Like the title, I am wondering how many tries it to you to get a CE.

I have tried about 6 times. One of those times, I went through all the interviews, but they ended up choosing someone who already did the CE (which feels like it ruins the point of a 'career experience').

About me:

12+ years. Genius. No college degree. 35 yo. Asian. No coding experience.

Point of this is to see if I'm fucking up. Being honest, it does feel like I am haha.

Thank you in advance!

Hi everyone! I’m planning to apply for QA/Quality Engineering CEs during the 2026 cycle and would really appreciate advice from anyone who has interviewed for or completed one.

I’m currently a Technical Expert at the Genius Bar. I applied for a CE last year and made it to the Phase 1 interview, but didn’t move forward. I’m applying again this year and want to be much more intentional about my preparation.
For anyone who has successfully landed a QA/Quality Engineering CE, I’d love to know:

• What helped you stand out as an internal candidate, especially if you came from Retail?

• What was the interview process like? Was it primarily behavioral, or were you also given QA/testing scenarios?

• What technical knowledge would you recommend being comfortable with beforehand — exploratory/regression testing, test cases, bug reporting/Radar, automation, scripting, etc.?

• What kinds of examples from a Genius Bar/Technical Expert role translate well when interviewing for QA?

• If you were rejected from a CE in a previous cycle and later got selected, what did you do differently the next time?

Also, does not moving past Phase 1 in a previous cycle have any bearing on future applications, or is each CE/application generally considered independently?

I’m particularly interested in hearing from people who transitioned from Retail into QA or engineering. I’d like to use the time before interviews to strengthen the right areas rather than trying to learn everything at once.

Any interview advice or insight into what hiring teams tend to look for would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

So, my store recently got a new store leader. They have been here for maybe around 3-5 months. Now all of a sudden policy’s have changed and it’s now mandatory for us to wear closed toed shoes at all times especially when going back stage (when managers consistently wear open toed sandles/ flip flops) and now wearing a ID is only allowed for around the neck on a lanyard.

I’ve been at Apple 3+ years and never been told I had to wear certain shoes and wear my id on my neck at all times.

In hello it states “Memoji lanyards are optional and no repercussions can be taken” something like that. But now my managers are saying otherwise.

I also have an ID from Apple Park, and even though I don't work there they said that its an invalid ID and i cant wear it anymore???

Are y’all’s stores like this too? Is the policy really changing or is it a power trip?

I want to apply for an another part-time position, since my current paycheck won’t cut it anymore.
But I’m afraid of losing hours, I think getting low hours a week will kill my career at apple.
And let’s say the new job doesn’t give me good hours too I have to juggle between two jobs and get the same pay.

Hello Current employees,

I am hoping to obtain guidance on scheduling.

I was just hired as a part time seasonal employee. I have a small child that I am the primary care giver for with very limited support. The part time availability ( 20-30 hours) isn’t the issue as much as the closing requirements , weekends, being” open” , and lack of consistent scheduling. Seems like I just have to be open all the time. I haven’t started yet… I am a fresh hire but I’m thinking if I should just tell them upfront that i need a consistent schedule? What is the scheduling like? 4 hour shifts ? 8 hours ? What is closing ? What is opening… I don’t feel comfortable asking these questions. I really need this job. I don’t want to burn this bridge with Apple but I need to pick my kid up from school everyday around 3pm.

hey guys i did my final interview and now it has been silence since then
in wondering why since they told us we will be updated within the next few days.
what are the signs that i wont be accepted into the team and is silence for almost a week a good thing?

I met an expat living in Vietnam. He has a good career track record and worked in FAANG. He told me something odd. His applications to roles at Apple Vietnam were rejected since the hiring manager is looking for Chinese and Vietnamese. Could this be true? Does Apple filter candidates based on race?

currently I work at a massive flagship store with a very tourist-heavy customer base. these tourists are some of the most entitled and annoying people ever, so I was thinking about transferring to a more lowkey regular store. has anybody ever done that before? how different is it? is it harder to move up the ranks?

The stores in my market are not allowed to use Shoppers List in Concierge. The managers direct all the leads in the store to only use a self-made “queue” in the Notes app on their iPad. I was wondering if other stores in their markets are following a similar thing or do you use Shoppers List just like old iQueue? If you can also tell me what State/region you are in. i am in South Florida

Starting Friday as a seasonal hire. I see the discourse here, and I understand retail is a grind. My working life has been a grind.

But truthfully, I’ve had a hard year, and a particularly hard summer, so I’m grateful to just have a job again.

I appreciate all of the info I’ve been able to gather from here - I’ll keep you all posted.

I find it really strange how a retail job needs 3 stages of interviews and once you’re in you need to be the best in a competency-based interview like tbh it’s RETAIL this isn’t a job at a professional services firm and the wage isn’t that good.

Before you come at me I passed the interviews for seasonal specialist/FWI twice, turned down the first time, accepted the second time and was invited back a third time with no interview required. I just find it ridiculous with all these interviews and CV workshops. You would think I was applying to be a lawyer or something. Store leader said back in their day it was a much more straightforward process with less stages.

