Company: Apple
Date: 2008-09-04
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: former

The Electric Kool-Aid Apple Test
Pros: Apple offers excellent medical benefits as well as a 401k plan and employee stock purchase plan.  In addition, Apple tends to give their employees free promotional items when major new products come out.
Cons: Where I worked, scheduling was a nightmare.  I practically never had any weekend days off and, since the store hours were 24/7, I had to work much later than I would have liked.  When you are scheduled to work from 11-8 or 1-10 on a regular basis, your job becomes your life.  There's not enough time to do anything before work and by the time you get home its also too late to do anything.  
Also, Apple can oftentimes feel more like a cult than a company.  There's only so much self-congratulating one can take before you start believing it.  Don't!  Remember, you are just a cog in their unfathomably large wheel.  Yes, Apple may in fact be more selective than Princeton when it comes to new hires (something that was repeated many times during the hiring process), but maybe that's because most of their employees are low-level proles just trying to pay the rent.   Only the top students in the world would even consider applying to Princeton, but anyone can fill out an Apple application.  It only takes a few minutes and can be done one their website!   I cannot stress this enough: Do not drink the Kool-Aid!  This is just a job and you are just an employee.