I was wondering if anyone on this community has any experience working at the Apple Store and if so what is it like? Employees, culture, management, what they look for in hiring, etc?
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Working at the Apple Store?
- Thread starter umdjb
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I used to work at an Apple Store. This was late 2002 to early 2004, so it was at a time when a lot of tech people were being hired. Apple got a lot of over-qualified people who knew a lot about Macs, were passionate about them, and wanted to be a part of the company. Unfortunately at the end of the day it was still retail, and a lot of those people moved on to better paying jobs with more room for advancement once the economy improved a bit. Apple has replaced most of those people with the less tech saavy retail employees who don't know as much about the products they are selling. They are a good company to work for, great benefits, great discount, but remember it is retail, so you have to want to do that. It is a fun place to work, but you won't find out about new products before the rest of us. It is a good job for someone in school, or someone who wants to work retail for a great company and get some perks. But don't expect rapid promotion through the retail management chain. The unfortunate downside to Apple's current employement profile is that they have lost a lot of good geniuses and so the expertise of the guys behind the bar isn't quite what it used to be.
My partner currently works for an Apple store, and your comments above have been his experience as well.
His store is still relatively new, so most of the "crew that opened it" is still around. They all have some goofy bond from the training they went through. They make the store environment a lot of fun for the customers.
I worked at an Apple retail store my senior year of college (about 3 years ago). I had an awesome time, for the most part. The store I worked at was one of the first retail stores open. They used to pay a lot higher when they first opened, but pay for associates is now on par with most other retail stores. Unlike a lot of other stores though, there are quarterly bonuses that are pretty good (for store sales goals of iPods and computers). The managers are extremely well-paid and so never leave (the store I worked at has been open for 5+ years now and still has the same 3 original managers). The Mac Geniuses tend to burn out the fastest, because they really take the brunt of angry retail customers.
Anyway, in general, I think it's more fun than most other retail environments. The employees and managers tend to be pretty cool and fun to work with because it's more competitive to work there. In the end though, it's still retail. I got my share fair of nasty customers and stupid Windows-loving, Mac-haters just coming in to mess with you. I wouldn't work there full-time. It's a great part-time job because of the perks and fun employees. The managers were also really understanding and flexible with schedules. At least at the store I worked at.
I don't really think it's fair when people make fun of the people who work in the stores. In my experience, everyone that worked there really loved Macs (as much as the people on this website) and did their best to serve the customers, and most were really knowledgeable before they even came to work in the store.
As far as getting hired, it's honestly a lot easier for girls or minorities. I didn't have much experience except for being a lab manager at my school's Mac lab, but got hired pretty quickly - I was one of 3 girls working there. Also, before they hire you, they do a really extensive background check. Way more extensive than most companies will.
Anyway, in general, I think it's more fun than most other retail environments. The employees and managers tend to be pretty cool and fun to work with because it's more competitive to work there. In the end though, it's still retail. I got my share fair of nasty customers and stupid Windows-loving, Mac-haters just coming in to mess with you. I wouldn't work there full-time. It's a great part-time job because of the perks and fun employees. The managers were also really understanding and flexible with schedules. At least at the store I worked at.
I don't really think it's fair when people make fun of the people who work in the stores. In my experience, everyone that worked there really loved Macs (as much as the people on this website) and did their best to serve the customers, and most were really knowledgeable before they even came to work in the store.
As far as getting hired, it's honestly a lot easier for girls or minorities. I didn't have much experience except for being a lab manager at my school's Mac lab, but got hired pretty quickly - I was one of 3 girls working there. Also, before they hire you, they do a really extensive background check. Way more extensive than most companies will.
Ha! This describes me exactly, and I worked at Apple over the summer. Good stuff.
I think technically you can be in high school, but most people are older. When I worked there, most people were in their late 20's or 30's. I was the youngest (20 - 21). There were only a few others in college or grad school.
Honestly, at nearly every Apple store I've been at, I swear the people working there have barely even heard of Apple. When people say many Apple *associates* are clueless, they are putting it kindly.
i think the point is most if not all of them are still really not knowledgeable and uninformed even AFTER they worked in the store... unless you are arguing the store made them un-knowledgeable and uninformed?
and the "geniuses" are quite unsuitable for their title i think... they would rule most issues "with in specification" or "i dont see anything wrong" or "that's normal" even when the problem is quite obvious.
but yeah, i think their job is quite relaxing.. perhaps apple should actively hire ppl from Macrumors community, then their genius knowledge level would at least improve somewhat.
I agree that some Apple Store's associates don't have as much in-depth as some MacRumors folks.
On the flip-side, I rather doubt that most of the knowledgeable MacRumors posters would have the patience to deal with repeatedly answering the same 20 basic OS X/iLife questions that customers come in with. Hour after hour after hour, day after day after day.
On the flip-side, I rather doubt that most of the knowledgeable MacRumors posters would have the patience to deal with repeatedly answering the same 20 basic OS X/iLife questions that customers come in with. Hour after hour after hour, day after day after day.
What do they need background checks on, unless you are going into management. Thats so funny to me, its retail. Unless a person is a key holder there is not need for a background check. Apple is wasting its money there.
But for the experience there I have a couple of friends that used to work there, and its true most of them had no clue on anything apple related, they just knew what was on the signs in front of each machine.
Yeah, you wouldn't want to check the background of someone who will have access to tens of thousands of dollars in transactions and hundreds of thousands of dollars in hardware a day.
Some Apple Stores also do "camps" where kids are dropped off and left for a few hours. Be pretty cool to find out that one of the employees was a registered sex offender but forgot to mention that on his application.
"Hello little girls and boys. Would you like to come back to my house and see my PowerBook G5?"
~shudder~
I bet that is how Steve Jobs pulls in clubs.
Yeah, you wouldn't want to check the background of someone who will have access to tens of thousands of dollars in transactions and hundreds of thousands of dollars in hardware a day.
At least they don't do it at other retail locations that handle equally expensive items.
Which is probably why employee shrinkage is still a problem for a lot of retailers.
I like how CompUSA locks stuff up from its employees.
It's really neat to have to spend 5 minutes finding someone to help you there, and then waiting 15 additional minutes while they wait for "someone with keys to the laptop cage" to open it for them.
It's probably the best RETAIL job you'll ever have, but it is still retail. I worked there for a few years, and it was great at the beginning of Apple Retail...it's gotten a little worse since then, more focus on "metrics" as in percentage of AppleCare, .Mac, and Pro Care sold where it was originally just helping the customer. The discount is outrageous, and the ability to be first in line for the firesale and refresh products is awesome (I picked up an EyeTV 200 for $40 just because it was returned...and you wonder why there's never any incredible deals for refreshed product...it's because the employees snatch them up right away).
