Do you really think they’d pay a Business Specialist less than $25 an hour? I was shocked to find out there was no commission!

Your post is awesome btw. I learned quite a bit.

Cheer’s
SSenthil

NEVER WORK FOR DAN NORMAN!!! YOU WILL REGRET IT!!!

FYI- go to restroom before seminar begins
No breaks, wish they had one cause I had to take a massive dump.

Sooo, I recently had my 4th interview with the store leader @ the apple store. The interview was great! The atmosphere was very energetic which led to a lot of enthusiastic and insightful discourse about our lives and the possibilities of my future with the company!! The store leader said that they want me for their store, but need to work out details. They also added that I would hear something at the end of the week at the latest, due to the holidays and other various tasks.

My concern is this; after reading various experiences on a multitude of message boards, a common thread revealed itself to me. If you don’t get offered a position/ opportunity right away, you’re out of the running… Is this true?!

Thanks for your time!

First of all thank you for all your comments, very useful article. Next week I have an interview by Face Time with Apple (at present I am living in China) for a Business Specialist position in Spain. My background includes an International MBA, experience as Key Account Manager here in China, and also previous experience in Marketing & Sales in Spain (managing Wholesale and Retail). Do you have any colleague with similar profile? any recommendation when talking about salary? thanks in advance

Unfortunately they do not, but their products are all out in the open for you to play with if you want to stay in the store yourself. You could also request from your team leaders some time to spend on the products, or have a mentor walk you through some important things you feel unclear on.

Good luck

Worked on a 3TB USB 3.0 drive.

Wish me luck ! =)

Sometimes you will get an exact hard drive space as advertised but I doubt I’ll see one in my lifetime. Even Ipods and mp3 players, and! USB thumb drives are the same way! Thats just how it is people.

For those having problems with the firmware update that the author provided just go to the WD website or google “WD Firmware Updater” and download the lastest one and it will work and it will update any type of external WD Hard drive.

To the author, thanks for the help and information.

and oh yeah, me and Gary and doing donuts at the bowling alley parking lot tonight if you wanna head over and get down with us

-Jonny

Hi XXXX,

After reviewing your resume, I would like to invite you to our invitation-only hiring event for Toronto Market for Apple Retail.

Blah blah blah….as the letter states…

WHEN:
Event Date:

Event URL: Click here to RSVP <——- here's my problem! my RSVP link comes up with " This is invitation only event" — Did i just get punked!! or what!! I applied for 2 positions on their website about 2 months ago… & NOW!! FINALLY but of course! i can't seem to even click to RSVP!!

I am not sure if anyone has had the same issue or knows who I might be able to contact. I wanted to be proactive – so i replied back to the email i received, except I'm not sure if its the right thing to do!?
Can someone please shed some light on this….

Thanks!

Instructions for Mac, PC, & Mac/PC below:

-So, I don’t know if this will work if you’ve already installed the software, but I’m fairly certain it will. I reformatted the drive (on a mac) with Disk Utility (Applications–>Utilities–>Disk Utilities) to a 1 Partition Volume Scheme. Reformatting DELETES EVERYTHING from your drive so make sure you move anything off it before doing this. Instructions on how to do this (for Mac, PC, & Mac/PC) are included in below link.

-After reformatting, write the entire disk with zeros (instructions here for Mac, PC, and Mac/PC [I split the link to get it to post here] http://thelightroomlab. com/2009/01/formatting-an-external-hard-drive/). Seems like it removed the SmartWare completely off the drive, though there is still about 400MB being used by something. Warning: writing zeros to the drive takes a LONG time. For my 2TB drive it took about 20 HOURS.

For those of you concerned about why your 2TB drive is showing up at 1.8TB or your 100GB is showing up as 93GB, etc., this has very little to do with the software. WD advertises a 1 TB drive as 1 TB because it has 1 trillion bytes on it. To the layperson 1 trillion bytes=1 TB. For some reason or other though, 1 TB in the computer world is 1 trillion 99 million something bytes (1,099,511,627,776). The latter is what your computer reads so it ends up showing 900GBs instead of 1TB despite the fact that you’re still getting those 1 trillion bytes of storage. In other words: SMARTWARE IS NOT EATING UP 10% OF YOUR DRIVE. This is simply the way ALL computer storage is advertised and sold.

Good luck. Let me know if this works for anyone.

Thanks

Hopefully I’m not too late. I’m not really allowed to talk on forums at this point, but if you shoot me your email I’d love to help out!

I called Koodo again and asked associate that I like to speak with a manager. Associate could not able to pass my call to a manager. He passed my phone call to another Supervisor name Joyce. I asked Supervisor that I like to make a complain about customer service and need to speak with a manager. According to her manager are not available and she is willing to provide a complain email and offer me to help with the situation.
By the time, I am with my phone over 90 minutes calling here and there. I provided her my account information. She called Best Buy and found that we returned the product on May 28, 2011. She called Collection Agency and confirmed that the account balance is $0.00. The whole process took another 75 minutes. According to Joyce “We does not need any fax for receipt to confirmed product return. We can call and verified the information”.

Maybe they are really looking forward to find ‘Green People’ – unexperienced with retail industry or customer service.

Anyway won’t give up. I will try another time.

Good luck!

Tomas

I wore trainers (smart one), blue V neck sweater and sand colour trousers.

I’m sorry you had a bad experience – it happens, I can’t comment on this particular situation, but I can tell you that after a recent car accident where a door of mine had to be replaced, they re-did the tint job on that additional window for just $25, kept me very happy – I actually had a similar situation where one window had to be redone due to a little bubbling, and they did it no questions asked, and it looked great afterwards.

