I applied for the Specialist position online in October. A friend of mine who works at an Apple store in another state logged in to their internal referral portal and recommended me for the position. I suggest that you find someone who already works at Apple to do this as it makes the entire process much more fluid. I didn't hear back until December when I was called in for a group interview. This is the first stage of the hiring process and this particular group interview was for referrals only. There were about 30 of us at a conference room and it was a very relaxed, informal setting for dialogue. We filled out a form that asked questions about availability. On the back side were about 30 questions about Apple products that anyone who is accustomed to using a Mac would have no problem breezing through. We introduced ourselves, gave an interesting fact, and then the facilitators (there were 2) gave us some information about Apple retail, facts, figures, etc. At the end of most slides they opened up the floor for discussion. Be a part of the dialogue but don't be over eager or overbearing. Listen as much as you speak, and don't just speak for the sake of speaking (i.e. reiterating what has already been said). Our facilitator was incredibly friendly and quickly learned the names of the most active participants. After the dialogue we had a small group activity basically profiling a fake customer and making a product recommendation based on the little bit of information we were given. We then reported our solution to the rest of the group. Again, make sure you are working as a team. I don't think the assignment is about getting the correct solution. I think they are more interested in seeing how you function as a team. Listen to your group members, be insightful, and present with confidence. We left and were told next steps would be a phone interview if we were chosen to proceed. The phone interview went rather well. The person that interviewed me happened to be the same woman that facilitated the group interview so I was at an advantage there. I had done hours of online research and preparation that ended up not really being relevant to the conversation. We chatted more about why I wanted to work at Apple, how my experiences prepared me and next-steps for setting up the last and final interview with the store leader. The phone interview was honestly more of a fluid conversation than anything and it kind of seemed like she had made a decision about me moving forward before we even began talking. The last and final interview with the store leader happened at the same location as the group interview. I met with two individuals from the store I applied to, went over my resume, chatted about my educational background, versatile skill set and other customer experiences. Again, I was very much just being myself and the dialogue was extremely conversational. MY ADVICE: Do your research as you should with ANY interview, but from my experience, this is less of a test of your technical expertise and more of an assessment of your personality. If you are applying to work in a high-traffic store can you handle difficult customer situations? Do you have retail experience? Are you personable? Do you learn quickly and efficiently? Think about the answers to these questions and emphasize that more so than your smarts. Training will come later. As a specialist the emphasis is definitely more customer interaction. If you are on this site then you're already in good shape. Good luck!