Apple Manager Interview Questions
& Process

In one sentence, one of the stupidest interview processes I have ever seen!!! Interviewers were kind and sounded reasonably smart. But they made me go through 8 rounds of interviews, even having 2 rounds with the same hiring manager, wasting senior leadership time just to reject a candidate. My whole process lasted 3.5 months and then they took another 3 weeks to share the rejection after 8 rounds. For all the talk about efficiency in Apple's DNA, this is one of the most inefficient processes I have seen. I feel Apple posts jobs to external candidates just to reassure themselves that their internal candidates are far superior to the outside talent pool. Recruiters give no guidance on interview expectations for external candidates, but from my conversations, I learned internal candidates were very well aware of what each interviewer expected. Please do not waste your time and effort on this organization as they clearly always prefer internal ones.

This is a review of the Monetization Manager role for Games in the App Store, currently hiring in London, UK. I had a recruiter screening which felt like a complete interrogation. I have to preface by saying that I checked every aspect of their job description and that’s how I landed the recruiter interview. She showed little interest in understanding my profile or my long tenures at organisations of solid reputations and instead zeroed in on the fact that I am currently on a personal break from work, and grilled me on why my shortest career stint from 5 years ago was only a few months. She then asked about my target compensation which I provided. She refused to not only share what the salary bracket for the role was, but also refused to indicate whether my target compensation was within their budget. Apparently it is not “aligned with their policies to indicate whether the compensation aligns with their budget”. I then pushed back and explained that this is a niche role that doesn’t have a lot of market data and that I have reservations investing time and energy into a process that needs me to complete an assignment, plus multiple rounds of interviews, only to find out that the compensation was a mismatch. She refused to move. I then said that this lack of transparency and one sidedness is a culture red flag for me, and culture of the organisation is important to me. After a big back and forth she finally said “if your compensation were too far from the budget, I’d have indicated it”. It was at that point I decided I wasn’t interested in continuing. In 2024, what is a big FAANG company doing playing mind games with people? It is a complete lack of respect for a person and their time. Of course, within a week I got a generic rejection email, even though I was a perfect match. I can only infer that Apple is a company with low tolerance for constructive dissent. It is top down, and the recruiter’s behaviour showed an inherent arrogance built into the system that the employer has an upper hand over its people. It is incredibly dangerous for a company to insist on an approach like this because it perpetuates gender bias and inequity in its pay, and it dissuades people from calling out injustices at the workplace. I suppose Apple just wants to hire people who are yes-people and are willing to do what they are told with no questions asked.

The interview process at Apple usually has several steps aimed at evaluating a candidate's technical skills, problem-solving abilities, and cultural fit in the company. Here's a general outline: Initial Application and Screening: Candidates submit their resumes online. If selected, a recruiter reaches out for a phone screening to talk about their background, experience, and reasons for applying. Technical Phone Screen: This step normally includes a technical interview done over the phone or by video call. For engineering roles, candidates might be asked to solve coding problems or respond to technical questions related to the job. On-Site Interviews: Candidates who pass the phone screen are invited to Apple’s campus for a round of on-site interviews. These can take up a whole day and usually involve several one-on-one or panel interviews with team members and managers. The emphasis is on technical skills, problem-solving, and cultural fit. Candidates might be asked to work on coding problems, design challenges, or case studies. Behavioral Interviews: Alongside technical tests, candidates also have behavioral interviews to check their soft skills, teamwork, and how well they match Apple’s values and culture. Executive Interviews: For certain roles, especially more senior positions, candidates may also meet higher-level executives for final assessments.