Walking into an interview with the hopes of landing a job at Apple is not an easy task. Most interviewees are a bundle of nerves when they’re asked to compete for a position with a prestigious organization like Apple. The best way to ensure your best performance during an interview with Apple is to prepare accordingly.
To begin your preparation process, read through the following 15 common Apple interview questions to start figuring out your answers.
What is your favorite Apple product and why?
There are many purposes to an interview. The hiring manager wants to understand who the applicant is as a person, their past professional accomplishments, and where they’re hoping that their career will take them. However, Apple interviewers will also be curious to know how much you know about their company and products.
Since Apple is a widely recognized brand globally, the hiring manager will be looking for an answer that’s a little deeper than “I like iPhones.”
Explain features of the product that you find especially useful or reasons why it’s a necessity in your daily life. Be sure to pick a product that you’re comfortable talking about in a back-and-forth discussion.
Example Answer:
My favorite Apple product by far is the MacBook Air. Over the past fifteen years, I’ve owned two MacBook Airs, and the devices continually exceeded my expectations. It has an incredible Retina display and excellent security features. I’ve brought this laptop on long trips in my backpack and worked on it for days on end in my apartment. Anywhere I need to go, the Air can easily be transported to. It gives me more freedom in my life to do my work on the go. Additionally, I like that the MacBook Air is environmentally friendly and recyclable.
Why do you want to work for Apple?
There are thousands of people who want to work for the multi-billion dollar corporation Apple.
While recruiters from Apple know that there is an overwhelming desire to work for the company, they’re more interested in why this is the case. To gain insights into why an applicant was motivated to apply for Apple, the hiring manager usually asks a question like this.
While there are probably quite a few reasons why you’re attracted to a position working for Apple, choose the most strategic motivations to discuss. The hiring manager will be looking for a more involved answer than stating you want money or need a job.
Example Answer:
There are two main reasons that I want to work for Apple. First of all, Apple is known to have an extremely supportive work environment that genuinely cares about its employee’s career growth. I want to be part of a team that will help me pursue my career development for years to come, and Apple seems like the perfect place for that. Also, Apple provides its employees with a work-life balance that I believe would foster my best professional output. All in all, it seems that working for Apple would help me be the best employee I can.
What is your proudest accomplishment?
An applicant’s professional accomplishments are an excellent barometer for the heights that their career has gone to. In addition, it shows the achievements that Apple can expect of them if they’re hired.
Choose an accomplishment relevant to the position you’re applying for and demonstrates you as a noteworthy candidate that could bring a lot to the table.
Example Answer:
My proudest accomplishment thus far in my career has been managing a successful marketing project for a multi-million dollar campaign. I worked for the same company for five years as a junior marketer, and I gained a lot of experience during that time. My supervisors noticed and decided to present me with a huge opportunity to lead a team of ten on a new campaign. The project spanned half a year, and I played a much larger role than I ever had before. I ended up thriving in the supervisory position, and the campaign saw an even more profitable turnaround than anticipated.
Tell me about your greatest failure and what you learned from it.
While many interviewees are keen to speak about all the incredible things they’ve accomplished in their careers, a hiring manager for Apple also wants to know about the failures you’ve endured. Specifically, the interviewer wants to know how you learned from the experience and became better for it.
When deciding on a failure to discuss during an Apple interview, pick a situation that ended with a positive outcome.
Example Answer:
My greatest failure happened while working at my last job. I was employed as a customer service manager and supervising a team of 20 employees. A particular employee named Sarah wasn’t doing their job up to par, but I continued to keep her on because we’d built a positive rapport. As a manager, I knew it was my responsibility to ensure that every employee worked to their full potential, but I let her fly under the radar.
Eventually, I started getting an influx of complaints, specifically about Sarah. I hadn’t intervened yet, and now it was impacting the customers. This was a massive failure in my mind, but I immediately took action. I told Sarah that she was officially on a probationary period for the next month and needed to improve or expect termination. The strict management style felt out of my comfort zone, but it ended up improving the situation dramatically, and her performance completely turned around. Nevertheless, the experience taught me that some situations require sternness as the best form of management.