Sorry for your trouble :\

Marc

I’m INCREDIBLY wowed by how much response this post has gotten, to tell you the truth I’ve been working on a follow up article with a lot of questions answered (by people who have been emailing me). I’m also going to go through all of these comments and answer any outstanding questions or comments that have been left. I know it’s been a long time since I’ve added to the blog, but I’m planning on getting heavily back into it, hope to help!

Marc

I went to the good old hiring seminar. I dressed in a nice pair of slacks and a nice button up shirt. When i arrived I felt VERY overdressed. We watched all of the same Apple is amazing videos and got all of the same your lucky to be here talks. We were broken into groups of 5 and given an Ipad that had a couple of senario based questions and everyone in the group answered. Try to relate your answer around working in a team Apple seems to like the whole team atmosphere.

I was called the next day and asked if i wanted to do a second interview the next day. For this one I pretty much was in the same type of attire. This time it was just me and another person with some managers for some of the stores in the region. The other person had an Masters in Business Administration and me with just retail management experience. The first set of interviews went really well and I had more real world experience the the person with the MBA. The second interview that day went south fast the other candidate stole all my answers my being the person who can lie on the fly i got by. None the less I felt like my Apple quest was over.

Two days later I got another call asking me to come in for a interview with the “VP” of the region. Needless to say i was super excited. For this interview i went a lot more casual. I wore a pair of dark wash jeans with a polo shirt. I arrived at the interview along with 4 other people. It felt more like a formality and i even snuck a look at the paper one of the managers had. They had all ready planned out what store they wanted us at FT/PT. After the interview the “VP” said we would be contacted that following Monday. I waited around my phone all day jumping anytime someone called only not to get the call I wanted. Tuesday goes by same deal. Next two days go by and still nothing. By Friday im all ready counting it out and upset because I cant even get the lousy rejection email. Six PM that night i get a call telling me i had got the job and apologizing for the long wait.

I’ve only been to the first couple days of the super classified training, Not to bad i guess I’ve worked retail for long time so most things are just a repet.

Pay is decent for my area i guess. I’m a department manager at the company i worked for before and only make about a buck less.

Seems like apple can give two cents about you being an Apple Fan Boy and bragging about how you have a MBP,IPHONE 4, IPAD 2, etc. I feel like there looking for people with common sense and who can learn there way to “arrive at a solution” the apple way.

Good Luck to all would post my email to extend help. But Big Brother is watching

Firstly, I would like to thank Marc and rest of the guys for sharing their experience, it is really helpful and supportive. I actually attended the seminar yesterday in London, I really do want to get into Business Specialist position, I have Computer Engineering background with 2 years experience as Software professional and recently completed my MBA. After the seminar the manager did advice to expect a call back or email on or before Monday. Marc did mention he got a call back very next day. I have no expectation it makes me feel better as no expectation no disappointment…! Could you please help me and explain what will the next rounds after seminar? What can I expect or prepare? As I heard all positions share the same base line a common seminar. When do we mention about what we are looking for? Please advise. Many thanks, Aby.

I’ve found everyone’s info here to be AWESOME and very helpful, so thank you guys.

Aug 31, 2011 Got an email saying they are moving forward with other candidates. Oh well. Would’ve liked to have gotten an interview or two from of it.

GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL!

Kevin – I wore slacks, button up shirt, tie and dress shoes. I dressed to impress from the start and didn’t slack on my style through all 3 of my interviews. A lot of people says this might be overdressing, but honestly you are there to impress them. If you can stand out from the others not only by your enthusiasm and experience, but also by dressing sharp, you can only help your chances.

Aug 19, 2011 received email from a “People Leader” to sign up for one of four time slots to attend a “Career Seminar” at a local hotel for a part-time Specialist position. Not what I’m looking for but since they seem to have little turnover (from what I’ve read and heard) it seems to be a good way in to move up.

Aug 30, 2011 attended a two hour Seminar. Here is my experience thus far:

There were approximately 30 people of all ages, race, and hairdos. In attendance were a few managers from area stores, a regional-type manager, a specialist manager, and a few People Leaders. Despite the email stating to come dressed business casual, the regional-type manager was wearing a polo shirt, cargo shorts and flip-flops. He even jokingly chided all those who were dressed business casual for being overdressed. Well, he already has the job and he was the most senior in the room. Even the other employees were dressed more professionally by comparison. But it’s Apple right?

They started with multiple videos displayed on a screen via projector using a MacBook. These were like the ones you can watch throughout the jobs website. Most of the videos focused on people; the sales people/employees and the customers. The People Leader conducting the seminar pointed out that the focus is on the people. There wasn’t much concerning the products. The People Leader did show a quick slideshow of the main products Apple sells. We then took turns standing up, introducing ourselves, telling about a weird/unique/funny job we’ve had, and our favorite Apple product. Most everyone looked nervous and everyone had at least one Apple product. But I’m sure they wouldn’t have cared if someone didn’t have one.

After the intros they played a couple more videos showcasing the stores they have around the world. Then the People Leader went through some business facts about Apple retail.

We were next instructed that there’d be a group exercise of role playing. The game was a 2 person team scenario where one person plays an Apple Specialist and the other is a customer walking in the door. And, each role play would last for no longer than a minute and a half (most everyone was under the time limit). Each person got a card explaining why the customer was there and their attitude (usually the customer was needy/upset to one degree or another). Most cards had different scenarios but were doubled through the group. EVERYONE was nervous. Some more than others. Having 20 years in retail from part-time sales to manager, I was nervous. They didn’t care if when playing the Specialist you knew anything about policies, product or services. They were looking for a specific type of personality. And the People Leader said so. Most everyone made some joke or another during their part, some funnier than others.

