Average Interview – Overall Negative Experience – No – Fri, 15 May 2015
Interviewed May 2015 in Austin, TX(took 30 days)
Very surface level, do not need to worry about technical experience. Interview seems to mainly search for personality matches with the company; they frequently reassure you they can teach you anything you need to know. They take along time to get back to you at first (after their Hiring Event), be prepared to wait 1-2 weeks. Do not worry about dress code at all, they are looking for a personality match to the company culture (you would be wearing just an Apple t-shirt and jeans on the job anyway). You walk into the Apple store, check in with the front door specialist, and wait around the front product tables, and then they walk you out of the store and find some quiet place in the mall to interview.
My biggest frustration was that I had THREE interviews after the Hiring Event (which, the hiring event was basically a group interview), but the questions never became more difficult, and at times it was clear recycling of the same questions. They never ask you about your qualifications or experience (I had it!), just about "Why Apple?" questions and similar. The reason this was so frustrating was when I got the rejection letter, I had no idea what was different with the last interview, all the questions were virtually the same each time and I tried my best to keep variety. It wears you down, and I now know why people say 'it is harder to get hired at Apple than to get into Harvard'.
The rejection letter is very abrupt, and their email system feels very impersonal so you never get the feel that you are really connecting with any management there. Overall, the interview process is best described as surface level: You can tell when they are asking the basic weed-out questions like "What was a trait in your last boss that you didn't like?" (NEVER answer this one truthfully), but other than that it is hard to tell what they are looking for in you, or anyone for that matter.
Interview Questions
Tell me about a time where you were given a difficult task/project with little information, and how you excelled at that project/task with what you were given.
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Other Details
The interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview, Group/Panel Interview, Background Check and an Other