Company: Apple
Date: 2017-02-06
Overall rating: 2/5
Employment status: former
Experience level: Confirmed

The glossiest dead-end job you'll ever have
Pros: You'll be working with some of the smartest, most diverse teammates possible.  Your customers generally love seeing you.  There is a great variation of different roles in each store so it's fairly easy to find one that suits your personality.

Benefits are, by and large, better than just about any retail organization out there.  Standards are high and this tends to produce a very rewarding day to day experience for employees and customers.
Cons: There is absolutely no blueprint or roadmap for advancement.  This means you'll spend frustrating amounts of time trying to meet this quarter's ad hoc development goals only to learn that the focus has shifted in an entirely different direction next quarter.  You'll find promises are plentiful, but opportunities far, far less so.  It's not at all infrequent for people in leadership positions at other companies to be promised a fast-track into Apple Retail's leadership ranks but, too often, once you've taken the bait there isn't much you can do to move upward.

Internal promotions are exceedingly rare so don't be surprised when you find yourself working for a manager hired externally from another retailer or even a fast food restaurant.  Apple has quietly de-emphasized growth training and is now focussed on throughput at the expense of all else, including employee and customer satisfaction.  

From a products and services standpoint Apple has done very little of late to cause excitement.  If you're on the support side of things expect frequent laments from customers about the degradation of Apple's products.  Frequent recalls, abrupt cancellations of favorite services, and a general feeling that we've been here before.  Apple has trod on its reputation for so long now that it almost seems quaint to recall the days when hundreds of people would line up for days in anticipation of a new product launch.