My girlfriend has just started her career as a product designer. She would love to work for Apple in the future. How can she prepare herself in the following year to increase her chances of being hired by Apple as an interaction/UX designer? What does Apple look for in potential hires in ux design?
I’m currently in the middle of my process with Apple. I can send you my portfolio as an example if you DM me. Their process is a bit annoying. From what I’ve seen it’s very team focused unlike other companies that seem to first do a general interview then team match. I was pretty much matched by teams pretty early on. Then you interview with the team. So if multiple openings you might need multiple interviews. Had HR screen (very short and normal, just about who you are and what you’re looking for and info about the team). I sent a blurb about me that was passed along to the hiring manager. Then an interview with a design manager where I talked about my work/process/designing thinking. Then invite to onsite (stage I’m at right now). Onsite you present your work. Unlike some others I pretty much have to do a presentation tailored to Apple. I’m supposed to present my best/worst project. And also present a short design exercise (2-3 hr) that they give. This seems like it might be fairly team centric too. So other teams might require different presentations. They seem more focused on process over others which seem to be more focused on results. After portfolio presentation I’m sure it’ll be normal 1-1 behavioral interviews/design white boarding/app critique. But don’t know yet cause I haven’t gone.
What happened? Just did an on-site yesterday
They gave me an offer. Also happened really fast.
Portfolio and product sense. Product sense takes a while to develop
Thanks for the answer. Could you please elaborate a bit on product sense? Also, like every designer she also has a portfolio, but what makes a portfolio good for Apple?
Product sense meaning you understand product goals, can identify problems/needs, can make decisions that will impact both the user and the business and then able to execute on it.