After this the People Leader said some final words, answered questions from the group and explained the process going forward. We’d get an email telling us whether we move on in the process or not. He explained that some people get hired after being turned down and having attended a few of the seminars. He explained that sometimes people get hired after 2 interviews and some after 12.

All-in-all it was good experience. Pretty laid back. However, I did notice that those others in attendance from Apple, that I mentioned previously, were watching all of us. They were continuously making notes. Some on what looked like printed out pages stapled together and others in notebooks. It wasn’t like they were writing a lot. Most of the time they seemed to making small notations or marks. They all sat at either corner of the front of the room. I was in the front facing forward so I don’t know if anyone was watching from the back.

I too stopped by the store after leaving the seminar. I didn’t see anyone else from the meeting while I was there. They were busy and I listened pretty closely to how the people on the floor were interacting with the customers. It was pretty busy for middle of the afternoon on a weekday. What I did notice was that most everyone had an employee actively interacting with them. I didn’t have contact with anyone while there for about 30 minutes, whether looking at accessories, iPhones, Macs, or MacBooks. But I don’t begrudge them this. You can’t be 100%, 100% of the time. Oh, and it was very laid back and informal, as opposed to any other retail I’ve worked in.

I’ll update with what happens to me next. I’m not holding my breath. I could see myself being there for long time and moving up. But if it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. I’ll enjoy at least an interview or two out of it to get the juices flowing again. I will say that they seem to have this selection process down to a science, what I’ve seen and read thus far. Unlike any place I’ve been, retail or other. To you, GOOD LUCK. And don’t put too much stock into it all. It seems like a cool job from the outside. But it wouldn’t be the end of the world for any of us. And, hey it’s retail. If you experienced it, you know what I’m saying. I don’t care if it’s Apple or Target. Customers are who they are.

Step 1) Hiring event – I received an email that said i was invited to an Apple hiring event and I was given a number of times to choose from to come in. This first interview (more like an event) is about 2 hours long and in my case I had about 50 other people there with me. I’ve heard this before and I will say it again: you MUST stand out here. Make eye contact with the managers. Remember their names, be vocal, but also know when to keep quiet. After introductions and some general info on Apple retail as a company they broke us up into small groups where the actual first “interview” took place. They passed around an itouch and people took turns asking general questions of the group such as “What does customer service mean to you?” and “Tell us about a time when you made a new team member feel welcome”. In between these more fluffy questions were technical questions. Do not fret! Not knowing the answers to these will not harm your chances. I didn’t answer either of the 2 technical questions they asked, and I’m still on my way to the 3rd interview. At the end they wanted everyone in the group to say why they would be a good contribution to Apple. Everyone focused on “the customer”, but from what I gathered in the event, Apple is really about its people. Their workers. So while I mentioned my dedication to exemplary customer service, I made it a point to say that I was an excellent team player and would do whatever it took to assure the TEAM’S success. This seemed to strike a good chord with the managers because they all took notes and smiled. At the end of the meeting the head of the event said that we would hear back within 24 hours. I received my invitation to the second interview by the time I got home less than 2 hours later. Good sign

Step 2) Second Interview – My second interview was literally a couple days after my hiring event, and I did more research on Apple as a company and their products, just to be prepared. The second interview went for about 30 minutes, and consisted of one of the store managers along with an associate from the store asking me questions. Mainly the manager was asking me questions, while the associate was there as a second opinion and to give the manager an idea of how you seemed as a person, your sincerity and whether you would fit in with the team. I know this because as I was sitting in the lobby I heard a manager discussing a previous interviewee with their associate. Therefore, if you have an interview like this, it is VERY important that you constantly exchange eye contact between the manager and the associate that’s with them. Smile. Take note of your body language. You don’t want to seem nervous or insincere. Your impression on the associate can really make or break you here. Even if you stumble through a couple of your answers, if the associate likes you it may just secure your third interview. Now, the wait between the second and third interview is a bit longer. I had to wait a week (longest week ever), but I finally got my invitation and scheduled it for tomorrow at 2 PM. Since then I got emails and went through a background check process, so I’m thinking it looks pretty good. There are only 20 of us left from an initial pool of…600 or so candidates?

We will see what tomorrow brings. I will update tomorrow night.

And what can I say? I’m just not cut out for that at all. I see all the people enjoying themselves while they’re cheering and applauding and all that…and I really feel like the odd one out. The feeling remained, even grew stronger – and thus I quit again right away.

I am MUCH happier being an avid user of Apple products than to work for them, I guess.

Having written all that, I want to say: sorry all you guys who are so eagerly trying to get a job there and keep getting rejected while I slip through so easily. Someone wrote that the people working at Apple are human beings too – and he’s right about that. They do make mistakes. Either I subconciously started playing a role during the interviews or they just misjudged me…I guess I shouldn’t have passed the interviews given the way I feel about the whole company culture that I had to witness during the training.

Anyway – what I’m trying to say is: don’t give up. If they misjudged me, they might have done the same thing with you – just the other way around. Just apply again…and again…and again. Good luck to all of you!

I applied about a year ago and got an invite to a seminar in August. Long wait for sure. I too wasn’t really impressed by the presentation; although the recruiter was a really good speaker, the Keynote reminded me more of a Powerpoint (sorry). The one thing that was particularly apparent was that they were screening for a certain personality type. I couldn’t put my finger on it, and couldn’t figure out whether they’d call back all the over-achievers that spoke at every chance they got, or if they’d go for the middle 50% that were more timid but easier to mold.

