How does one get a job at Apple? What does it take to be deemed worthy of a position at the world's most successful company (in terms of market capitalisation)? Apple CEO Tim Cook says that you need to have the passion for changing the world if you want to work at his company.
"You look for people who work for a different reason," said Cook in CBS' 60 Minutes interview with veteran journalist Charlie Rose. "The people that want to change the world. People who work with a passion and idealism."
Continuing to describe the qualities that Apple looks at before hiring, Cook said the candidate "doesn't take a 'no' for an answer". Instead of someone who could sit and do the pre-specified job, Apple actively looks for those who could challenge the status quo and are inherently not satisfied with things, he added. "People that see things and know that it should be different and they sit and focus on it until they find the answer. People that can't be told that it's impossible, they don't accept it."
Apple, which is expected to become America's first trillion dollar company, takes immense pride in its products and ensures that it holds the tentpole position in almost everything it does. So, as you would imagine, it isn't easy to score a job at Apple. In fact, you have to go through a range of interviews to qualify. "When we interview someone, we don't put them through one interview." Cook added. "We have like 10 or 12 people that interview, and they look at the candidate from different point of views," Cook added.
These candidates don't have to agree with others including the CEO himself. "I have people all around me every day that don't agree with me. [...] We're looking for wicked smart people that have a point of view and that can debate their point of view, and people that want to change something... People that want to make things better."
What's fascinating about the description of the perfect candidate is that it sounds very familiar with an old TV ad for Apple, in which late Steve Jobs wittingly described what makes his company different. Things haven't changed much, it appears.