When I got home from my first interview, Kristie and the girls grilled me...and my response was that I have no idea how I did. And that's the truth. I could've just as easily imagined never hearing from them as getting a call from them. How they could ever use this process to weed out candidates is beyond me.
So I was a little surprised, when a couple of days later, I got a call from the store manager (who was one of the 3 at the first interview) telling me that she'd like me to come in for a second interview. Cool. Then it got weird [again]. She told me that she couldn't find my profile in the computer and couldn't find my piece of "official" piece of paper that I filled out...right at the end of the first interview, an interview with one of the leading leaders in technology, an interview that to get to I had to complete a form on the computer, they had us put our name, phone and email address on a piece of scratch paper.....but I digress.
okkkaaaaayyyyy...so how did she call me?
Oh well. She then proceeded to ask me if I was "the one who worked with so and so at that one place...." Apparently, she wasn't even sure who I was. And I remembered that she was "confusing" me with "Mr. Suck-Up", whose name was also Michael. When I corrected her and said that I wasn't that guy, the temperature went down about 35 degrees and I got that typical "well actually all the positions are filled but we'll keep your application on file and thanks...". Just like that it was over.
No deal, do not pass Go....
So naturally, about 45 minutes later, I received an email requesting my attendance at a second interview and a request to fill out a real job application and approval to do a background check.
As weird as it had been so far, the second interview was completely typical. I met with the Senior Manager, who is actually the Store Manager. The Store Manager is more like a District Manager, only this particular one only has one store in her "district". I nodded as if I understood...but clearly I don't. It was the usual "what was the thing you liked least about this job" and "how do you think you'll fit in with the team?". This guy was very cool and he and I had some things in common, so I pounded on them. And apparently now there actually were positions available contrary to what the Store Manager had told me previously. He was very open and honest about how the hiring process works at Apple. The number one thing they look for is how well somebody will fit into the team. They're also looking for people with a passion to sell computers and stuff but more important to that is how well they can communicate their passion. I guess they figure you can always learn the speeds and feeds of every model, because the fact that somebody knows what mouse came with a PowerMac G3 in 1999 is great, but not critical.
They're also looking for people who have a little "showmanship"...one great question this guy asked was "if you had 1 minute to show somebody how great a Mac is, what would it be?" (I think I nailed that one...) If I were to judge how I did, I think I've got the job. But then since everything has gone exactly opposite, I suspect I'll never hear from them again....
So I waited the stated week and then sent them an email titled "Am I ever going to hear from you?". That same day I recieved their response, with a subject line of "RETAIL - Turndown, MS Candidates".... no further explanation is probably required, but suffice it to say, there wasn't a lot of information in this lovely "turndown" email as to why I wasn't hired.
It instantly threw me into a bit of a funk. Without sounding immodest, I think I'd be a great hire for the Apple Store. I totally dig their product, have since the early 80's. I feel I'm a great communicator of it's excellence. You wanna talk speeds & feeds and the Unix Command Shell? Can do. How about as a software developer...Java, SWT, PHP, AJAX...I do it all on my Macintosh. Normal household browsing the web and managing digital pictures and songs and stuff. Yep. Young/Old, New User/Old Pro, MacHead/Windows Switcher...I can hang with them all and address real concerns and talk logically and passionately as to why this is a great choice.
So why not me then?
I'm hoping it comes down to this simple fact: it's been close to 20 years since I've worked in retail. And my availability was only after work on weekdays and weekends (which they claimed was not a liability but still all things being equal...) So while I feel that working in retail is like falling off a bike, maybe they had more recently experienced candidates....
What my fear is that this process shined a light on me that I'm unaware of. Maybe my cynical attitude reared it's ugly head. Maybe my casual attitude did me in, maybe they wanted someone to be more reverent towards all things Apple. Maybe, oh man this is a toughy, maybe they didn't [gulp] like me.
Apple is successful in retail, there is no opportunity for debate on that. And some of their success must come from their employees, and therefore, the employee selection criteria must be of some worth. But I wonder how their interview process finds these "great" employees. I personally don't find their employees to be absolutely amazing myself...whenever I go into a store, I'm usually there to do my own thing and need little, if any assistance. And for the most part, they leave me alone. So that's an atmosphere thing rather than an actual employee thing. But again, they missed out on me and their interview process didn't seem to be set up to ferret me out of the fray. Cynically I wonder if maybe I just wasn't "cool" enough for the Apple scene. I'm not pierced or tatoo'ed...I'm basically an old sloppy dad guy...maybe the store already had one of those. Oh well. So now I'm contemplating other moves....maybe a gig at Starbucks (they're opening one up about 100 yards from the house)...but that's only if I stay here at work. If I were to move to a more demanding (hours mostly) employer, I'm not sure how much bandwidth I'd have to do more....I know we can always use the bucks... Oh to be a grown-up....
