Apple Reviews

Pros

Organized structure for retail environment
Great Discounts
Free software
Fun co-workers
Flexible schedule

Cons

Pay
Customers are very ill informed and rude often giving up at NOTHING in getting what they want
Most stores have 6+ managers, not all take leadership responsibilities the same
Hour unpaid lunch
retail = working till 10pm, holidays and weekends

Advice to Senior Management

Recognize top performers and redesign attendance policies

Pros

Good money. Excellent benefit. People are very smart and work extremely hard. Nice environment as well. A great place for any level of employees.

Cons

Too busy and too many meetings. Not too much time to improve yourself. Schedule is tight and deadline is always there.

Advice to Senior Management

Wonderul management and great pay. Only thing needs to address is to have more fun and less stressful for every one. Have a better balance of work and life.

Pros

Fun place to work
Meet lots of cool people
Part time benefits are very generous
Great flexibility (for part timers anyway)
Decent salary for retail
Annual raises for good reveiw

Cons

Management treats EVERYONE like they're a teenager
Salary not enough for what they expect
Lots of ambiguity-rules change constantly and you're expected to know all the changes
If you don't know something youre mocked for it
Information not shared freely among co-workers. Everyone wants to be "the star"
You think we'd get some free products sometime for meeting goals. Never happens.

Advice to Senior Management

We know you're trying to be consistent, but there is a huge difference between an 18 year old and a 46 year old! Do not treat us as such. Encourage more knowledge sharing and don't make people feel stupid for asking questions even if you think they should know the answer.

Pros

Great Leadership. Flat org. Always working with the "A" level people in whatever discipline. It was well stabled there was a true caring for the lives and balance of work life here.

Cons

Tendency to get folks to work to the breaking point before they get support.

Advice to Senior Management

Work harder at anticipating burn out. Look to be more competitive with the wages.

Pros

The desire to educate people about technology in a way that meets their needs is unparalleled. The use of technology to streamline customer service is outstanding. The people who work for Apple really do want to "change the world."

Cons

Technology is still male-focused, and as a result there is a much larger of percentage of male employees, although Apple doesn't shy away from moving women into management positions. The path to promotion within the company is not clear, and the process is extremely complex and depends almost entirely on the ability of the management staff to organize and provide feedback.

Advice to Senior Management

Be more honest about the sales factor and less idealistic about "saving the world" and people will be much less likely to be disappointed or disillusioned.

Pros

The culture was was amazing. Everyone saw the vision the company created and wanted others to see the same vision through the product that was offered.

Cons

In my experience, it was the management that was shaky. There were great managers, and then there were the ones that had no idea how to manage at all.

Advice to Senior Management

Make sure these individuals whom lead up the stores take the time to go through thorough personality training and communication training .

Pros

Great products and people. Solid management structure and overall company direction. Great opportunities to develop career skills for other employers.

Cons

Low wages. Low wages. Low wages. So yeah, low wages coupled with little opportunity for career advancement out of retail into Apple corporate makes for an extremely high turnover ratio.

Advice to Senior Management

Pay the retail employees more! Seriously... twice as much across the board. It would hardly make a dent in your cash horde. They maintain Apple's high social capital through their daily interactions with the public, but are not compensated accordingly.

Pros

Innovation, The Apple Shuttle, Apple gym and Cafe Macs

Cons

long hours, competitive culture, separation among the ivy league schools

Advice to Senior Management

nothing really...

Pros

Loved the customer interaction. Loved my coworkers.

Cons

No room for advancement. They do not promot from within. They hire managers from other stores and hae them take a pay cut.

Advice to Senior Management

Do not promise advancement if that is not the "apple" way. i was promised a managerial position within 3 months. I found out once I was hired that they do not promote from within.

Pros

Great products, fun interactions with customers. The team you work with is carefully selected and fun to be around. Days pass quickly during busy times, which is almost all of the time.

Cons

Too many people start working for Apple Retail thinking it's a career job. It's not. Even if your aspiration is to manage a retail store, you'll have to go get experience elsewhere before Apple will promote you to that position. Pay is about average for retail work, but you will sell significantly more product than just about anywhere else. It will become a bit discouraging to know you are working for the most valuable company on the planet and all of your hard work is rewarded with some cheap trinket during the holidays.