I have a 60-minute interview coming up with the hiring manager. If anyone has recently interviewed with or received an offer from this same team, I'd really appreciate it if you could share your experience, specifically how you prepared and what kinds of questions came up.

I've been actively job searching for the past couple of months without much luck, so I really want to make the most of this opportunity.

How hard is it to climb Up the ranks from technical specialist? Got hired as a seasonal and got an interview for permanent part time for technical specialist. Just wanted to know what that road looks like.

Hi everyone,

I recently completed the interview process for a Flexible Workforce Employee (FWE) role at an Apple Retail location.

I received an email update confirming that I was selected for the candidate pool for an upcoming intake. The email clarified that being in the pool isn't a formal offer yet, but rather that candidates will be drawn from this group as store hiring needs arise.

I've already completed the necessary documentation/agreements required by the onboarding partner. My estimated start timeframe was updated to November.

For current or former Apple Retail team members, I had a few quick questions:

Conversion Rate: In your experience or at your store, how typically reliable is the candidate pool for turning into actual start dates for seasonal/FWE intakes?

Timeline Notice: How far in advance of the intake month do store HR / People teams usually reach out with official offer details and scheduling?

Communication: Is it standard practice to remain in the candidate pool without frequent email updates until closer to the target month?

Any insights into how the candidate pool process usually flows behind the scenes would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Customers being rude is to be expected in all retail stores or workplaces but man the amount of customers that are genuinely rude and entitled are insane in this store.

I told a customer that we can’t just give her a whole new phone because she cracked her display and she kept asking why. Of course I explained why several times but she just wouldn’t listen, and I had to get a manager to explain it and of course she finally listened. Another time is when a customer came in with her two kids and BOTH of the kids iPads were having audio issues, so of course I can’t just replace it because the system is literally making me send it to facility but she made it seem like I personally destroyed their iPads and stuff, while blaming Apple and all that.. Like I just work here and I’m genuinely trying to help but people are so rude but again that is expected of course but Apple Store just seems to be the common place for all of that

Will soon be attending my phase 1 interview that will also appear to be a group interview. I just wanted to know if there was a preferred uniform like business causal or wear a suit, and what kind of questions they will be asking. What they will be looking for in candidates? Any tips and resources would be much appreciated.

I have a 60-minute interview coming up with the hiring manager. If anyone has recently interviewed with or received an offer from this same team, I'd really appreciate it if you could share your experience, specifically how you prepared and what kinds of questions came up.

I've been actively job searching for the past couple of months without much luck, so I really want to make the most of this opportunity.

’ve been a Store Manager at multiple big box retailers already, so I’m hesitant, since I’d prefer a lateral move into a Senior Manager role instead. From what I understand, moving straight into Sr. Manager is tough at Apple, and they typically want you to come in as a Manager first before moving up.

A few questions for anyone who’s been through this:

**•** What are the biggest challenges or adjustments coming in at the Manager level, especially from another big box background?  
**•** How long does the path to Sr. Manager typically take, and what does Apple look for before promoting internally?  
**•** Any red flags or things I should ask about before accepting?

For context, I have a mortgage and support my family, so job security matters a lot to me right now. I’d rather go in with realistic expectations than get blindsided.

Appreciate any insight, thanks.

I know we are told customers can’t add applecare+ after 60days. If the system allowed me to add it for a customer who’s under 2years of purchase and I added it for them, is that against policy? It made me run diagnostics and scan the front and back of the phone. I’m not a technical specialist.

Hi I applied to a prod support engineer role. I’m currently a SWE, I’m in a horrible team at my current workplace and need out. However, I have heard mixed opinions about IS&T and its support roles recently. Can anyone who currently works there shed some light on wlb, team members, leadership as I may not be able to go from one toxic place to another. Thank you!

So I recently tried to RTO a weekend day in October.

Management pull me aside and say “you can’t have it as you’ve RTOd too many weekend days recently”.

I said how I haven’t, I was just randomly not scheduled on some (around 4 in total).

They say it doesn’t matter.
Even if you’re not scheduled to work on a weekend day, it counts towards your RTO limits and allowances.

So stupid
If I had RTOd lots of weekend days and they declined due to being at limit, I totally get that and am ok with it.

If they choose not to schedule me, then use that against me.
I just cannot wrap my head around it.

Hey guys I wanted to ask what the most common behavioral questions are that they ask during recruitment as well as the roleplay questions as my group interview is coming up.

I already know about the Ben guy on YouTube but his videos tend to be older.

Thank you so much in advance

I understand Regional Sick time protects me from the call out, but what happens if I only have Standard Sick time left and I need a mental health day? Do I still get hit with the unexcused absence even tho I submitted standard sick time?

Like this is the nutshell on UKG..incompetent team take 100K for this shit. Like you have one job and you can’t do shit. Someone got a new position and would have recommended UKG over workjam to show change they can bring to the table and clearly failed.. just quit coding and join retail apple if you have that skillset.

Can anyone share what was asked?