I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Apple (San Antonio, TX) in Oct 2018
Interview
I received an email invitation to an Apple Hiring Event at a nearby Apple store. I RSVP'd and prepared for the interview as this was my first time interviewing with Apple, a company I had been applying to for over 5 years! 2 weeks later was my first interview at 10am on a Sunday and I was instructed to arrive 15 minutes early wearing business casual attire. There were 5 people interviewing including me. We waited until 15 minutes past the hour before one of the managers finally directed us towards the food court area of the mall. The first thing we had to do was fill out a paper that included our contact info, availability (full-time, part-time, hours), and the position(s) we are interested in. This is when I knew it was a waste of time as the choices only included positions like Specialist, Genius, etc. Remember, I had applied for the Manager position? I wrote on the paper that I applied for a manager position since it was not a listed option. The panel interview was very simple. First every one introduced themselves. Then we passed around an iPad to play a "game" where we selected tiles that had questions. Each person answered 3 of these random questions. Afterwards, the manager asked us one question - Why Apple? Everyone took turns answering this. We were told that within 1-2 days we will find out if we will move forward or not and if so, to expect 5 interviews total. The following day I received a missed call and a text message from a different manager to schedule a follow-up interview. The communication at this point was very informal and quite poor. Finally on Thursday I heard back asking me to come in the same day for the follow-up interview. This time it was a different manager. Again, I arrived 15 minutes early and I waited 30 minutes past our scheduled time and 45 minutes total before we walked to a bench near the food court of the mall. This time it was one-on-one and very laid back. The manager told me a little bit about himself and then asked me to do the same. He then asked me whether I'm looking for full-time or part-time. I replied full-time and he said well we are only looking for part-time at the moment. I then questioned him what position I'm even being considered for because I had applied for a manager position and he told me they need part-time specialists. The rest of the conversation was an attempt to convince me to accept a part-time retail job and how this can be my foot in the door. What a joke. Imagine someone applying for CEO and gets invited for a line worker.
First interview was in a group. The questions were simple and easy. They passed around a iPad that you got to choose your questions to answer.
Second interview one on one with store manager. Found out they were only hiring for part time seasonal when they knew I had applied for manager position online. He even had it on the paper in front of him. They did a bait and switch. Have 10+ years in management. Don't waste people's time if the position isn't actually open.
Interview process is very quick but they don't care if it can work around your schedule. They're very short notice. Very tricky if your working.
I applied through other source. I interviewed at Apple (Cupertino, CA)
Interview
Few phone screeners and talks that got deeper. Once it seemed a fit was possible I went over to the offices for a day long of about 20-45 minute interviews one right after another. Can't remember but ended up meeting with over 10 people. Typical silicon valley procedure. The people were a mix of potential team members and support groups and were nice, genuine, and remarkably down to earth with just one who was full of himself. Overall that was a positive experience. The negative: failure of communication throughout the process from the very first screener; literally nothing, just kept in dark.. months on end. Having lived in the area and interviewing with industry equivalents, apple was the worst of them all.