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Apple At-Home Advisor...
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I absolutely hated the job for a long time. Now I just tolerate it. And to this day I curse at the Fates because had I waited 3 more weeks to apply at Apple I'd be in CPU not iOS.
Even though T2 pay is supposed to be pretty good, I do not want to be on the phones for 40 hours a week and there's no way I'd want to handle the few calls that I've escalated to Tier 2.
And yes, iOS is customer service not tech support. It's either Appleid issues, setting up repairs or doing restores. It's very, very repetitive and I'm having a very hard time sounding enthusiastic on calls anymore. Even my CSATS are starting to drop because I'm just tired of taking the same types of calls day after day. You really have to be a customer service type person to enjoy iOS.
My best guess is that we're talking about call directors here. That's the job where people take calls at 1-800-APPLE (or whatever it is) about Mac laptops and then transfer them to the iPhone queue. We love those people. Bunch of freaking Einsteins.
Congrats on the job offer, but you'd do well to heed the "careful what you wish for" creed. Come in expecting a pain in the butt, enjoy the respite that you get during training, and then expect the real pain in the butt to arrive when you hit the phones. It's not a bad job, and in a few ways it's a pretty good one, but a firmly grounded sense of expectation seems to be pretty important.
You too.
Again, congrats on the job offer. Many of us have been there and had that same sense of relief, but make sure you know what's coming. The training is basically a paid vacation. You won't be ready when you actually hit the phones, no matter how awesome you are. That's just a fact of life. Your ability to read people and BS your way past your own utter incompetence will be what makes or breaks your first few weeks. 90+% of new advisors are poorly equipped to handle what is thrown at them.
This cuts two ways. Some of us had a pretty good handle on where the tech support answer would lead in most cases, but struggled with the nonsensical Apple guidelines and support eligibility rules and standard operating procedures and so on. Some of us were clueless on the tech support end, but were pretty decent at following the corporate doublespeak and procedural peculiarity that comprises the bulk of the job. Learn to find that happy medium and you'll be fine. Come in thinking you got an awesome job and you'll struggle.
The world does love an optimist, so I have to give you that. From my perspective, AngryGerbil was saying that maybe you can enhance your Powerball chances by picking your own numbers instead of taking an EZ Pick ticket. From your perspective, he was saying that you have some say in the numbers that will come up. (The real message was obviously somewhere in the middle, but I'm exaggerating for effect.) Starting at Day One, honestly it won't matter much how important Sunday or Monday are to you. If you're lucky, your group might have some time off on those days and your manager might be able to help you out. If you're unlucky, it won't matter how awesomely impressed your manager is with your scheduling preferences. Your group will get whatever shifts it gets and your preferred days won't make a bit of difference. When shift bids come around, which they won't when you're new, you'll get assigned based on a predetermined process. That's when you get some small level of say in the matter, setting aside the possibility that something in your group opens up beforehand (like a team member moving to another department and leaving a more preferable shift up for grabs).
I'm afraid someone has used terminology that confused you. AppleCare Plus is a pretty decent service for a lot of iPhone users, but it has nothing to do with Mac computers. Further to that, bringing in a new person to support Mac and iOS operating systems right off the bat would be colossally stupid. Even if the person in question were some kind of Apple expert, there are enough internal procedural differences and other roadblocks to ensure that cross-training is something that happens after a certain level of experience has been gained.
This is accurate. If you got the background check, then they think you're worth hiring, at least until your background check proves otherwise. Assuming that your background check is clean, the likelihood is that you'll receive an offer. My background check took a day and a half. I got the offer call more than four weeks later, just to put some of these recent posts in perspective.
She cut to the chase, from the sound of things, which is good. The early steps are about weeding out people who will never be a good fit. Availability is a pretty big component of this part of the deal.
For perspective, I went from 'first click' on the job listing to 'background check complete' within a couple of weeks. I then waited more than four weeks for a job offer. My case was by no means typical, but it does illustrate that the hiring people march to their own beat and you have to be ready to wait for their schedule to catch up with yours. Sometimes the wait is minimal. Other times it is lengthy.
iOS can do that too, at least in terms of the computer screen. It's just rarely worth the effort. Most people who can't open Safari on an iPhone aren't going to do very will with enabling screen sharing on their computers. Usually it's easier to say "now tell me what you see" fifty times in a row than it would be to set up a screen sharing session.
Interestingly enough, Bomgar claims to have an iOS screen sharing process that would simplify our lives substantially, but Apple doesn't use it.
Those calls are obnoxious and amusing at the same time. More often than not, we end up telling them to go to a website that any moron would find if he typed "I forgot my Apple ID" into Google. Yet the process of providing the support can take anywhere from two minutes to a half hour, depending on the caller.
One lady recently called (out of support) and told me that someone else was getting her iMessages. I gave her the spiel about AppleCare and whatnot, then mentioned that iMessage was typically tied to an Apple ID, with which I might be able to help. "Oh, I know how to reset my Apple ID," she replied before hanging up. Call finished. Issue resolved. 90 seconds. It cuts both ways. On the other side you have the people who can't seem to type iforgot.apple.com, no matter how many times you spell it out for them.
Take notes and ask questions. There are virtually no restrictions during the tests, in terms of what you can search and what resources you can consult. You can't chat your fellow trainees and you can't ask the instructors for direct answers. Aside from that, it's open notes, open internet, and open access to your previously assigned training modules. Anyone who fails is probably better served in another line of work.
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And the last two of three depend entirely on where you fall on the call chain.
Last guy did the restore and scheduled the callback? Guess I'm the 'repair' guy this time.
I'm the guy getting the original call and pretending there's an explanation? Guess I start a restore process and schedule a callback for the next guy to schedule the repair.
