Company: Apple
Date: 2015-06-15
Overall rating: 4/5
Employment status: former
Experience level: Confirmed

Specialist Plus
Pros: For the pragmatic, the benefits, stock options and discounts are very good.  The variety and quality of the people you will work with is generally very high.  There are opportunities for training and qualifications (some caveats, see cons) but the environment is usually low-stress, if sometimes a bit busy (this is retail after all).  The people are honestly the best thing.  I haven't encountered many workplaces where this was a truly accurate statement.
Cons: Compensation is slightly low when compared to others, especially considering what company you're working for.  Some stores can be politically charged, that is, a subset of employees will be focused on ways to curry favor or advance by any means.  Any workplace can, this is simply no exception.  If you can adjust to this, it may not be a con.  If you move into a leadership position, you will have to drink the cool-aid.  Again, this is not necessarily so bad, but this company is very protective of its brand and can employ strict language and constraints on how you operate.  Part-timers have very limited opportunity to pursue additional training and other experiences in the store.  Full-timers may find these opportunities rare and highly competitive.  Hours and scheduling procedures were a constant if minor frustration throughout my tenure; consistency, interpretations of policy and clear procedure were grappled with regularly.  It's better-than-average retail, but it's still retail.  All the cautions and issues of a large chain store apply.