, or if it was slow (which it never was) you can leave your desk between chats. This was extremely easy as chat advisor, as I can tell a customer give me 3-5 minutes to take at look at something, and I was off in the bathroom, checking the mailbox, etc.

There is much more freedom at a chat advisor then phone advisor. As chat, I watched Netflix or youtube during my shift. After a few weeks on the job, the issues customers chat in about are pretty much the same. So it's easy to go into auto-pilot and multi-task watching OITNB on Netflix while helping a customer with a refund.

 

[PSUGrad07]

A cover letter helps tremendously. When I originally applied at Apple, I didn't receive a response until I updated my profile with a cover letter. After that I received a call with a couple of weeks. I didn't use any type of generic template for my cover letter. I spoke from the heart like I was just having a conversation with them. I guess it worked.

Sorry for the delay in response. Interesting tactic there. I will try that next time. I am always glad to hear success stories.

 

[rmoliv]

Hi there,
What is the training for customer advisor like?
Do you get any sort of official Apple certification attesting your knowledge of iOS/macOS/etc.?

 

[chasedme3333]

Hi there,
What is the training for customer advisor like?
Do you get any sort of official Apple certification attesting your knowledge of iOS/macOS/etc.?

The training runs for approx. 3 weeks and you touch a little on all of the main products they sell, (iphones, macs, ipads, watches, etc). You are constantly tested along the way and must pass these tests before you can go into a nesting period where you will take live calls and/or chats for about a week. Then you will graduate to a new team where you get to spend your day chatting among other team members during your calls and chats. After you take these calls and/or chats for many hours daily, your knowledge base grows pretty quickly but at the same time, you will always learn something new every single day.
As far as reps meeting a quota/sales/metrics? Yes, absolutely. They look at ALL that. Not just the sales themselves but the AppleCare sales right along with the products sales. You have metrics to meet at all times and if you fall behind they'll be on you quickly to get you back on track. If you're working for a vendor, they work you in groups for a period of time, and those who are exceeding generally get to stay working on the Apple account and the other people just disappear. It really gets pretty cut throat.
The scheduling for the reps is the same, the higher your metrics, the better chance you get at working the shifts you want.
The bottom line really is this....the reps pretty much are there to help direct you to the answers you seek, which are on the website, just hard to find sometimes. The true golden answers are found on Apple's Support site. You can also find a ton of tips and tricks on Apple Support's YouTube Channel (it's really great), also on Apple Supports Twitter page, FaceBook page, etc. I generally navigate to the YouTube Channel though, there's a channel for every product.

I've spent a lot of time over the years packing away some pretty good resources to pass along to Apple customers. Hopefully some of this info helped you guys out a little.

 

[goldmac2006]

I worked directly for Apple as an AHA advisor in iTunes Chat for a few years. We didn't have a quota per se, but our stats were tied into how many chats we took. There was a certain threshold of chats we were expected to take, and was adjusted depending on the time of year. Time limits were also apart of our stats, we were encouraged to focus on the customer's issue and not rush them. And there were times you could have a long interaction, but the nature of the department I was in (iTunes) majority of it was billing. So the interactions were mostly short.

Breaks and lunches are handled like any other normal job. Once it's your break/lunch time, you'd set yourself into the proper availability code which stops the chats/calls from coming in. Sometimes a customer interaction will take longer than expected, so there are times when you don't take your break or lunch on time. Technically if you need to walk away from your desk for anything (bathroom breaks, answer the front door, let the dog out, etc.) there is a code you can go into, which 99.9% you won't use because it messes your stats and if you go into the code too many times, your manager will have a conversation with you. So as you get better at your job, you learn to leave your desk during strategic points while chatting/talking with a customer, or if it was slow (which it never was) you can leave your desk between chats. This was extremely easy as chat advisor, as I can tell a customer give me 3-5 minutes to take at look at something, and I was off in the bathroom, checking the mailbox, etc.

There is much more freedom at a chat advisor then phone advisor. As chat, I watched Netflix or youtube during my shift. After a few weeks on the job, the issues customers chat in about are pretty much the same. So it's easy to go into auto-pilot and multi-task watching OITNB on Netflix while helping a customer with a refund.

Apologies for being late to the party, but this is a solid idea. I was thinking of applying for AppleCare for the next opening alongside Apple Store Genius or Seasonal Specialist as I reach the end stage of my NASA internship program, which concludes in late January when my team travels to work at a university partnered with them. I was thinking about doing part time for AppleCare AHA remotely and your perspective doing it from home versus the OP as a vendor shows a lot more flexibility. My position at NASA runs in phases under my current contract, the first three months with one phase independently remote and the second phase with a full week of day shifts and meetings, the last phase ending with on-site work at a partner NASA station or institution. During the second phase i had to attend 2-3 meetings via Teams which one includes a debrief meeting with our supervisor and manager. I worked 9-2 and 11-2 depending on the schedule.

At AppleCare during the training /shadowing period and first few weeks as a new Advisor do you have to attend meetings and trainings daily? I understand that as a chat advisor not taking phone calls you can multitask and do your homework or binge watch split screen on that iMac, but if I have to attend so many zooms that can impact when I can take a break during my shift. How does their leave time policy work?