Interviewing at Apple is unlike any other retail job, in that they go out of their way to thoroughly screen applicants. My experience was similar to others...it started with an online application, and then I was invited to a group interview about 2 months later. About 30 applicants were there, along with 6 store workers. The event was very informal, split between a presentation about the company, group questions, and then small group tasks. Overall, the event took about 2 hours. While the employees were generally upbeat about the company, they skirted around questions such as how many people they were looking to hire, and what they were looking for in a candidate 2 days later, I got an email requesting a information for a background check, and the next day I received a phone call inviting me in for a 1:1 interview. From talking with other applicants later on, they sit you down with one of the branch leaders...I had the business leader. Pretty standard interview, though they definitely concentrate on things like hobbies and extra-curricular interests more than most companies. I actually missed some question relating to the new OS, but they didnt seem to care a whole lot at this level as the person I interviewed with actually set up the time for my next interview at the end. My 3rd interview was another 1:1, this time with the store leader. I didnt really know what to make of this interview, as half of it was spent discussing baseball and the interviewer didnt even have my resume in hand (he didn't seem to care much about past experiences). It went well enough that I got a phone call the next day requesting a 4th interview with a market leader. The 4th interview was where I faltered in the process, though I dont entirely know why. Because the market leader was coming in from out of state, he showed up an hour late, and thusly instead of having a 1:1 he interview 2 of us at the same time. This interview was by far the most technical of the 4, but still a fairly free-flowing conversation. I was able to answer all the questions correctly this time, and was able to answer all the questions that the other interviewee missed. Still, I received a phone call 4 days later informing me they were sorry but they were moving on with other candidates. In closing, after having gone through the process I still cannot tell you what Apple is looking for in their employees. They mentioned that they received thousands of applications, and that merely getting invited to their group session is indicative of an accomplishment. The only thing that really irked me about the process was that the 1:1 interviews took place on benches in the middle of a busy mall, which can make it difficult to focus on the interview, but perhaps that is intentional.

Famously competitive as always, my odds were better since I kept updating my resume whenever I was on the job search. They reached out to me first by email, I completed an application, and then had three rounds of interviews in total.