Explain to me what a modem and router are as if I’m an eight-year-old child.
Even if you’re applying for a job with Apple that’s not inherently technical, like a customer service position, the company wants to know that the candidate is still familiar with this type of information and conveying it.
Example Answer:
If I were describing what a modem and router are to an eight-year-old, I’d say that the combination of the two items brings the internet into their home. The modem is a box that pulls the internet into the home by connecting with an internet company. The router is the mechanism that sends this internet power around the home’s computers and is where the WiFi comes from. The two work together to power a home’s internet supply.
What do you hope to be doing five years from now?
When Apple is hiring for an open position, they want to know where candidates see themselves over the next few years. It helps them understand if the applicant plans to grow within the Apple company or use it as a stepping stone for moving on to other opportunities.
While it’s impossible to know the future for sure, make your best-educated guess at where you’ll be in your career five years from now. Steer clear of cheesy answers like “I hope that I’ll be your boss!”. A respectable company like Apple wants candidates who demonstrate thorough planning skills and seriousness about their careers.
Example Answer:
Throughout my career, I’ve been working towards taking on more supervisory responsibilities. With that being said, I hope that five more years of work will solidify this goal and that I’ll be working at the management level of the Apple corporation. I plan to prove my worth during that time and demonstrate why I’d be an effective supervisor for Apple.
Describe a time that you went above and beyond for a customer.
The Apple company values itself as a brand that goes to any lengths necessary to meet its customer’s expectations. As such, the brand expects the employees that they hire to uphold these values.
In an Apple interview, you’ll likely receive some questions about your customer service skills like this one. Be prepared to discuss your experience in this area even if the job you’re hoping to get doesn’t deal with customers too much.
Example Answer:
When I was working at my very first job as a retail sales associate for a major luxury clothing line, I was handling an average of 100 or more customers every day. A woman had come in and was looking for an outfit to wear to her daughter’s wedding. She was very picky and wanted an associate to help her hold and go through all her options. I ended up spending nearly an hour working with her to find the perfect outfit, but in the end, she left an excellent comment about me with my manager.
How would you handle a co-worker who was distracting you?
Certain scenarios occur in most workplaces, even at a company that’s as massive as Apple. One of those typical professional scenarios is dealing with a distracting or frustrating co-worker.
While this circ*mstance can happen, Apple wants to be sure that the candidate they choose to hire is prepared to handle this type of scenario professionally.
When answering this kind of question, it can be helpful to outline a similar situation that’s happened to you in the past. Describe what happened, how you handled it, and what the eventual outcome was.
Example Answer:
I’ve worked with a wide array of personalities before, and sometimes even the ones that I like can be distracting in the workplace. I think the best way to handle this circ*mstance when it arises is by moving forward with direct and professional communication.
For example, in a former position, I worked with a co-worker with whom I was friends outside of work and constantly talked to me when I was trying to accomplish my daily tasks. It began to get extremely distracting, so I ended up explaining to my co-worker plainly that I needed to focus during business hours and that I’d be happy to chat after work or at lunch. He understood, apologized, and the situation improved dramatically.
Have you ever disagreed with one of your supervisors? How did you handle the situation?
Another situation that can commonly occur in the workplace is an employee disagreeing with their supervisor. At Apple, they want to make sure that they’re hiring a candidate who is prepared to take on this occurrence professionally and effectively while maintaining a positive teamwork environment.
To figure out how an applicant might handle tough situations, like disagreeing with their boss, the hiring manager for Apple will ask a question like this one.
Don’t just brush over this question by stating that you’ve never disagreed with your boss before. Even if it were a situation that happened in your first job, the hiring manager would be looking for your interpersonal skills in handling the situation. It looks bad if you try to avoid the question as opposed to outlining a legitimate circ*mstance.