I was in the group of people that stood out and was called back. I had a couple of interviews, each with more than one person at a time. I ended up with a Business Specialist position. For me, I’m thrilled to be working there, even though the initial seminar threw me off. I think they’ve really fine tuned their hiring event; it is scripted and it is probably very effective in screening for the personality types they are looking for. If you don’t make it past the initial screening, either try again or, if you felt you accurately portrayed yourself, count your blessings. They clearly want a certain personality type and if you’re not it, it’s not worth it banging your head against a wall to try to conform. Take it from someone who’s worked at companies that have been the antithesis of Apple – you won’t be happy if it’s not a good cultural fit.

Good luck to everyone who’s applying and nervously waiting for interviews! Be yourself; whichever way it turns out, you’ll be fine. They are clearly a well-oiled machine when it comes to picking the candidates they want.

My experience was strange and somewhat negative. It seemed like they were trying to pull the wool over your eyes with extremely vague ‘high-fiving’ and adolescent type jokes. The meeting had nothing to do with the exact nature of the products, or even the ups and downs of the jobs available. It was about championing the brand mostly, and goofy sales 101 stuff like looking at pics on an Ipad, and going around the group individually to state a made up feature and benefit about say a pencil. It was pretty silly, and it was understandable since everyone in attendance pretty much was about 5 jk lol, like 18.

I am not saying it wasn’t well done exactly or the store didn’t look great. There was some “wow” factor to it, but not what I truly cared about. I was there to show at least initially a reason to call me in for an interview. As much as they were super positive with the group, the bottom line is that they’re not quite as nice at actually getting to the point of why you would waste your time and money being there. It’s really not about the “Applicant” as they might lead you to believe. I know it’s a cold process, and they try to make it more painless since they get so many applicants.

For me, at this level to be hired, would be completely out of the question even if they called. I am much too “detail” and reality driven, and I don’t buy much into hype or glossy brand pitches. I guess I’ve been selling too long. If Apple truly believes this is the future of retail, I hope they’re not right. It is absolutely mindless and childish, and more importantly, insulting to average intelligence. I felt a little like the Eloi in the Time Machine from the 1960 movie, where these fair-haired mindless utopian people were being led to slaughter by a horribly ugly malefactor just under the surface.

Good luck folks with Apple retail. It may certainly the right choice for some because in many ways I’m sure the community and products are great.

Alternatively, would it look bad that I had to take my computer in to the Genius Bar, and that I couldn’t figure it out on my own? (turns out I needed replacement parts, but it took about 5 trips to figure it out). I’m applying to be a Specialist so hopefully none of that will matter.

I have my Apple Seminar in a little over a week and I’m very excited! Thanks for the great article!

So I ended up standing outside of the seminar for all of the event. Not fun. After the conclusion of the event came near I was able to squeeze in and speak to a couple of guys. I then was approached by the store manager and this was my chance to make myself known. I stood out in a way of not being early. This chance to speak to the store manager was very advantageous being that I could conduct my own on-the-spot interview with her in the two minutes I had. I took her card. She and I corresponded for about 2 months to orchestrate a meeting after she came back from leave. After a while I felt I hit a dead end because essentially I was getting nowhere. Then I applied again.

Weeks later I received another invite to the Hiring Seminar. I nearly dropped to my knees because I was so grateful. I attended and there were also about 30 of us that attended. It was very fun and informative. I was called the next day for a second interview. Of course I confirmed the appointment. I met with the interviewer things started off pretty well. Then midway through the interview I noticed that I couldn’t break the ice with this guy. I made jokes and made a concious effort to warm up to the guy. Nothing still. Even at times hewould crack a smile and suddenly go back to the stone face as if he remembered he was getting paid to show no emotion for whatever reason. I gather my thoughts back and tried to finish as best I could regardless of what he did or didn’t want at this point. He asked if I had any questions and I replied, “no.” We separated and went our ways. I have never left an interview so nervous in my life thus far. A week after I was sent background information requests so I complied and sent them back. a week and a half later I was called by the same manager for a final interview. This was more of a group type thing nothing of what I prepared myself for. Laid back and actually fun. A day later I was called and offered a full-time specialist position.

Really this has been the most nerve-wrecking experience only because I wanted it so bad and tried for months and even contemplated Apple for almost a year. I say in the group settings let your personality shine and do most of the talking. Don’t try to be outspoken in every sense because at times its just plain obnoxious if done the wrong way. I saw a lot of people trying wayyyy too hard and it shows, In a bad way. Someone had done research about building plans that Apple had in the works for the Cupertino facility, and brought it up in the seminar. Again trying too hard IMO. Nobody cares that you googled an article the night before and used it to try and show off. This is an opportunity to show yourself and ask informative questions about the position. BE YOURSELF and if you find that you don’t get in then it would be better for you to realize Apple isn’t for you at that time or ever. Don’t beat yourself up over it or get overly upset. Just Relax.

Regards

Alessio

Interview # 2 was with one manager in a small back office. It lasted about 30 min and we tackled a very difficult list of behavioral analysis questions. We talked about family and apple products. It was a very casual interview, I wore very nice jeans and a dress shirt. I was told I would be contacted within a week. About 4 days later I get a call from a manager requesting that I come in “TODAY” ironically, I missed the call and I didn’t check my voicemail until two hrs later. By that time I had missed my opportunity to come in for that day and was scheduled for 1 whole very long week later.

Interview # 3: was held at a Starbucks just around the plaza from the store, this time I dressed up just to let them know how serious I was. I wore a black dress and high heels. Again this was a very casual interview with 2 persons. I believe 1 was the recruiting manager and the other a store manager. We talked for about 25 min and they asked questions and I asked a few. Oddly, the recruiting manager asked what my availability was for the following day, I told him and then the said I was free to go and that they would be in touch (uh oh….no timeline for a call back). They stayed behind to discuss the interview. I headed for my car and before I could get my seat belt strapped they were already back at the entrance of the Apple Store. I thought….well, that’s either really good or really really bad. I believed it was the latter. 2 hours later I got a call! YIPEE…..they emailed me the link for the background check and said they would contact me for interview # 4. 15 min later I get a call to schedule interview # 4 for the following day at 3:45 pm……completely stoked.

