Company: Apple
Date: 2017-01-05
Overall rating: 5/5
Employment status: former

Think Different
Pros: Fun and challenging work, with great customer service ethos, a lot of freedom to develop into the best version of you. Incredible benefits package, discounts, career development info, health development info and wonderful and varied co-workers. You get to work with some great equipment, feel part of something bigger than yourself and best of all, see how your work can impact the community around you.

In terms of the business side of things, their model is unlike any other business team out there, no cold calls, no hard-sells and mostly smooth sales processes which you manage from start to finish. The likelihood of you bumping into a senior figure within the company hierarchy is incredible no matter what job-role you start at and can put into perspective why the company is as successful as it is.
Cons: Managers can be unrealistic in their expectations of: a work-life balance, their understanding of work occurring on the front-line and their capability to help you progress professionally. 

In retail, expect to work all holidays, and book 3-4 weeks in advance for time off. Better to think of your job with working hour expectations like those of a nurse or police, no matter what role you have.

Customers can ask very difficult questions about the decisions made at the highest level, you are their punching bag expect it. Even Apple's computer systems go through hiccups - the embarrassment in front of a customer is not fun, especially if you're trying to meet their timeframe requirements.

Unlike other big companies changes happen very, very fast. You might be kept in the dark about the reasoning, and it might be hard to deal with, but you'll just have to trust the decisions are being made for a reason (think lack of stock for a few months, then suddenly a new product or the lineup completely disappears).

In terms of the business side of things, the rest of the store will ostracise you thinking you're like some kind of devil dealing salesperson, maybe just subconsciously, but you'll always have a battle convincing your colleagues just how important leads are to you, cold or otherwise. The lack of B2B acumen around you means you can feel like you fight the same uphill battles with little gains.