A funny thing happened in the Apple store...

I'd heard it said before now that getting a job at Apple - even just an entry-level position at one of their retail stores - involved a selection process almost as rigorous as that to get into Oxford/Harvard/etc. or to get a job at NASA...

I'm not so sure this is true in the case of the Thurrock Lakeside (Essex, England, GB) store

Nipping in to once again "umm" & "ahh" while mulling-over investing in an entry-level MacBook Air for university I happened to overhear the young woman giving a "One to One" lesson at the next table.

All was going well until I heard her refer to the features of "Oh Ess Ex"... It went downhill from there, being followed not long after by "...and this is another reason why I prefer Numbers over, uh... Over other programs like, um... That let you do things with numbers..."

She sounded profoundly un-computer-savy (in terms of any OS). Not knowing that the OS in current Macs is version ten-point-something & that's what the X means? Not being familiar with the concept of a spreadsheet program? Indeed, as she was specifically tasked with helping people migrate from Windows, not knowing that the equivalent Microsoft app was Excel?

I think I could've taught that class better, and I've never actually owned a Mac (yet); just used other people's & the ones at my university!

</amused but moderately bemused rant>

Ctrl-Opt-Del said:

I'd heard it said before now that getting a job at Apple - even just an entry-level position at one of their retail stores - involved a selection process almost as rigorous as that to get into Oxford/Harvard/etc. or to get a job at NASA...

I'm not so sure this is true in the case of the Thurrock Lakeside (Essex, England, GB) store

Nipping in to once again "umm" & "ahh" while mulling-over investing in an entry-level MacBook Air for university I happened to overhear the young woman giving a "One to One" lesson at the next table.

All was going well until I heard her refer to the features of "Oh Ess Ex"... It went downhill from there, being followed not long after by "...and this is another reason why I prefer Numbers over, uh... Over other programs like, um... That let you do things with numbers..."

She sounded profoundly un-computer-savy (in terms of any OS). Not knowing that the OS in current Macs is version ten-point-something & that's what the X means? Not being familiar with the concept of a spreadsheet program? Indeed, as she was specifically tasked with helping people migrate from Windows, not knowing that the equivalent Microsoft app was Excel?

I think I could've taught that class better, and I've never actually owned a Mac (yet); just used other people's & the ones at my university!

</amused but moderately bemused rant>

Click to expand...

What is being assumed is that the Apple Store employee selection/interview process is weighted heavily in terms of computer knowledge.

I have a feeling that what Apple is looking for (and a lot of other large corporations)…are folks with certain:

- people skills
- personality traits
- are "trainable" in the important computer hardware and OS related topics

How many folks do we know that have terrific computer skills…but have TERRIBLE "people skills"!

In many cases…the computer skills are something that can be learned…but bad "people skills" and certain "personality traits" are hard to eliminate. It may also be a "plus"…that a sales employee is not a computer expert…since as we know…sometimes computer experts can be arrogant…and look down their nose at less-knowledgeable folks (not very good for a person in a sales position to make a customer feel inferior or stupid).

Give someone 3-6 months in an Apple Store (or less)…and they will know everything they will need to know in terms of the hardware & the OS. Apple is always changing things anyway…so an employee doesn't really need to know much about things other than the last 2-3 years of hardware & OS releases. I think that when new hardware & new OS version's are released…all the sales folks do a "brain-dump" anyway!

Maybe what you may be thinking is…the knowledge base an "Apple Genius" may need…versus a sales floor employee.

Just my theory(s),

- Nick

I guess I'm an dummy. I verbalize OS X as "Oh-ess-ecks". Then again, I pronounce Illinois as "Ill-ee-noiz" and I lived there for 30 years.

There's some folks here that should be working in an Apple Store though, where I live they could use some replacements.

SM