Example Answer:
Yes, I’ve disagreed with a supervisor before. An instance that comes to mind was in my last job. I was working on a project with a team of ten other individuals being supervised by one member of higher management. The supervisor was insistent on keeping the costs of our project low, but I believed she had set the bar too low for the project to be feasible. So I wrote up a presentation about why I thought the budget should be adjusted despite the supervisor’s goals. The supervisor responded positively to my suggestion and ended up raising the budget by $100,000.
What would you do if a customer came in with an iPhone that wasn’t working?
While Apple follows a specific protocol for customers who come in with malfunctioning devices, they still want to know what a candidate’s immediate instincts would be in this situation. When responding to this question, try to speak about your actions as a series of steps that you plan to take. This makes it easier for the hiring manager to follow.
Example Answer:
If a customer came into the Apple store with an iPhone that wasn’t working properly, I’d take a few distinct steps to solve the problem. Firstly, I would ask the customer about the history of their device with questions like when they got it, where it was bought and if it’s had any issues in the past. Next, I’d figure out exactly what the malfunction was to get a better idea of what the cause might be. Then, if it’s something in my range of knowledge, I will troubleshoot the issue with them. Otherwise, if it’s outside my expertise, I will present the customer with their options for sending the device to the Apple warehouse. Throughout the entire interaction, I would remain solution-oriented.
Name three accessibility features that are available on the iPhone.
This is another question that will put a candidate’s knowledge of Apple products to the test. However, the inquisition goes a little deeper to quiz their familiarity with a device’s accessibility features. Name a few attributes that come to mind to demonstrate your knowledge of Apple features.
Example Answer:
Three accessibility features that come to mind as available on today’s iPhone are the magnifier, text size alteration, and the digital assistant Siri.
Why should we hire you?
It’s natural to feel a little uneasy when a hiring manager looks you dead in the eyes and states the obvious question – why should they hire you? It’s direct enough to be unnerving, but answering this question well and selling yourself effectively can be the push needed to get you a job offer at Apple.
When responding to this question, list the strengths that will make you stand out from the pack of other promising candidates who want to work for Apple. Then, try to tie these skills to qualities required or requested for the position you’re interviewing for.
Example Answer:
You should hire me for this position because my character, skills, and experience match the type of candidate that Apple is looking for in this position. As requested by the job posting, I’ve had five years of experience as a product specialist in the technology field and superb customer service and communication skills. Additionally, I have a knack for problem-solving and positivity, which I believe would be extremely useful in this role.
If you accepted a job with Apple, what would you miss most about your current position?
While this question might come across as initially unrelated to the interview, Apple hiring managers ask it with intention. They want to understand what aspects of your job, field, and former company you enjoy and what you would respond to positively. It also demonstrates how you’ll speak about a past employer.
Be sure to maintain professionalism when answering this question and speaking about former jobs.
Example Answer:
If I were offered this opportunity to work with Apple, I would be absolutely thrilled, but I’d also miss certain things about my current position. Mainly, I would miss my amazing co-workers and supervisors at my former place of employment because I grew a great working relationship with them.
What does your current availability look like?
In addition to asking about your working experience in the past, a hiring manager for Apple wants to gather what your availability for the future will look like. Of course, being asked this question doesn’t automatically mean that you’ve been chosen for the job, but it’s a step in the right direction.
Provide an accurate picture of your current availability if you were offered the job.
Example Answer:
Currently, I have open availability to take on a new professional opportunity with Apple. I’d be available to work a full-time 40-hour schedule with the possibility of overtime or weekends if required.
Do you have any questions for me?
To close an interview with an Apple hiring manager, you’ll usually be asked if you have any questions for them. This isn’t a simple throwaway request, and your answer will tell the recruiter a lot about you. Walk into the interview prepared with good questions to ask at the end of the discussion.
Example Answer:
Yes, I do have two questions for you. My first question is, what is your favorite thing about being an employee for Apple? Secondly, I was wondering who I will be reporting to in this position and if I’ll get a chance to meet them?
