Pros

Easy, Laid back environment, Good discounts and benefits, Low stress, not a job where you have to take the work home with you, get paid for something you would probably do for free

Cons

seemingly arbitrary promotions to under qualified persons. outside of work, EVERYONE complains about their ipod or computer to you which you dont get paid for

Advice to Senior Management

some of the management there only cares about sales, and not the apple culture whereas others do not care to learn about the products we sell. you should be knowledgeable about every part of the business/products, and not manage with $'s in mind

Pros

I love working at Apple because of the employees the company hires. You have the opportunity to network with people from all walks of life with different experiences. Also, the work environment is very laid back. Apple does not condemn tattoos or wild hair styles, it actually encourages them. Apple really tries to go out of its way to make its employees feel appreciated.

Cons

Being a part-timer, your hours can fluctuate between 5 to 28 hours in a given week. Also, it sometimes hard to move from retail to corporate. There are no benefits, other than 401K plans, that are available to part-time employees.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep up the great work!

Pros

Making world class products is really great - there is a strong job satisfaction component from being able to take my grandma to the Apple store and SHOW her my products.

Cons

Project cancellations, unreasonable requirements for implementing solutions. We do make some great stuff, but is that a good enough reason to burn people out?

Advice to Senior Management

The company is getting bigger all the time. I guess that's a good thing, but the projects and requirements are getting sillier all the time too.

Pros

Very talented group of people, with good creative abilities. Not a lot of politics or disingenuous behavior in my particular workgroup.

Cons

Sometimes very myopic about what the outside world really looks like and what competitors bring to market. Overly conservative and introspective in planning and strategy.

Advice to Senior Management

More investment in projects with longer return windows; be more proactive in understanding future competition and taking it into consideration as part of operational planning.

Pros

Fun working environment.
Good benefits and discounts.

Cons

Working in retail.
To much stuff I want to buy

Advice to Senior Management

None.

Pros

There are no solid rules about what your job is, so as long as you get your work done right you can kind of make it up as you go along. This gives a lot of flexibility to peruse the aspects of the job that interest you. People at Apple are smart and dedicated; they're there because they enjoy the work. The work is action, not talk, because there's no time to waste.

Cons

The converse of everything I said above is that there's an extreme lack of planning (positive spin: "Our company can turn on a dime!") or policy (positive spin: "Work how you want, when you want."). As great as flexibility can be, sometimes set policies are good so people actually know what to do. It sure doesn't hurt to make solid plans more than a few days in advance when a project has a 6-12 month schedule. Last-minute changes are the norm, and many a hair-pulling night has been spent cleaning up messes created by others' lack of planning.

Advice to Senior Management

An environment where workers are literally afraid to send bad news up the management chain leads to huge problems down the road. Management says they're open to comments and criticism, but when things go wrong, all they want to know is why it wasn't fixed yesterday. This isn't magic, people!

Pros

You will work with some of the most talented, skilled and amazing people in the world, with some fantastic products. Fun, exciting environment. Great products, and for a retail store, best in the world.

Cons

That said, your work / life balance will be absolutely terrible. Managers are demanded all the time, and its on you to make sure a roll out, launch, or initiative succeeds. Often times, a day off is a joke, with plenty of emails and phone calls for follow up or other things of the sort. Apple controls communications, so often times, you're making special trips to work to do things, and due to the secretive nature of the company, you're often given very little lead time to get things in place. Rearranged schedules are the norm. PTO is a pain in the ass to schedule. Tough to see the "next move" once you've reached management, the limited number of stores is also a built-in challenge to that.

Advice to Senior Management

Give your Managers a more detailed career path. Give them something to skill and train for, as well as encourage them. Not much positive feedback, always scrambling to put out a fire or deal with a situation, consider some rewards for the managers too. It's a great place to work when it's working correctly, or it's not a launch time, find the "magic" that the stores had years ago.

Pros

Paid transit subsidiary
Slightly above average pay for retail

Cons

Your availability has to be extremely open
Difficult to move up
No set schedule

Advice to Senior Management

Provide a clearer career path

Pros

Excellent Benefits Package
Decent wage
QPromo, EPP, ESPP, Friends and family discounts
Inside technical information, software and hardware to play with
Great co-workers
Street cred

Cons

Customers (complaints)
NetPromoter
Points system (call in sick, 1 point, more than 6 minutes late, 1 point. Accumulate too many points during a quarter and you're fired)
Butt-kissing gets you promoted faster than doing actual work
"GAPple" management
Non-apple new-hires that don't get any training
Lack of space

Advice to Senior Management

Value your long-term employees. Compensate them fairly, give them the credit they deserve to do their jobs well and provide excellent service. Value your customer, without them we are nothing. Train your employees. Listen to your employee feedback and act upon it. Get rid of the "points" system. Be available and on the floor - not in the office with the door closed. Be an example, motivate your employees instead of always telling them what they are doing wrong or could do better, celebrate what they do RIGHT. Give more positive feedback. Reward great work. Don't turn Apple Retail into Circuit City.

Pros

The people that work at Apple are wonderful and it is good fun. If money or long time career aspirations aren't important then it might be a good place to work. Probably would be a good place for a college student living at home looking for some extra bucks, or retiree's that can't bring home too much for fear of upsetting the balance with Social Security.

Cons

I worked there for nearly a year and half and it is a good place to work, although if you need to raise a family it won't pay near enough. The only way to get out of the measly salary is through management and they don't have a clear path to follow if that is the direction you wish to pursue. If you move from one area to another they will not match your salary and will make you go through the interview process again. Also, they have gone from an easy going educational sort of salesperson to the entire concentration being on making your numbers (solutions). If you don't make your numbers (selling the ad on's) then you won't be promoted to full time and you will be subject to pressure from the bosses to sell, sell, sell those solutions! Even when you make it to full-time the pressure is intense to sell those ad on's. It's a major competition with no real rewards for making your numbers - other than the ASM's getting bonus' on your behalf. Of course, they won't share that with the employee's. Also, you need to enjoy working weekends and nights.

Advice to Senior Management

You will continue to lose good people unless you concentrate on the internal workings of the Company. People want and need good communication and career advancing goals and paths. If Steve Jobs had any idea how some of the local managers operated, they probably wouldn't be there for long. It used to be a great place to work, but not any longer. It is getting easier and easier to get a job at Apple. Also, at the Apple where I worked you have to love to hear swearing - it's commonplace from the Manager down.