My Apple Product Design Internship Interview
I have been asked a lot about my Apple design internship interview experience and decided to write it down and share it with those who are interested.
In chronological order, this is what happened in the intern recruiting process.
- Online Application
- Phone Screening — Design Manager
- FaceTime Interview — Lead Designer
- FaceTime Interview — UX Design Team
- FaceTime Interview — Project Manager
- FaceTime Interview — Product Manager
I will elaborate the details of each step and answer some of the most inquired questions.
Online Application
This was the first step. I applied online, at Apple’s careers site, for the Product Design Intern position in November.
Phone Screening — Design Manager
60 days later, Apple replied
It took about two months before I heard back from Apple. A recruiter reached out to me via email. Two things I want to mention here:
1. Your recruiter stays with you the whole time.
This is one of many factors that makes me look up to Apple. From the beginning to the end, the same recruiter stayed in touch via email with me and answered my questions in time. I did not get a single system-generated email.
2. Apple‘s recruiters are dedicated to specific roles and departments.
My recruiter works with applicants for design roles specifically. What this means is that your recruiter will at least know something about your industry and will first screen the applicants before their resumes reach the department they apply for.
“Then how do you stand out from other applicants?”
This is a question that I am often asked. I did not apply and do not know about other departments in Apple. I can only speak for the design roles. More precisely, I speak for myself since I do not have many around who have the same experience.
First and foremost, do the same as how you prepare for other companies — get an portfolio website and only put 3–4 of your best projects on it; since you are applying for UX positions, make sure to include your process in each project and make it easy to read.
Second, it would be even better if you could make your website look professional overall — organize your tabs and contents, get the layout right, etc. I do not have an article that targets this topic specifically but you can find some relevant content in this one.
Guess what, HR did not appear in the interviews at all
My recruiter requested my availability and scheduled a 30-minute interview (which turned out to be a phone screening) directly with the design manager. A design manager in Apple works with product managers and leads the team.
Some questions that I was asked:
Why Apple?
For me, I did not need to prepare for this question. I knew my answer a long time ago when I first used Apple’s products. We apply for companies we love, so you will have your reasons.
Name of the book that you are reading recently?
The phone screening was mostly you and the interviewer getting to know each other so the questions weren’t always serious. I think you just need to be yourself and honestly answer this question. I stopped reading novels many years ago so the answer I gave was a book about the industry.
Talk about an App that you like.
People applying for UX roles usually have some Apps in their mind. But you need to spend some time prior to the interview preparing for a short and organized answer. You should be able to introduce the App, what it does, your experience using it, and explain why you like it.
The rest of the time was me talking about my background and experience and the interviewer introducing the team he leads.
FaceTime Interview — Lead Designer
About a week later, I received another email from my recruiter saying the design manager would like to take me to the next steps and have me speak with more team members.
We used FaceTime for the interviews. So make sure FaceTime runs with no problem on your device. Also I recorded my screen to check the sounds and lighting in FaceTime. For dressing, Apple requires business casual attire for the interviews.
My second interviewer was the lead designer in the team. Our 30-minute talk continued with topics similar to the ones in the previous interview.
One challenging question was:
As a designer, tell me one thing that you believe while everyone else thinks it’s wrong.
I did not think about this question before the interview. I think the interviewer wants to know more about you and how you are different from the peer applicants. Based on my previous experience as a visual designer, I talked about my opinion against material design, some of its downsides I find.
We also exchanged thoughts about some of Apple’s latest products. Then I came to the next interview.
FaceTime Interview — UX Design Team
The next interview was a group interview, I talked with all the UX designers in the team at the same time, and this was mainly a project review session. I was asked to talk about a project I’m proud of and a project I find most challenging.
It’s best you figure out a way to share your screen with the interviewer, otherwise you need to tell them to go to your website as you introduce your projects. Some of my thoughts regarding a project review:
- Prepare this earlier with a friend and talk with him / her about your projects, make sure you are able to present the projects smoothly.
- Be brief and be precise. Do not talk about every detail of the projects but remember to mention what you did and how you cooperate with others in the team (if it’s a team project)
- Choose your focus. If the position you are applying for leans towards visual design a bit more, then focus more on the UI and iterations. If it’s more like a researcher’s position, then talk more about your research process. You should be able to find what your position is like through the job description.
I did not share my screen and found it was a mistake. I had to tell the interviewers to go to ABC sections from time to time as I unfold the projects. which makes the process inefficient.
FaceTime Interview — Project Manager
Next interview was with a project manager. These interviews happened within the same week. A project manager at Apple does not necessarily stick to a team. They supervise with certain projects and work with whichever team that is responsible for the project. These last two interviews consist of mainly behavioral questions. Compared with my next interview, the project manager focused more on the design side.
Suppose we are working with a new client that we have never worked with and know nothing about, and there is NO way to get to learn about the client. Under this circumstance how would you conduct the design?
I talked with some friends afterwards and found I did not give a satisfactory answer. The interviewer was actually trying to dig out how much research I could do to prepare for a design under extreme situations — some uncommon design research methods.
FaceTime Interview — Product Manager
My last interview was with a product manager and the topics were more general behavioral questions like how I cooperate with others and sharing experience of solving problems together in a team.
After the interviews, I feel even more motivated to work hard and improve myself on UX and product design skillsets. I hope this article could satisfy your curiosity and concerns about internship interviews at Apple, and incentivizes you to improve as well.
Find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrench
My website: https://darrenchang.myportfolio.com
