Is getting a job at Apple hard?

So what are the similarities and differences between recruitment process for Apple and Microsoft? Has anyone in India ever appeared for the interview process or got recruited by Apple?

• In India, we hear a lot about graduates getting jobs in Google/Facebook/Microsoft, bt never heard of anyone getting a job at Apple....so jst curious...Also on which technical concepts do recruiters from Apple focus?

• Answer:

  This is a pretty broad question, and it's not clear what your specific area of interest is here, but I'll take a stab. The first thing to note is that Apple has two "sides" to it: retail and corporate.  I don't know anything about the retail side of things, but I would expect, at the front end of the process, that it's probably a bit like any other retail job, which is to say, 'a person walks into the store and asks to fill out an application for employment.' My experience is with the corporate side. It's worth mentioning up front that different groups within Apple probably handle recruiting differently, but in terms of my personal experience, the hiring process works a bit like this: The candidate finds an open position on http://jobs.apple.com and submits their resume via the website for consideration for that specific position OR the candidate expresses interest to (and gives resume to) a friend or acquaintance who is a current Apple employee. If there is interest in the resume, someone (probably an HR rep or the hiring manager) will contact the candidate by phone and conduct a preliminary phone screen to see if there is further interest in the candidate. If there is further interest, the candidate will be invited to interview in person with several current members of the hiring manager's team over the course of a day. The current team members will meet with the hiring manager to report their impressions. The hiring manager will make a decision and report back to HR. If there is not a good fit, the candidate will be informed of that by HR. If there is a good fit, the hiring manager will work with HR to prepare an offer. For what it's worth, this has been the same basic hiring process for almost every company I've ever interviewed with or worked for; I don't find Apple's corporate recruiting/hiring process to be substantially different than any other big tech company I've seen. You did specifically use the word "recruiting." I can't speak to anything beyond my personal experience (as an engineer), but I've not seen much, if any, active "recruiting." My personal experience is that the principal challenge is picking the best candidates out of a veritable firehose of resumes. You asked specifically how to contact the HR department. Apple is "in the book," so to speak -- you can call the main switchboard and ask to speak to someone in Human Resources -- but I suspect that any such caller would be promptly redirected to the website. In sum: if you know someone who works for Apple, I recommend asking them about any opportunities they might know of and maybe giving them your resume. If you don't have pre-existing contacts within the company, I suggest submitting a resume through http://jobs.apple.com