Glassdoor is your free inside look at Apple interview questions and advice. All 1,486 interview reviews posted anonymously by Apple employees and interview candidates.
No Offer – Interviewed in Cupertino, CA Apr 2013 – Reviewed Jun 8, 2013 New
Interview Details –
I had a phone interview with the hiring manager. It was a pleasant experience but definitely not easy. One thing that Apple seems to lay an emphasize on during interviews is that the candidate knows materials and beam theory.
Regarding materials one should definitely know: Density, Youngs Modulus, Yield Strength, Ultimate Tensile Strength and Thermal Conductivity of Aluminum, Steel, Copper, Magnesium and Titanium. If possible have a table in front of you during any kind of phone interview and know them by heart for the interview.
Regarding beam theory one should know how, length, width and height of the beam affect deflection of a cantilever beam and how to calculate the moment of inertia for an I-Beam.
As a result I was invited to further interview at their headquarters. I was scheduled to interview with more than 10 people in one day, most if not all of which are graduates of the likes of Stanford, MIT etc. Everybody was friendly but nevertheless tough.
Among the challenges were: Motorcycle pump. One of the engineers laid the components of a motorcycle pump in front of me and had me explain how they were manufactured and what materials they were made of. Then he had me assemble the pump and figure out what it does, since he did not tell me it was a motorcycle pump.
Some of the questions were technical others were totally non technical and probably came from riddle books:
- You have a room full of 100 helium filled balloons at its ceiling. They are too high for you to touch. If you have all the powers in the world, tell me 40 ways to remove the balloons based on the laws of physics.
- You have 2 ropes of similar length that burn unevenly fast but both take 60 minutes each to completely burn. You have an infinite number of matches. How can you use the ropes to time exactly 45 minutes?
- Also it is good to know the RSS and Monte Carlo algorithm for tolerance stack up analysis and to know when to use which (RSS when all components have same CPK, Monte Carlo when the components involved have different CPK)
My biggest gripe with the interviewing process is that I was promised expense reimbursement following the interview. It has been more than 2 months since and I am still waiting, giving me serious reason to believe there is no intention to reimburse me.
Interview Question – You have a room full of 100 helium filled balloons at its ceiling. They are too high for you to touch. If you have all the powers in the world, tell me 40 ways to remove the balloons based on the laws of physics. Answer Question
Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Charleston, SC Jul 2012 – Reviewed Jun 9, 2013 New
Interview Details – They email you twice before a phone interview. Make sure you have the requirements to work from home. Then 3 phone interviews and a FaceTime or Skype interview. During your time, you must pass 3 test to keep the job. If you fail, they fire you.
Interview Question – How would you troubleshoot email issues. View Answer
Accepted Offer – Reviewed Jun 12, 2013 New
Interview Details – you interview with an assistant manager, then a store manager, then store leader, then the district manager. not only are you interviewed for what you know, but its about who you are and how you answer them. passion and excitement is key, but also making what you say meaningful to the conversation is equally as important. embrace the culture apple has, use that as your guide. tell as story, make them laugh, or even cry, but make it true and make it you. its not only about explaining why an i5 is better or worse than i7, its how its relevant to that person and what solution makes it better for the customer experience. if you get hired externally, watch out. expert is a coveted position and some people feel that they deserve it, but push through it. remember adversity causes some to break, and some to break records! be a record breaker, be different, thats why you're interviewing. bring your abilites to the table and dont be afraid to show them like i did (i got hired externally). if the managers think you have the potential, then you do and ignore the haters, if you dont get start as specialist and work up the ladder!
Interview Question – nothing too difficult if you know about the product, just brush up on gsm/cdma activations in case they ask you, explaining applecare and one to one so know those benefits. remember dont explain it like you're talking to me, explain it like your talking to your grandma and grandpa Answer Question
Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Apr 2013 – Reviewed Jun 11, 2013 New
Interview Details – There were four interviews to get the job, each with different people. It was nerve wracking, but everyone was very nice and seemed to genuinely care about hiring me.
Interview Question – If you were the manager of the store, what would you change? View Answer
No Offer – Interviewed in Cupertino, CA Apr 2013 – Reviewed Jun 11, 2013 New
Interview Details – Phone interview with Hiring Manager and HR. The Hiring Manager felt that I was a very good fit for the position, so she arranged an onsite interview right away. On site interview lasted 1/2 a day and met with 7 managers for 30 min each.
Interview Question – One of the managers asked me to conduct the interview in my conversation level Chinese. Imagine trying to find translation for "inventory", "supply chain", "demand generation", "turns". Answer Question
No Offer – Interviewed in New York, NY Mar 2013 – Reviewed Jun 10, 2013 New
Interview Details –
Phone interview:
1. Introduce yourself
2. Talk about your team work experience
3. Talk about your team leader experience
4. Explain your working/research experience
Accepted Offer – Interviewed in New York, NY Jul 2011 – Reviewed Jun 8, 2013 New
Interview Details – In this order: online application, e-mail, phone interview, phone call, in person interview with specialized manager, phone call, in person interview with second-to-highest manager, phone call with job. Final phone call was a bit anxious, as the setup was general self-promoting feedback, sounding like I didn't get the job. Phone call with HR at the regional level was encouraging; make sure you seem like you want their positive feedback and they'll give more of it (and then use it for in-store interviewing...). Also, focus on transferable skills.
Interview Question – How many Apple products do you own? (For those not interested in a technical position) View Answer
Negotiation Details – None.
Declined Offer – Reviewed May 29, 2013
Interview Details – Multi-step process, took two months from initial contact throgh three technical interviews. I was at the end turned down after the executive-level interview. The interviewers were mostly very smart, asking very good questions. The interviews were 30 minutes long, so I got totalk to a lot of people. Overall, an enjoyable experience.
Declined Offer – Interviewed in San Francisco, CA Sep 2011 – Reviewed Jun 7, 2013 New
Interview Details – Filled application online. Group interview two times ( group interview of 25, then 4). All four of us got hired.
Interview Question – What/where do you see yourself doing/at five years from now? Answer Question
Accepted Offer – Reviewed Jun 7, 2013 New
Interview Details – Hiring and interview process is lengthy but is in place to ensure we higher only the best candidates.
Interview Question – Tell me about a time you have failed. Answer Question
Negotiation Details – Straight forward, hourly retail position.
Would you like us to review something? Please describe the problem with this {0} and we will look into it.
We're sorry but your feedback didn't make it to the team. Your input is valuable to us – would you mind trying again?
The difficulty rating is the average interview difficulty rating across all interview candidates.
The interview experience is the percentage of all interview candidates that said their interview experience was positive, neutral, or negative.
Your response will be removed from the review – this cannot be undone.
Copyright © 2008–2013, Glassdoor. All Rights Reserved. Your use of this service is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy & Cookies Policy. Glassdoor ® is a registered trademark of Glassdoor, Inc.
Simply post an anonymous review for a recent interview experience or current/former employer. Your post is anonymous – and if you're worried someone will be able to identify your review, you can even post without telling us your job title and location. Learn More.
No thanks – I'll just look around