Interview # 4: This was a very short (10 min) friendly phone interview with the marketing director for the store nearest my home. He just wanted to get to know me and stated that “At this point if your talking o me, they’re very interested” he then told that they would be in touch….again no definite timeline for a call back.

2 days later I got the call! They offered me a full time position and I start on July 30th.

TIPS: Just be yourself!

Here is a workaround for using the drive on a PC running Wondows even after you have used WDS to run a backup, password protected it and then discovered what a pain in the arse it is.

Kudos to Marc C for posting the hiding solution. My alternative DOES NOT REMOVE OR HIDE THE VIRTUAL CD. It DOES allow you to access the drive and keep it password protected.

1 – Attach drive to USB Port

2 – Close Autoplay window (if it pops up)

3 – Open Windows Explorer

4 – Open the virtual cd drive (called WD Smartware)

5 – Run WDSmartware – enter password. Your drive should appear in the drive list in windows explorer.

6 – Unfortunately at this point WD Samrtware will want to install. Click ‘Do Not Install’

You can treat the mounted volume as a ‘normal’ external HDD, however I have noticed that the transfer progress floodbar fails under Vista, but the data WILL be moved. As always DOUBLE CHECK it has successfully copied/moved your data.

Each time you want to write to or access data that is on the drive volume you will have to go through the above process. Mildly painful but if you have password protected the data using WDS and wish to keep it passwaod protected then it works WITHOPUT HAVING WDS INSATLLED.

To remove the drive ‘safely’ simply:

1 – Ensure that the drive is not selected in any Windows Explorer windows and that no data is being read from or written to the drive (i.e. it is not in use by ANY software)

2 – Right click the drive letter in Windows Explorer and select ‘Safely Remove’

3 – Once you receive conformation you may unplug the drive.

Personally I use TrueCrypt to protect data but I discovered the above rescuing a non-techy friend from the evil clutches of WD(S).

I hope someone finds this useful until a REAL solution is provided by WD.

This was driving me nuts, and interfering majorly.

May good stuff happen for you!!!!

Hiring seminar 1. Showed video, asked getting to know you questions, grouped us into 5 people a group, then did a mock run of what it would be like during hell in the store. I felt I did well, but alas, I was given the letter several days later.

Hiring seminar 2. About 20 in this group. Everything was the same, except instead of the mock run, we sat down and passed an iPad 2 around. On it, was a button that was pressed and it asked us a question. We had to answer it, and then anyone else in the group that would like to share was given the chance. It was a very chill mood, and a lot less stressful than the first seminar.

Two days later I was asked to come in for a second interview. Again, I was with several other people. Interviewed by different people than before, however. It was a lot of the same questions, “Why do you want to work for Apple” “Give us a time when…customer service scenario.” “Please describe a time when work related scenario….” and the like.

Later that day, I was emailed and asked to come to another interview a few days later. I agreed and this time there were only two of us. Same questions, but this time there was only one interviewer, yet another different person (Though I knew her from the hiring seminar 2.). When asked if we had any questions, I asked what the next step was. We were told that if we moved on, we would have one last interview with the main branch leader (His actual title escapes me, but he’s the one that does the main hiring and oversees the open(ing) stores in a region.). We were also told by the interviewer that they wanted to talk with us one to one. The other person being interviewed opted to leave first. Once gone, my interviewer explained to me that they would like me to go on to the last interview (My guess was the other person wasn’t, which was why we were given the bit about the email.). I accepted, but my interview wouldn’t be for a couple weeks.

So the final interview has come and gone and again, there were two of us being interviewed by the branch leader. He said that this was the final step. The next thing we would hear is hired or not. He also said he had a good feeling about us, and that everything was pending the background check.

I got a call several days ago and I was not told I was hired. Nor was I told I was NOT hired. Now I’m being told I have to visit a certain store manager. I’m told this is a good thing, so we’ll find out. I hope so considering I was told there would be no more interviews (Although they called this a meeting, not an interview like the rest have been called.).

23-Jan-2011 03:16:36 PM> Apollo drive( WXJ0A79Z0558 ) detected.
23-Jan-2011 03:16:36 PM> Apollo drive letter not assigned.
23-Jan-2011 03:16:36 PM> Apollo drive locked.
23-Jan-2011 03:17:35 PM> Exception Assertion!
File = .\ApolloDrive.cpp
Line = 572
23-Jan-2011 03:17:35 PM> Application exiting…

and this as well.

23-Jan-2011 03:19:45 PM> Apollo drive( WXJ0A79Z0558 ) detected.

This info was hidden in Appdata under local on my drive C:

I hope someone can help.

Thank you all…

For people claiming WD Smartware is what is stopping their drive from showing up on their xbox 360; i’d suggest formatting your drive in FAT 16 or 32… most externals are formatted NTFS leaving the factory, although they support large files, xbox 360 DOES NOT support NTFS.

Also, anyone given any thought to fdisk or a similar utility to re-partition these drives? I’m not in a position to test a format… would be interested to know if it’s possible?

