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xi_hyperon · May 9, 2005, 03:01 PM

Rumor has it that my hometown will get its first Apple Store, this year or next, and I was thinking it would be a fun job to work there part time. I've got a full time job, so this would just be something I do on the weekends to make more constructive use of my energy, and earn a few bucks in the process.

If you work there, what sort of questions did they ask you in your interview? Do you find it to be a fun job? What do you not like about the job?

Sorry to sound like ankle_brains. This is something I'll seriously consider doing when the time comes, so I'm just interested in other people's experiences. Thanks...

goMac · May 9, 2005, 04:17 PM

Originally Posted by xi_hyperon

Rumor has it that my hometown will get its first Apple Store, this year or next, and I was thinking it would be a fun job to work there part time. I've got a full time job, so this would just be something I do on the weekends to make more constructive use of my energy, and earn a few bucks in the process.

If you work there, what sort of questions did they ask you in your interview? Do you find it to be a fun job? What do you not like about the job?

Sorry to sound like ankle_brains. This is something I'll seriously consider doing when the time comes, so I'm just interested in other people's experiences. Thanks...

I'll let you know. I'm interviewing most likely at two different ones right now for summer work. They both took my resume on site, one sounds pretty eager to interview, and the other one wants me to come for open interviews.

Little birdies have told me that they do not pay their employees all the same thing, so they are under NDA with regard to what they earn.

nredman · May 9, 2005, 04:23 PM

i think there are a few people on here that work at an apple store, since there are threads out there about this subject.

Abit667 · May 9, 2005, 04:38 PM

I really want to apply to an Apple store for a job over the summer. What kind of people do they usually hire? Any special requirements?

Agasthya · May 9, 2005, 04:38 PM

"A few bucks" is right. Apple Retail employees are grossly underpaid and despite the fact that you are "highly encouraged" to sell attachments (APP, ProCare, and .Mac), you receive no commission from these sales.

olePigeon · May 9, 2005, 05:34 PM

True, but how often do you get paid to do nothing Mac stuff?

tooki · May 9, 2005, 11:18 PM

Do a search, this question gets asked every six months or so.

tooki

May 10, 2005, 06:49 AM

Considering my past dealings with Apple Store employees: to get hired, make sure you're a dumb-ass.

xi_hyperon · May 10, 2005, 05:47 PM

Originally Posted by tooki

Do a search, this question gets asked every six months or so.

tooki

Yeah, I've done that already, but would like feedback from now, not a year ago. Thanks for keeping on top of things as usual.

Ghoser777 · May 10, 2005, 06:25 PM

Originally Posted by screamingFit

Considering my past dealings with Apple Store employees: to get hired, make sure you're a dumb-ass.

Indeed - no matter where you go to shop, you will find dumb assess working there. I'm pretty sure there's government anti-discrimination laws that prevent that from changing.

xi_hyperon · May 10, 2005, 06:40 PM

My experience with Apple Stores is limited to my visits to the San Francisco store, and the people there seemed to be pretty knowledgable.

budster101 · May 11, 2005, 01:32 PM

I have yet to speak to an intelligent "specialist".

They are all just fanboys who get hired, for what reason I cannot fathom.

Agasthya · May 11, 2005, 03:15 PM

Mac Specialists are not hired based on their pure knowledge. That's what Apple retail training is for. Mac Specialists are hired based on their enthusiasm and selling abilities.

budster101 · May 11, 2005, 03:20 PM

Ag, but shouldn't they know what the hell they are selling?

When someone asks about a 'firewire adaptor' they should have a clue right?...
I didn't ask, this was my friend who did, and nobody in the store could figure out what he was asking for... I think they came with iPods at one time.

Knowledge of the product is very important!
Industry knowledge as well.

I mean, I asked a fellow about Adobe and Macromedia and he looked at me as if I were speaking a foriegn language.

WTF?

Don't get me wrong, I'm close with the manager of the store, and everyone who works for him are very very nice people, it just bugs me that they don't know more. They do make up for it in effort and enthusiasm so, I guess it's a wash. They still blow away the morons that work at > Best Buy <. Nobody is dumber than them. Nobody.

AssassyN · May 11, 2005, 03:30 PM

^ Yes, it's annoying. And I got one of those FireWire adapter either w/ my 2nd gen. iPod or my 15GB 3rd gen...can't recall. Don't think they ever sold 'em seperately but I still use mine when using FW devices on my 4-pin FW ported PC laptop.

I would assume, as with anyone working retail, you won't get paid well. I even think I hear a guy awhile back say "since I got my job at the local Apple Store, I am forbidden to post here anymore". Dunno if that's true, but I think Apple makes their employees keep tight wraps, maybe even so far as to force them not to post on forums (reminds me of the Weyco case...)

It may be a fun job if you were paid decent, but it would bug me morally to "push" extra crap like the horrible idea that is .mac and such.

Agasthya · May 11, 2005, 04:49 PM

In all fairness to the employees, unless you sit down and read about all that crap on your own time (i.e. not getting paid for it), you usually won't know about everything in the store. I was fortunate enough to work in a mini store so we didn't have that much inventory so it was easy to keep up to date with everything. But then again, I read all the rumor sites every night and all the main news sites multiple times a day so I definitely knew my stuff. Most everyone in our store was kept up to date with all the offerings and with most 3rd party companies.

Apple does offer an internal training site to keep employees up-to-date with the new products but you can either do it at home and not get paid for it, or you can do it on Apple's time and then the staff on the floor is understaffed. But even the training site is pretty basic. There were questions like "What are the two different processors offered in the Mac mini?" Really stupidly basic stuff. This is why the Genius bar is so overrun. There are so many customers that have some really basic questions that can probably be answered by Specialists if they were given a little more intense training.

And, yes, it is true that you are forbidden from posting to any Mac news sites while you are employed by Apple. That is something that most major companies do. And you'd be surprised how much emphasis is put on attachments. The only one I felt right selling to a customer was the only one that I would buy: AppleCare.

AppleOptionFour · May 12, 2005, 10:50 AM

Originally Posted by budster101

I have yet to speak to an intelligent "specialist".

They are all just fanboys who get hired, for what reason I cannot fathom.

I might resent that were I an Apple Store employee.

budster101 · May 12, 2005, 12:18 PM

Uhm. Good. Maybe then you would make sure you were not unintelligent about the product you are supposed to sell...

Kind of like being a pharmaceutical rep that doesn't understand medication interactions and the proper usage of said medications...