Apple Job Interviews Give The Best And Brightest A Run For Their Money

Business Insider's Silicon Alley Insider:

In Pirates of Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs tears into a potential Apple employee by asking him, "Are you a virgin?"

The frightened interviewee stammers, intimidated by the question, but eventually says, "No."

Jobs lays into him and says, "You're still a virgin, you just think you're not."

Applying for a job at Apple today is unlikely to land you in a similar situation, since the company is much bigger and Jobs is no longer in the office on a day to day basis.

However, getting a job at Apple isn't going to be easy. You're going to have to answer highly technical questions, and talk about your personal life a little bit.

Read the whole story: Business Insider's Silicon Alley Insider

Comments

[KarateKid]

09:27 AM on 05/19/2011

I once interviewed for the position of national sales manager at Apple's school division, when they actually had one. It was in a fancy high rise building in Chicago. The lobby was very nice, very typically Apple, but most of the floor was dark, with empty workspaces.

The interview was about 45 minutes, and it was clear to me they had no idea of what they were doing. I asked why all the workspaces were dark and got some lame answer about reorganization. It never ceases to amaze me how clueless the tech companies are outside of their industry. My Microsoft interview years earlier was the same way. They both saw a potentially huge market but had no idea how to go after it and they viewed the people who DO know how to do it as dinosaurs from the book publishing industry.

They are strange people stuck in their bubble, with their preconceived notions.

[KarateKid]

09:22 AM on 05/19/2011

Someone ought to remind Apple's HR about laws regarding interview questions before they get sued to high heavens.

[guveqzero]

01:50 AM on 05/19/2011

They think they are smart, but they are not. The road they run is cyclic. Soon, they will start to fall.

[mashtoe]

01:56 AM on 05/19/2011

That doesn't mean they are not smart. Smart people fail all the time.

[DanSc]

10:13 PM on 05/18/2011

How willing are you to whip Chinese workers?

[mashtoe]

01:57 AM on 05/19/2011

Good one.

[jflorish]

01:11 PM on 05/18/2011

Interviews should be tough. If I'm interviewing someone and they are going to be working on my team, I would want to make sure they are the right personality and the right technical expertise.

[leorangerie]

12:53 PM on 05/18/2011

Apple is the gold standard for America tech companies. They must be dosing something (in fact, a lot of things) right in their hiring practices. And if they (and Jobs) are such bullies, why do so many people want to work there? I'm sure they don't hand out stock options without performance.

[jsgaetano]

12:14 PM on 05/18/2011

SteveJob likes bullying people.
 
Nothing surprising about that.

[Highball]

01:13 PM on 05/18/2011

He's an intense guy, no question about that.

He'd probably not be the kind of guy you'd want to deal with professionally. On the other hand, he's probably a blast to have a beer with and sit back and watch the game.

But his brilliance has helped change the world's landscape over the past thirty-plus years, for ever single person on the planet. So ... winning (/Charlie Sheen). :)

[jsgaetano]

02:16 PM on 05/18/2011

On the other hand, he's probably a blast to have a beer with and sit back and watch the game.

 
I doubt it.  In fact, I doubt he drinks beer, or watches sports.  I'd imagine him sitting there the entire time, sipping some wine and pecking away at his iPhone, or screaming into it on a phone call.
 

But his brilliance has helped change the world's landscape over the past thirty-plu­s years, for ever single person on the planet.

 
I'd call him a good business man, on par with Bill Gates.  And while both changed the world, I wouldn't put them on the same level as Michelangelo or Descartes or Shakespeare.

[american-dolt]

11:23 AM on 05/18/2011

What is a "Quesitons" ?

These are the people that moderate your comments.

[Highball]

09:51 AM on 05/18/2011

Two things I learned reading that piece:

1) I'm not ever getting a job at Apple.

2) Business Insider desperately needs editors. The number of typos in that piece boggles the mind.

[Starbrite66]

07:28 PM on 06/14/2011

I have been noticing this with that "content provider." Almost looks like some stories are assembled by computer, free of human hands.
Can they do that?

[Sundialsvc4]

09:41 AM on 05/18/2011

Mostly urban legend, I'm afraid. Interviews at Apple are pretty much like any other high-tech interview. Ditto Microsoft, etc.

When techhies are gathered around a cold mug of brew at the end of a day's work, they talk with much bravado about just how hard it was to get to where they are. It's to be expected.

Fact is ... competition for talent is very intense, and companies usually go out of their way to roll out the red carpet(!) for the experienced people that they really want to hire. They know that, if they don't, those people will go next door instead. That's why the cafeteria inside The Loop is so damn good. If they're seriously interested in you, it's probably not "your first job" anyway. You've got a track record, and that track record speaks for you.

There's a big difference, I think, between "what people think it's like" to work at a place like that, and "how it actually is." In the latter category, you're actually "doing work," not tweeting all your friends (or whatever) and saying, "ooh! ooh! I'm working at Apple!" (Well, if you ARE doing that, you're doing it on your own time.) You've got to have a cohesive team assembled.

Companies that tried too hard to "set the bar high" quickly discovered, somewhat to their chagrin, that even a very indifferent individual can be "very good at passing a test," but not worth a tinker's dam thereafter.

[Sundialsvc4]

09:48 AM on 05/18/2011

P.S.: Jobs doesn't interview anyone, except for the Executive Team.

[barkingcat]

09:28 AM on 05/18/2011

"Quesitons"...?

[LawrenceRoth]

09:22 AM on 05/18/2011

Jobs: Are you a virgin?
Interviewe­e: I don't talk sex with boys that name their companies after a fruit.

[LawrenceRoth]

09:21 AM on 05/18/2011

Jobs: Are you a virgin?
Interviewe­e: Do you find me sexy?

[Starbrite66]

07:29 PM on 06/14/2011

heh

[LawrenceRoth]

09:19 AM on 05/18/2011

Does virginity determine work ethic? Too bad the interviewee didn't have a good sense of humor.

Jobs: Are you a virgin?

Interviewee: Are you?

[WasteNJ]

09:17 AM on 05/18/2011

Top 5 Apple interview questions:

1. Do you agree to accept Steve Jobs as your Lord and Savior?
2. Do you agree that the end user has no rights?
3. Do you agree to suppress information about product flaws for up to one year, or until the next OS update, whichever comes first?
4. Do you agree not to leave the next prototype iPhone in a bar?
5. Do you agree to name your firstborn child after an Apple product? (assuming you are not a virgin)

Company First! Loyalty Without Question! That Is The Apple Way!