It's better to be nice than smart.
In his new book about the phenomenal success of Apple’s 11-year-old retail stores, The Apple Experience: Secrets to Building Insanely Great Customer Loyalty, Forbes contributor and corporate communications coach Carmine Gallo has an intriguing section on how Apple hires its retail employees. Apple doesn’t look for exceptional intelligence or technical mastery, writes Gallo. Rather, the company wants employees who demonstrate an appealing, friendly, enthusiastic personality who, in Gallo’s words, “take joy in helping others discover tools they can use to change the way they live, work and play.” In other words, as Gallo puts it, “Apple hires for attitude and not aptitude.” Here are some bullet points on Apple’s hiring process, distilled from Gallo’s book.
Smile and be friendly to everyone. Candidates who made it through Apple’s rigorous interview process told Gallo that it’s important to smile warmly at every stage. Be nice to everyone, including employees, fellow job applicants and hiring managers. Apple’s process is similar to hiring in the hospitality industry, which also screens for attitude. Gallo cites a Cornell University study that shows hospitality managers prefer employees with an “agreeable nature” to those who rank high on intelligence measures.
Demonstrate passion. Gallo writes that Apple most cares about whether a potential hire is excited about helping customers connect with tools that can enhance their lives.
Don’t worry about not knowing much about Apple products. Some Apple employees had never even owned a Mac product before applying for a retail job in a Mac store.
Speak up and demonstrate confidence. Gallo describes how retail applicants are first put in a room with other applicants, Apple Store employees and hiring managers, and then asked an informal question that may have nothing to do with computers, like, “what is your favorite ice cream?” Hiring managers weed out wallflowers and then break the remaining candidates into smaller groups of four to five people.
Interact with the group and ask for help. In the small group, the hiring manager asks more specific questions, like what would you do if a customer came in with an iPhone that didn’t work. Don’t worry if you don’t know how to fix the phone. The hiring manager is looking for someone who can be part of a team and ask for assistance.
Show a commitment to the customer. The next step in the process involves each candidate sitting in front of a five-member panel of managers, trainers and employees who work in the “red zone” at the front of the store where sales are made. The panel will ask technical questions, but again, the candidate should be confident about asking for help. The most important trait to display is a willingness to help the customer.
Talk with humility about your success in a previous job. In the third and last stage of the interview process, says Gallo, a hiring manager asks a potential hire how they performed in a previous job. The answer is less important than the way the candidate responds. Apple wants people who credit their teams, instead of saying they accomplished tasks all by themselves.
The wages at Apple stores are comparable to other retailers, from $9 to $16 an hour, and averaging $11.25, according to Gallo. For Genius Bar technicians, pay ranges from $32,000 to $50,000. This is obviously not stellar, but there are other benefits, writes Gallo. Among the pluses of working for Apple is that appearance doesn’t matter. As Gallo writes, you can have tattoos over 90% of your body and a spiked pink Mohawk; if you demonstrate the right attitude, Apple will hire you.
Gallo cites a 2011 Gallup survey showing that 71% of U.S. employees are either not engaged or actively disengaged and emotionally disconnected from their workplaces. According to Gallo, this is not the case for Apple store workers, perhaps because engagement is a prerequisite of getting hired. By way of illustration, he describes a conversation with an Apple store employee. Gallo asks him why he likes working there. “Even people who walk in here upset leave happy,” answers the worker. “It’s a rewarding experience, improving people’s lives for the better. That’s pretty special.”
