Apple reviews

*Work life balance non existent, having to constantly battle with other people for a 2 month shift where you can get a weekend off (high score/ranking get first pick). 4 x 10 shifts do not allow you to take classes at night and can interfere with home life. Was originally told in interview that Apple is very flexible with their shifts... not unless you are at the top of your team. * Being scrutinized over every syllable uttered. * Statistics constantly shoved down your throat (daily), having your statistics shown to everyone else in the team (daily), even worse, having your clothing size broadcast to the rest of the team in an e-mail. * Guilt tripped over sick leave (oh, everyone has to work SO much harder because you were coughing your guts up). * Managers who don't care about you, just their statistics and how good you make them look. * Little room for career opportunities unless you are perfect and appears only ONE way to go up which is to T2. Other options are not available in Australia (contrary to what T/L advised initially). * Extreme social isolation unless you like being a hermit. * The expectations are becoming increasingly unrealistic and only obtainable by those who work like robots. * Lying team leader who likes to mince your words and throw them back at you. Advises about career progression that is not there. * Contradicting information. Being told one thing, then being told the opposite in the next sentence. Can make for a very frustrating time.

The pay is less than normal for all the goals we have to complete. We have to make sure we sell the AppleCare Protection Plan to at least 3 customers out of 100, must maintain customer satisfaction goal of 80% (hard to do if customer gives a bad review for something you can't control). For instance, if a customer calls in since their brand new computer is broken and you refer to the store to get it fixed, they can give you a negative survey which in turns makes your stats come down. Now management wants you to explain why they didn't approve of your service, etc., even though the calls are recorded. They implemented a new call strategy called H2H. It entails me asking the customer permission to ask them questions (why do I have to ask them for permission if they are calling for help?), empathize with the customer (never enough empathy on your weekly reviews per manager), determine the customer's state of mind and talk to them dependant upon their personality. I must align myself with the customer (never do it since I have no idea what I am actually doing), assure the customer their issue will be resolved and make sure to clarify their resolution. You have to make sure you solve at least 70% of customer issues (hard to do when the computer needs physical work done at the store), maintain a customer satisfaction goal of 80% (also hard to do when you get bad surveys because a customer was out of warranty and didn't want to pay for support $19), you also must make sure your calls are around 14.5 minutes long (too short, you're in trouble, too long, you're in trouble). Dont expect to have a life. Mandatory OT for Christmas and other holidays. Also when there is a new product release. Good luck having a vacation during holiday time. While on the phone you get a call around every 8 seconds so it's hard to take a breather. You must type notes while talking to the customer so you can make sure to take another call. If you don't hustle between calls you know what happens, another chewing out by your manager. To top it all off you have 3 exams to take that you must pass or get fired. It's 8 hours a day training for 4 weeks. If you miss a day of training for any reason, you are fired. You do 4 hours a day of instructor led training and 4 hours just reading your own materials. If you don't read you won't pass and you will get fired. 5 people from my team didn't make it. Lastly, don't expect to advance quickly. Most managers are promoted at an average around 4 years. The bad thing is they will give a regular employee backfill (manager perks but no additional pay) to help the managers out. The backfill will review calls and critique your work and do the managers work. Most people never make it to manager even while backfilling. A guy on our team has been backfilling for over 2 years. They make it seem once you backfill the manager position opens for you. But that's a lie. They do a lot of external hiring for managers instead of inside. Last hiring spree they hired 4 external hires for manager and only 2 internal. My manager has no idea how to do my job since he was hired externally. He can't give me advice or pointers since he doesn't know. I am in the process of looking for other employment opportunities. But I will be replaced with the tap of a keyboard since most of my team has quit since starting. But that's the way it is here.