Although I am glad that you had a good experience at The Tint Guys, I unfortunately did not, and I have been spreading the word to try and protect a few other people from a very bad experience…

I had my windows tinted there, and they did a horrible job. Every window had either dust spots, creases and other bubbles (and not just one or two, I’m talking multiple clusters). I brought it back to them and they redid the driver and passenger windows, and there were more problems the second time than there were the first time… I wanted the rear window done as well, but he kept trying to talk his way out of doing it. I went to another tint shop to confirm that I wasn’t being overly picky, and they agreed it was a bad job. I returned again to have all the windows redone and that’s when things went horribly wrong. He said that he agreed that the tints were not the “best” job, (though I paid 250 with tax included, because I wanted to high end material), and that he was not willing to redo them again (even though he guaranteed a lifetime warranty) because he felt he would not be able to please me (aka they would not be any better than they currently were). I said that I understood and that the only reasonable option was to work out a refund. I wasn’t expecting to get all of my money back, but I did expect to get the majority of it back. He offered $75, and after an hour of arguing, went up to $100. He refused to go any higher and was trying to offer products that I don’t need or another tint job on another car instead of payment (which I don’t know if he’ll do any better of a job). I refused all of those and he basically said I would have to take him to court. In desperation, and after a couple more hours of arguing, I agreed to take a bluetooth device that was priced in his shop at $250. He actually made me pay him $25 dollars for it, and so I did and then I left. I then went online to find the exact same product selling for $130… This guys is a scam artist and an unreasonable person to deal with on every level. I wanted to go on every forum I can find to warn people about this shop. For your own good, please stay away from The Tint Guys at 101 Freshway Dr. Clearly even their products are rediculously overpriced… Also, please pass this message on to anyone else who may be considering them.

Happy Driving!

Some things I learned though, Apple doesn’t really care how you dress or have tattoos or what color your hair is. They’re very diverse and they’re looking for people who fit PERFECTLY into their culture. They like a good clean resume and a good explanation as to why YOU want to work there and why THEY should hire you. They’ll put you on the spot and they observe your reaction.

I ended up working at my second choice, the railroad as a conductor. Good Luck Candidates!

Being an Apple user and loving their products, I recently decided on a career change and applied for a specialist position at one of the London stores. I received an email today telling me I am being considered for a role at one of the stores and that I will be contacted again shortly with details of a recruitment event.

Brilliant, apart from after reading some forums I discovered that Apple do a background check on successful applicants. Although I have nothing to hide, I have recently gone bankrupt and was once fined by a court for shoplifting in about 1995 when I was young and stupid. I’m sure this would now be classed as a spent conviction. However, would the bankruptcy be held against me if I were to be accepted for the position and what else would a background check involve?

I’m really worried that mistakes I made many years ago might affect the chances I have of being hired even if I were to pass the interviews. Any of your views are welcome!

Thanks!

Hans, Amsterdam.

I bought, tried and was upset with Western Digital and returned it. But now I have all the Western Digital stuff on my computer and I think it is slowing it down. I have long since moved on to another backup system, and cannot get this stuff off the top of the page and off my machine. Can you advise. Your fix it appears to require that you have the actual unit, serial number to get rid of it. Am I able to do it without those two items?

thanks.

This has to be one of the best and most informal posts I’ve ever read and definitely will be using your insights to try and get hired. I’ve applied once before and had a group interview that did not work out. so now I will try this and re-post to update on if this was successful.

Thanks,
T

The first thing they say going into the interview is that being hired at apple is harder than harvard, stanford, or yale. ONLY 6 PERCENT OF APPLICANTS ACCEPTED. I am excited to be one of them!

The drive is clearly mounted and is viewable in Windows Explorer. The SmartDrive icon is present in my system tray, and shows that the drive is active.

I have always like WD drives, but this SERIOUSLY sucks.

I applied online and went to a local hotel with 30 other people. It was the typical scene you’ve read about only we did not do the skits or interview our neighbor. There were lots of people trying VERY hard. Answering every question, trying to make an impression, etc. I didn’t see those people at the 2nd interview.

That was held in another hotel conference room only this one was with 2 managers and you were with another applicant.

Interesting observation: One of the ‘Frat Guy’ types made it there — he was still wearing his Preppy Handbook uniform (khakis, oxford cloth shirt and a pastel tie. Yellow this time, pink in 1st interview). Perhaps he had a Young republicans meeting to go to? The other person who was there was a guy I called ‘Stanky’. Besides that lip ring piercing and being dressed as a Geek, he made an olfactory impression that was difficult to forget. Cologne and perfume is an obvious no-no – perhaps bathing is too?

I did very well in the interview process. Coming from a corporate world where I was a permanent member of the HIring Team made this really easy. But still, Apple hires the personality and what you can bring to the team. My co-applicant admitted that he didn’t own any Apple products currently and told them he sold his MBP because he needed the money. Not what I would’ve said but you never know.

The following evening, I received an email asking me for authorization for a background check. I agreed and am now waiting for what I hope is good news.

This was at Rideau in Ottawa, CA, by the way,so I cant guarantee it’s the same in the states or in the uk, etc.

GOOD LUCK.

Thank you for the insightful article. Any tips on the dress code for these interviews? I ask because I see how the employees are dressed and it seems real laid back. I don’t imagine wearing a suit and tie to these interviews will help. It seems like jeans, a t-shirt and a comfortable pair of sneakers is the norm. Am I right?

the only problem is you need to have the PC ON all the time … but you can pluget to any other pc , hotel , airport a fiend house.. etc

I save a lot of money …

A different approach would be to have any software updates available, applied
directly to the external WD drive(s) and not not chew up the resources of the customers laptaps,pcs etc. which inevitably slows them down to the point
of crashing !

