I applied through an employee referral. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Apple (Cupertino, CA) in Apr 2009
Interview
I received a call from the recruiter at Apple. He then scheduled me for an interview in person. Two people interviewed me for 45 min session each.
The interview was behavioral as well as technical. The technical was high level and general concept and the process of the product life cycle flow.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
in an ideal world what would you like to be,
perfect programmer
code and leave things for others to clean up
jack of all
I applied online. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Apple (Cupertino, CA) in Jun 2008
Interview
The hiring process is very quick, no time is wasted and they like to move forward quickly, if they feel that the candidate is good. There were 2 phone screens and one on-site interview. The first phone screen was 25 min and the second was about 40 minutes.
The on-site interview process was very smooth and well planned. The recruiter and the interviewers were very professional. There were six 1:1 interviews - 5 completely technical. The manager provided great information about the group/what they do and was very polite and professional. The last interview was non-technical with the HR personnel. The HR person was exceptionally nice, providing answers to all of my questions in details.
If you are get an interview call for Apple, make sure that you can defend your resume (whatever you have claimed to know) very well. The company culture is very good. There is a lot of work and great opportunity to grow. The managers are very nice - a lot is expected from you while maintaining good work/life balance.
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
The questions depend on your field of expertise. Make sure you know whatever you have claimed in your resume.