The hiring event I attended lasted for two hours and there were 24 candidates in the room. In two days they were looking at about 150 candidates for four stores. In addition to the head recruiter who stood up front and led the session, there were at least ten other Apple people in the room armed with clipboards taking notes. To start off the session the head recruiter showed some Apple videos that gave stats about Apple's success. Take notes! There is a verbal quiz! They are looking for people who can recall the number of stores worldwide, or sales for 2010. They also broke the group into pairs.I had a few minutes to get to know my partner and then introduce him to the group.Alternatively, he had to do the same. My advice: figure out the key messages about yourself you want your partner to remember and then tell him in a very clear and concise way so he can remember the key points. Following this exercise, there were additional opportunities to "add your two cents" to the presentation by raising your hand and getting called on to add comments about a question he posed. For example, "what is your favorite iPhone app and why?" This type of back and forth went on for a while until we were split into groups of six and taken out into the hallway with two people from Apple still armed with clipboards. Again, this was so weird because questions were posed to the group and either you had to jump in to answer a question or, they went around the circle and everyone answered the same question. Both of the Apple people were taking notes. We then went back into the room, sat down and they said "Thanks very much, we will be in touch as early as this afternoon." Bottom line, I have no idea what they were looking for. No one in the room had more experience with Apple products than I did. In fact, some only owed an iPod. Somehow that did not matter. They are looking for a "type" that I wish I could explain to you here, but I can't since I am not sure who got called back for round 2. I did not move forward in the process. I am a 60 year old woman who has been using and loving Apple products since 1990, the year most of the people in that room were born! I figured that it was worth a try to see if they would hire me to work with some of their customers who may be intimidated by the hip, young Specialists who dominate the scene at the typical Apple store. When I received the "sorry to say" email my husband's comment was "after a month when the novelty wears off, you would hate it." Maybe he is right. Maybe not. In the meantime, I remain a loyal Apple customer.