I have applied literally over 1000 times in multiple positions, have gone to eight one-on-one interviews, had four phone interviews, attended three group seminars, and even submitted multiple personal pleas to Apple managers. This all has been futile because in the end I simply have been rejected. The larger insult is that I was nominated by three current employees to their managers and still was ignored. I am an emotional guy and am starting to take this personally even though I know it’s wrong. I just really would love to work for them so bad, I’m willing to sell my soul for them. Not only do I use an iPhone 4 and a MacBook Pro 17″ (unibody), I have successfully converted my entire family to Mac Users and iPhone users with accessories and protection plans throughout the product line. And yet, somehow, this is all insufficient for employment at Apple. I am going to attempt in full force once again following your advice to the letter. (Don’t worry, I won’t hold you accountable or anything!) I will let you know how it goes. I am currently studying Management Of Information Systems at the University Of Phoenix! My e-mail is bzntt180@yahoo.com! Please e-mail me for more advice.

http://c1679bk9qqdwbq9l6ig4taypfj.hop.clickbank.net/

I’ve recently applied for a specialist position here in Montreal, Canada and I’m hoping your advice will hit home with them as it has with me. I’ve been called in the past and offered a full-time creative position while I was still completing my studies full-time. At that time, my conscience gave me no other choice but to turn down that fantastic offer. Inasmuch as this was an unfortunate turn of events for me, I’m hoping it will have no bearing on my recent application if not to serve as positive premises for a second, and most assuredly welcome, job offer!

In any case, you’ve got a great and informative website Marc and I wish you luck in all your future undertakings! Good luck to everyone else as well!

TR’s command prompt method took two hours to format and didn’t work. The HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool kinda worked. I formatted several times going back n forth between NTSF and FAT32 and eventually it worked… The only problem then was that the HP tool only would format 128gb of my 500gb drive. I went to CNET.com and got EASEUS Partition Master 6.5.2, and it formatted the entire drive as FAT32. I tried it on the PS3 today and it worked. Never buying a WD product ever again!
Thanks everyone for the info!

Good Luck everyone.

Why didn’t WD made a USB mass storage compliance device? Why force their own standards?

I wish Windows would be updated to use proper megabytes (1 000 000 bytes) and gigabytes (1 000 000 000 bytes) rather than the stupid 1024 versions (which are more correctly called mebibytes and gibibytes, and inappropriate for disk space). Macintosh has finally (Snow Leopard) been updated to use the proper versions (YAY!). A pity Windows hasn’t caught up (BOO!).

Thank you for putting a clear summary of the problem and the best available solution in one place. Perhaps you could add a comment about how Smartware is occupying zero space on the hard drive, and maybe even clue the ignorant masses into the difference between 1000 and 1024?

This is unacceptable..!

Thanks for sharing your experience with Koodo. I am also fighting a battle with customer service on compassionate grounds. I was critically ill in hospital for three months and while there my only contact was my Koodo phone acct. As I was in no condition to evaluate how this might effect my acct, I was shocked to find a bill for over $2,000 when I returned home. I contacted the Koodo acct reps and was given a $100 credit! I have since tried numerous times to reach a more suitable agreement. I have been promised numerous return phone calls ‘within 72 hours’ which have never happened. I then found out the the person who was to be returning the calls was on a two month vacation. I sent an email to the customer service department last week outlining what had happened and received an email back stating that the contact needed to be within 30 days (which it was, numerous times) and that the calls were legitimate and therefore no settlement would be reached. I know this is a long-shot but I would appreciate any insight you can give me.

Cate

I am glad for the knowledge and option, so thank you. It’s not your fault the option they want people to do to hide this is install even more of their software.

What a stupid piece of junkware to force upon us. WD, this is the last drive I buy with your name on it.

Right click on icon and run as administrator…..

much love

-B

I bought one of these today, (500gb) and their stupid software takes 35Gb!!!!

I ran the firmware thing as suggested, it simply hid it, I still am 35Gb down.

TR, I tried what you suggested and it just kicks up an access denied, and nothing else. (windoze 7)

I can’t even see the drive in acronis disc director….

If I can resolve this I’m taking it back in a couple of days.

R

“Format cannot run because the volume is in use by another process.
Format may run if this volume is dismounted first. ALL OPENED HANDLES
TO THIS VOLUME WOULD THEN BE INVALID. Would you like to for a dismount
on this volume? (Y/N)”
Enter y and return. You will see: “Volume dismounted. All opened handles to this volume are now invalid.” At this point the formatting will begin. Once complete all WD VCD problems will have been removed.

thanks for the help

I can probably help

Omg I have been searching the web trying to get an idea of what I can do about my problem. I’ll cut the story short, but here’s the basics.
I bought my daughter a phone for xmas, from Koodo. I didn’t want the “tab” they offer, so I paid for it on the spot. Since then, 7 months ago, we have NEVER had a working phone. The first brand new one was defective, shutting down on it’s own, freezing, not accepting in or out calls most of the time, etc. So they told us to send it in for repair. They kept it for 2 months and finally we got it back in March. From day one, it was broken. Nothing changed, exact same problems and we even brought it right back to the kiosk as we hadn’t even left the mall yet and it had shut itself off twice and froze. We have since received another replacement phone. A refurbished one. It was only activated 2 days ago, and it also doesn’t work. Besides all the usual problems, this one is even worse. It doesn’t dial 3′s and our house # has 3 3′s in it, so she can’t even call home. If she presses one button while sending a text it presses like 20 more on it’s own. Also freezes, etc.

For the last 7 months, I have been calling Koodo and even Samsung. I’ve also been paying a monthly bill for service we never even got most of the time. I actually feel like crying. All they keep telling me, beleive it or not, from the first month that I called to tell them the phone wasn’t working, was that we had two options:
we could get a refurb
or we could buy a new phone.
I told them I just paid 200$ for a “new” phone less then two months ago and NO I am not paying for another one for no reason. I really don’t know what to do. I did tape them telling me that I could get a used phone sent to me or buy another brand new phone. I told them the call was being taped. Oh and here’s the kicker. The last phone sent to us has apparently been dropped in water too. There is humidity under the screen.