At least with Apple ID we don't have to charge $19 for something that we know won't work. Either they can reset it or they can't. If it's an account security issue, then so be it. Charging some old lady $19 to find her lost photos, when you're pretty sure she's screwed right from the start, is the most annoying part for me.
I can usually tell from the onset if it's going to be a call that merits pushing an ASL or not and to be honest my attachment rate sucks. I cannot position sales of any type unless it's an AC+ for a new buyer. Fortunately, my TM is more concerned with CSATS than APP/ASL sales... which is good because my ATT rate is pretty close to zero.
I've been able to maintain relatively high CSATs so far (about 90% for the quarter) but it's getting harder and harder to do the empathy and enthusiasm thing. That's not who I am and I've been pretending to be someone else for far too long. I'm a tech guy, not a cx service person.
To be honest, I worked for a gaming company doing password resets and ID recovery and that was 90% of our calls. I totally understand what I'm getting myself into but doing it for a better company with better pay (nearly $5 more an hour) and benefits makes it worth while. I've dealt with the customers who believe they are entitled... I've also dealt with the ones who thank you for 20 minutes for fixing a simple issue. It's all in what you make of it and I can also say that when I went into nesting with the last company, we were so unprepared but to be honest, if you keep trying, you'll get the hang of it, regardless of what you learn in training.
Training helps but this is still a "learn as you go" job. After 60 days you'll pretty much know the ropes and that's when things start to seem repetitive.
By and large most customers are pretty decent (so so during late shifts) and the most frustrating calls are not the entitled or angry customers, it's the customers that have zero tech savvy. It can be tiresome spending 10 minutes explaining the difference between itunes.com and itunes the program... believe me.
Honestly though, if you're the type that likes phone work and are a people person, you'll like the job. I'm neither but did well enough to be put in the Tier 2 program at 6 months. I'd give my left arm to be back in a server room but that's not going to happen for a while so I'm just trying to make the best of my situation for now. And having the medical coverage is a must have for me anyway.
Process & Nervous
I applied 6/26
First interview 7/1 Basic questions about my most difficult support call to date. Email about finishing online profile application
Second Interview 7/2 2pm today
I'm extremely nervous as interviewing is not an area in which I thrive. The facetime thing freaks me out. I wish it were a phone call. My appearance is not appealing. I'm a great CSR, but have a face for radio
I hope 10lbs of makeup will make me tolerable!
I applied 6/26
First interview 7/1 Basic questions about my most difficult support call to date. Email about finishing online profile application
Second Interview 7/2 2pm today
I'm extremely nervous as interviewing is not an area in which I thrive. The facetime thing freaks me out. I wish it were a phone call. My appearance is not appealing. I'm a great CSR, but have a face for radio
I hope 10lbs of makeup will make me tolerable!
Yes I'm part time and glad. I couldn't do iOS full time, customer service just isn't my thing and money isn't a big issue right now. There is probably a 90% chance you'll have Sunday off, it's a slow day and they basically have a skeleton crew working the phones. Monday though... it's a busy day and the majority of people work Mondays. They do try to give you 2 consecutive days off but that's not always possible. I prefer staggered days off and am totally happy with Wed. and Fri. off.
If you enjoy being on the phones... And some people do, 8 hours can go by pretty quickly. 8 hours on the phone is a long haul for me but I can do 4 hours easy. Shifts can be all over the map but the choice ones like 8 - 5 have been taken by shift bidders in the top 15% stats wise. Most people but not everyone does evenings when they're just out of training. Your TM may be able to get you a schedule more to your liking but it ultimately boils down to when they need people on the phones and what shifts are available.
Interesting. He actually is a pretty brilliant guy (he managed to get himself a physics degree) but isn't so hot on the life skills and thus the job. I guess we'll see how it goes.
They said I would be doing training on 8/5. I am just waiting for them to call me at this rate with the offer. The process has been dreadfully slow, which I understand, them being a large corporation. This would just be a huge improvement over my current job, and working at home would help out a lot, as I commute roughly 130 miles a day
I hope I get that call soon, it has been 6 days since my background check was completed, which was finished on a Friday afternoon.I made sure to ask where I would be when it came to iOS or CPU. I wasn't worried about getting either one, but I just prefer computers
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Oh, that is when my training would start as well if they give me the call, so we would be classmates
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Got my offer call!! BUT since the july 15th class was filled up, I'll now be in the 8/26 class. now to wait for the email
BUT since the july 15th class was filled up, I'll now be in the 8/26 class. now to wait for the email Got my offer call!!
Congrats!
hope I get mine today tooStill waiting
Congrats!!! I too was suppose to be in the 7/15 class, but due to the longggg wait from Hireright, i'm still waiting. The recruiter called me today and stated the 7/15 class was now full, but as soon as my background is completed, she will call me and go from there.
Is the 8/26 class for CPU or IOS?
Got my offer call!!
Congrats!!! I too was suppose to be in the 7/15 class, but due to the longggg wait from Hireright, i'm still waiting. The recruiter called me today and stated the 7/15 class was now full, but as soon as my background is completed, she will call me and go from there.
Is the 8/26 class for CPU or IOS?
When was your third interview and how long before you received background check email??
Hey, I have read these forums for a long time, but for some reason, I finally have joined. Horray
I had my third interview last Monday, and got the background check email the day after
Congrats!!! I too was suppose to be in the 7/15 class, but due to the longggg wait from Hireright, i'm still waiting. The recruiter called me today and stated the 7/15 class was now full, but as soon as my background is completed, she will call me and go from there.
Is the 8/26 class for CPU or IOS?
I'm pretty sure its for ios!
Now I can say I believe that in my group we had oly one not pass due to tests
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