Company: Apple
Date: 2008-06-20
Overall rating: 2/5
Employment status: current

Good part-time job for college kids who want to gain experience and credibility for a low wage
Pros: Apple is finally getting the respect it deserves. The company, on the whole, is a good company.  Now, thanks to the move to Intel processors and being able to run Windows, everyone can (and is) using a Mac.  The benefits are quite good, and they even provide benefits for domestic partners. There aren't a lot of companies in my area (the south) that do that.  Decent discounts on most products.  The fact that the sales staff (specialists) are not on commission is both positive and negative.  It's theoretically better for the customer because they are not trying to sell the customer on an uber-powerful system that they don't need.  They should be trying to match the computer to the customer's needs.  No commission also means no underhanded competition among the staff.  There is generally quite good camaraderie amongst the staff...we're all in pretty much the same boat, so we tend to stick together.
Cons: Seriously underpaid, not much room for advancement, very few full-time opportunities, lack of management support, insane secrecy/paranoia, pathetic salary (it's so bad it was worth mentioning twice!).  Salary info was accidentally posted on iCommunicate a while back (taken down within an hour or so) and I was shocked to see the huge difference in salary between management and the genius staff.  The specialists didn't make much above minimum wage.  The lack of training is surprising as well. We have to access ASTO (Apple Sales Training Online) from home, off the clock, to get new information about products.  Management does not give us time to do it at work.