Job Interview 1 - Apple Interview

6B2
6D2

Application Process: Apple run a varied amount of graduate schemes in different areas of their UK head office each year, the opportunity is available to students who want to work in design, app store, iTunes, iBooks, Apple TV & Movies, Marketing and Partnership Marketing. The role I applied for was focused around UX and UI design within iTunes and its partner software, such as the app store. This role is on a year-long paid internship basis and allows to work as part of the design team on in house briefs, learning from industry professionals on live briefs as part of the most successful technology company in the world. 

E-Mail:

Assessment Day: The day consisted of travelling to London for 8:45 am to the European Apple Head Office on Hanover St. Upon arrival we were introduced into a room where we could speak to the other applicants that had been invited to the assessment day; this was a good opportunity to network with other third-year students from across the country who specialised in different areas of design, marketing and business. This process made the day feel more relaxed and relieve some of the initial nerves of having an assessment with such an infamous company. 

Once entering the assessment room, tables were laid out with name places, and again gave us an opportunity to break the ice with the other members of who would be our team for the day. After introductions, each of the hiring managers for each role introduced themselves to the applicants, as well as giving us further information about the role itself this gave us the opportunity to learn about the other roles in the office. Which in turn allowed us to grasp an idea of the roles of the people we would be collaborating with if taken on.

Post introductions we were given the chance to have a timed 5-minute interview with each of the hiring managers, without showing any of our work. In this discussion, I met with Jez, the creative director of Apple UK and Europe design department. The interview was more of a casual chat to get to know one and other, in which I was asked a series of 5 questions:

• What is something you are proud of?
• If you were an app what would you be?
• What is three traits you believe a designer should have?
• If someone would say a negative about the way you work what would it be?
• What would you like to get out this experience?

Due to the time constraints, it was hard to be able to get everything that I wanted to say across for each question, yet in saying this, each question was answered. In any questions that highlighted possible weaknesses e.g. If someone would say a negative about the way you work what would it be? I answered with a positive-negative ie. They would say I try to consider the brief in trifold, trying to explore every avenue possible which may cause myself extra work to exceed the expectations of the brief. In each answer, I kept in mind the way in which I could present myself as someone who could benefit his team and the business as a whole. 

During lunch, we met the current interns who had been taken on from the same programme the previous year, to be able to ask them questions about how they have found the experience and the way it had affected their practice. Beth Ewen’s is currently their design intern, who is also alumni from Leeds Arts University, from Graphic Design. Therefore she was really able to give me an idea of the transition from university life to the role of a design intern with Apple. She explained how it less stressful than university and allows more time to actually focus on the work you’re creating, which in turn allows for more time to improve your personal work outside of working hours.

After lunch we were challenged with a task, the groups we had been put in had one designer and someone else from each specialism which was being interviewed. Between us, we needed to come up with a concept and create a presentation selling it to become a part of either iTunes, Apple Music, Apple TV & Movies, iBooks or a mixture of the mentioned, including social media campaigns and an e-mail hero banner design. This task was to be completed within an hour and then presented to the rest of the groups of applicants, as well as the departmental managers of Apple UK, Europe/EEA. Within our concept, we created a campaign that allowed for artists who have a large presence within the realm of social change to extend their listeners and message to the correct demo. We chose Christine and the Queens, as an icon in the queer community promoting a new identity for femininity and working towards gaining awareness for the issues that similar people may face. The campaigned followed the visual identity of the album ‘Chris’ keeping the personality of the artist at the core of the campaign, which is not overbearing the software and apple branding that it would sit around, and also extending the intent of pushing the beliefs of the Artist themselves and their music out to the listener. The campaign showed examples of the way in which the music could be pushed through hero banners within the iTunes store, and then further supported by the addition of documentaries (added to Apple TV) - similar to ones Apple have had exclusively before, e.g. Skepta’s issues he faced in joining the industry. Mockups were made of each of these elements as well as a promotional hero banner for e-mail, all of which were placed into the presentation alongside target audience, visual mood board, visual identity, execution - software and promotional. Unfortunately, my peers in the group were not confident using keynote, therefore I was responsible for the creation of the visuals themselves as well as the design and creation of the actual presentation itself. The presentation went well, at the end I asked if any of the directors had any questions, to which the head of marketing mentioned that Apple had previously done this campaign, in fear of the hiring managers thinking we had simply copied the concept, we replied “great minds think alike” which managed to break the silence, and allowed them to consider that we were creating work that the company were thinking of themselves, showing how we could easily work with similar minded teams. 

During the next stage of the day, names were called out, which I was included in. We were asked to leave the room and collect our belongings on the way out, after which we were handed passes and told to make our way to the 6th floor, as we had made it to the second and final stage of the interview. Within this stage, we were given the chance to present our portfolio. This gave me a lot of positive feedback and allowed me the chance to show how passionate I am about my work. Once this had been completed the interviews were over and we were told to await feedback over the next few days.