I’m a single mom and I’m really struggling. I don’t understand why I keep getting ripped off over and over. Life is full of such evil, greedy people. I have given nearly my last dollar many times to charity, because I’m still very fortunate to have clean water etc, and I’ll never let myself be selfish, but I don’t know, I think I’m just going to get ripped off my whole life

If you have any suggestions, I’d be so thankful. I was even thinking of trying a class action suit, because I’ve read on a bunch of forums that so many people had the same problems with this phone.

Thanks!
Tammy

Bob – During my training at Apple there was a man who was well into his 60s training to be a specialist – Apple is all about the right person, it doesn’t matter how old you are if you’re the right fit for the job. As for your disability, we would need to speak privately for me to get any idea

I’m actually trying to put together a second article with some more information, look for it within the next week or two.

This information that you provided was very insightful and informative. I’m hoping that it will help me to join Apple’s winning team! I strongly beleive that I am a people person and that I have great customer service skills. I’m applying for a speicalist postition at a Retail Store in Roosevelt Field in Long Island New York. This would just be a stepping stone of bigger things to come if I’m given a chance to build a promising career at Apple. Steve Jobs did a great job imporoving this company’s vision. I hope to add to this as well. Please let me know what else I could do regarding the aforementioned.

Thank you in advance,
Michael Baldeo
917-301-0034

Justin, you’re not giving me much information to help you out, “My machine is slow” is like telling your doctor “I don’t feel well”

Tess, TYPICALLY drives that are sold as XXGB capacity are usually XX less a small amount, I have a 1TB drive that’s only 931GB, a 500GB drive that’s only 475GB, so on and so forth. The only time I’ve ever purchased a drive that was actually what was advertised is my 2TB G-Drive. I can’t say for certain (although I’m sure Google has an answer) but I believe different file system formatting will steal a little bit of space from you. You’re not alone.

I’m not familiar with xbox360 interfacing so you’ll need to explain that as well :]

And will it really not work with an Xbox 360? What a waste of money!

Software Update for Mac Users

Windows users click here

We have temporarily suspended downloads of release 1.2.1.25 for Mac while we investigate a recently discovered issue with the software. We will restore download capability as soon as we have resolved the issue.

Well that explains why it did not work I guess and now no back up drive!

CHING CHONG

Now it’s gone and everybody’s happy. Thanks again!

I didn’t read any real trick to remove totally the partition which is included in this bloody firmware.

If someone knows…

Illegal

Like downloading music

I cannot believe that Western Digital screwed up this badly. This is a really awful piece of software to force on people. I have used MyBook drives for two years now but will not do so ever again.

DON’T BUY THESE DRIVES!!!

As well, sorry to hear about the car accident, but this is one of those instances where it’s disappointing that they couldn’t bend the rules for you, but at the same time, if they did, where would they draw the line? It may be that store managers haven’t been empowered to make those decisions. Hope you get some resolution to your issue.

I don’t see how complacency has anything to do with anything that’s happened here. Does it seem unreasonable for a retailer not to bend their policy (slightly) for someone who’s made several return visits and spent much money with them? It happens every day, everywhere, it just didn’t happen that day at that time, and just not for me. It’s not so much about what happened but how it happened; I wouldn’t be writing anything if I didn’t think that I was treated poorly.

It’s cute that you want to be anonymous though, I wonder what you’re hiding

here’s a quote from your own site (things that annoy me)

“Complacency: this is something that breeds mediocrity; the drive to be adequate, the drive to be regular, the imperative that maintains the norm. People who are happy with the status quo, are those who stagnate and create nothing but problems for the rest of us. They’re the first to complain during an economic crisis, the first to bitch when something doesn’t go their way, and the first to cry as soon as they run into the slightest of obstacles – the complacent of the planet drive our problems, exclusively.”

and here you are complaining about CC not going an extra mile for you because you are trying to return an item passed the due date?

they are owned by corrupt chinese people.

they probably wont even reply to you because the email is too long. plus, it’s in english.

ALL KOODO CUSTOMERS DISADISFIED WITH THEIR PLANS AND LACK OF ACCURATE INFORMATION WHICH PREVENTS US TO MAKE INFORMED DECISIONS – HOW ABOUT A CLASS ACTION ABOUT DOUBLE BILLING AND VIOLATION OF CONSUMER RIGHTS.

moof moof

I’m trying to think of a way to write this without being accusatory. I’ll say first off I’m a minority who actually doesn’t benefit from affirmative action in most cases – almost 50% of Asian-Americans have at least a bachelors degree, compared to 30% of white adults, and the median income of Asian-Americans stands at roughly $60 000, versus $50 000 for white adults. Based on statistics (which actually don’t encompass everything but…smeh), my racial group is one of the least likely to benefit from affirmative action (but from discrimination…again, smeh).

That being said, affirmative action actually plays an important role in society (in Canada, it’s primarily Natives that benefit from affirmative action) and helps to level out the playing field that was built by discrimination. I do agree with the idea of be the change you wish to see in the world. However, that change can only be accomplished with affirmative action and with the growing disparity between racial groups in modern society (when discrimination is supposed to be nonexistent but we all know it isn’t), affirmative action is required to prevent the increasing gap between black/Hispanics and the white majority (in 1980 Hispanics had an income of roughly 76% of whites, but in 2005, the gap has increased). I have way too much to say on this subject. I’ll…can it now. Keep blogging!

I didn’t run into too many problems :S