Another "laugher" from Apple employee

[devilot]

Anyone know what qualifications you need to be a genius bar worker? I'm finishing Uni in 3 days (last exam!) and will have some spare time on my hands!
I will have a degree at oxford in engineering under my belt and 5 years' worth of Mac knowledge...
What do you need?
I'd be applying for the London store - it's only a commute away from home..

I don't know for sure, but I stumbled upon an Apple link/page (can't seem to find it now) that mentioned something about taking their little seminar things to qualify as a Genius, but the ones that I looked at were like $1,000!

 

[Sirus The Virus]

I walked into the Apple Store in Dallas once wearing my black Apple shirt, which looks similar to the Apple staff shirts. And some person asked me if I worked there, I said no and answered her questions best as I could. I don't know if they bought anything though.

 

[Stinkythe1]

When I worked at Office Depot, a place that does not sell any apple products aside from iPod's, whenever I would be telling someone about a PC, they would be like, "well, I heard about these Mac's, what do you think about them?" and I would basically tell them all the good things about macs. I don't know if they took any of that to heart, but usually they didn't walk out with one of our computers.

Not sure if they were just trying to decide or if I actually made them think seriously about Mac's. My manager never knew about that though....

 

[Toreador93]

You have reached the Catch-22. Most retail stores are not willing to pay for training of their staff. And with out the training, the staff does not meet expectations of the consumer.

If you want a store that really trains its people, go to Home Depot. This is my second summer working there, and my training almost doubled from the first time. I've just put in 40 hours of orientation and training. Even the lot guys (carts, loaders) had to learn a little cashiering, special orders, and such. I'm being paid $9/hr * 40hrs, and I haven't helped one person yet.

That might be why Home Depot put Builder's Square and HQ out of business, and stole most of Lowes' thunder (Lowes is about 20 years older). People at HD have been FIRED for not greeting customers.

 

[notjustjay]

In my spare hours (ha!) I work at Canadian Tire, which for the uninitiated is a big-box store similar to Wal-Mart, with (obviously) an automotive slant. Their big departments are auto parts and service, hardware (power tools, plumbing, paint), housewares, sports and leisure equipment, etc. Think Wal-Mart meets Home Depot.

The particular store I work at is very picky about customer service and we're all trained to greet anyone who we pass within 10 feet of. We were also toldi in our orientation that our store is rated one of the top (if not THE top) store in Canada.

Just to be a nuisance, I set out on a little quest to prove that wrong, making sure to visit other Canadian Tire stores whenever I get a chance. So far I have never ONCE been greeted personally by any store clerk at any other CT store (or Wal-Mart, for that matter -- not even the greeters!) So I can see how that might make a huge difference.

 

[Xtremehkr]

It may seem pretty harmless, but I bet the store employees spend a lot of time reseting what other people have done so that new customers can get an idea of what they are going to purchase will really look and act like.

It is pretty annoying when the 'Macintosh HD' has been replaced with profanity or gibberish. And weird aesthetics can turn a customer off.

 

[Applespider]

Anyone know what qualifications you need to be a genius bar worker? I'm finishing Uni in 3 days (last exam!) and will have some spare time on my hands!

I'd be applying for the London store - it's only a commute away from home..

You realise you'd have to give up posting here... and I suspect you'd be overqualified for the role (degree wise at least). Before Regent St opened, the Genius Bar staff were sent to Cupertino to learn how to be Mac Geniuses and then practiced at the SF store. Not sure if that training programme is ongoing but I suspect you'd have more chance getting in as a Mac Specialist on a temporary basis...