So I was a little surprised, when a couple of days later, I got a call from the store manager (who was one of the 3 at the first interview) telling me that she'd like me to come in for a second interview. Cool. Then it got weird [again]. She told me that she couldn't find my profile in the computer and couldn't find my piece of "official" piece of paper that I filled out...right at the end of the first interview, an interview with one of the leading leaders in technology, an interview that to get to I had to complete a form on the computer, they had us put our name, phone and email address on a piece of scratch paper.....but I digress.
okkkaaaaayyyyy...so how did she call me?
Oh well. She then proceeded to ask me if I was "the one who worked with so and so at that one place...." Apparently, she wasn't even sure who I was. And I remembered that she was "confusing" me with "Mr. Suck-Up", whose name was also Michael. When I corrected her and said that I wasn't that guy, the temperature went down about 35 degrees and I got that typical "well actually all the positions are filled but we'll keep your application on file and thanks...". Just like that it was over.
No deal, do not pass Go....
So naturally, about 45 minutes later, I received an email requesting my attendance at a second interview and a request to fill out a real job application and approval to do a background check.
As weird as it had been so far, the second interview was completely typical. I met with the Senior Manager, who is actually the Store Manager. The Store Manager is more like a District Manager, only this particular one only has one store in her "district". I nodded as if I understood...but clearly I don't. It was the usual "what was the thing you liked least about this job" and "how do you think you'll fit in with the team?". This guy was very cool and he and I had some things in common, so I pounded on them. And apparently now there actually were positions available contrary to what the Store Manager had told me previously. He was very open and honest about how the hiring process works at Apple. The number one thing they look for is how well somebody will fit into the team. They're also looking for people with a passion to sell computers and stuff but more important to that is how well they can communicate their passion. I guess they figure you can always learn the speeds and feeds of every model, because the fact that somebody knows what mouse came with a PowerMac G3 in 1999 is great, but not critical.
They're also looking for people who have a little "showmanship"...one great question this guy asked was "if you had 1 minute to show somebody how great a Mac is, what would it be?" (I think I nailed that one...) If I were to judge how I did, I think I've got the job. But then since everything has gone exactly opposite, I suspect I'll never hear from them again....
So I waited the stated week and then sent them an email titled "Am I ever going to hear from you?". That same day I recieved their response, with a subject line of "RETAIL - Turndown, MS Candidates".... no further explanation is probably required, but suffice it to say, there wasn't a lot of information in this lovely "turndown" email as to why I wasn't hired.
It instantly threw me into a bit of a funk. Without sounding immodest, I think I'd be a great hire for the Apple Store. I totally dig their product, have since the early 80's. I feel I'm a great communicator of it's excellence. You wanna talk speeds & feeds and the Unix Command Shell? Can do. How about as a software developer...Java, SWT, PHP, AJAX...I do it all on my Macintosh. Normal household browsing the web and managing digital pictures and songs and stuff. Yep. Young/Old, New User/Old Pro, MacHead/Windows Switcher...I can hang with them all and address real concerns and talk logically and passionately as to why this is a great choice.
So why not me then?
I'm hoping it comes down to this simple fact: it's been close to 20 years since I've worked in retail. And my availability was only after work on weekdays and weekends (which they claimed was not a liability but still all things being equal...) So while I feel that working in retail is like falling off a bike, maybe they had more recently experienced candidates....
What my fear is that this process shined a light on me that I'm unaware of. Maybe my cynical attitude reared it's ugly head. Maybe my casual attitude did me in, maybe they wanted someone to be more reverent towards all things Apple. Maybe, oh man this is a toughy, maybe they didn't [gulp] like me.
Apple is successful in retail, there is no opportunity for debate on that. And some of their success must come from their employees, and therefore, the employee selection criteria must be of some worth. But I wonder how their interview process finds these "great" employees. I personally don't find their employees to be absolutely amazing myself...whenever I go into a store, I'm usually there to do my own thing and need little, if any assistance. And for the most part, they leave me alone. So that's an atmosphere thing rather than an actual employee thing. But again, they missed out on me and their interview process didn't seem to be set up to ferret me out of the fray. Cynically I wonder if maybe I just wasn't "cool" enough for the Apple scene. I'm not pierced or tatoo'ed...I'm basically an old sloppy dad guy...maybe the store already had one of those. Oh well. So now I'm contemplating other moves....maybe a gig at Starbucks (they're opening one up about 100 yards from the house)...but that's only if I stay here at work. If I were to move to a more demanding (hours mostly) employer, I'm not sure how much bandwidth I'd have to do more....I know we can always use the bucks... Oh to be a grown-up....