Steve Jobs on Hiring: A Very Unusual Interview
What Jobs talks about
This recording is framed as an Apple job interview on the company campus, with Jobs introducing himself and asking the candidate about his background and interest in Apple. The exchange quickly turns absurd, but the basic structure is a hiring conversation.
Jobs asks what excites the applicant about the opportunity, probes his knowledge of Apple, and tests whether he fits the company’s standards. The interview ends with Jobs effectively passing on him and showing him out.
Because the transcript is highly satirical and self-contradictory, it works best as a page about hiring and interview fit rather than any product announcement or serious historical statement.
Jobs speaks with an applicant/interviewer role-play partner.
In his words
“My name is Steve Jobs.”
“So tell me about yourself.”
“What makes you so excited about this opportunity?”
“What do you know about our company?”
“I think we're probably gonna go with somebody else.”
Key points
- Jobs frames the conversation as a relaxed Apple interview.
- He asks the candidate to explain his experience and interest in the role.
- He presses the applicant on what he knows about Apple’s product line.
- He signals that enthusiasm alone is not enough for a fit.
- He concludes that Apple will probably go with somebody else.
Full transcript
This interview. So thanks for coming in. My name is Steve Jobs. Thank you for coming into our Apple campus here in California. Yeah. No problem. Happy to be here. Yeah. I know. I know it is. Shit. Son of a bitch. That is rough. Shit. Shit. Fuck. Damn. You're gonna be okay? I think I'm okay. So, anyway, as I was saying, we try to keep it pretty relaxed here on the West Coast at Apple computers. As you know, we're famous for designing the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad, various other devices including software, hardware, the iMac, of course, the MacBook Air.
The list goes on. Anyway, thank you for coming out to talk to us. So tell me about yourself. Oh, you know, I'm new in the space, but I think I have a real good opportunity here. I think so. For sure. So what makes you so excited about this opportunity? Well, you know, I've heard so much about this great company that you work for, and I have had a lot of experience in the field, and I'm ready. I'm ready to work at Apple. Great. Man, that's the attitude we like to have here. But your enthusiasm is a little bit too intense, though. We need to take it down a little bit and smoke a doobie. So are you ready? Oh, yeah. K. Where the hell I put that? You want a edible? Oh, hell yeah.
Let's see here. Let me see. Is some good shit. I'll show you here. Do you... This is the good edible right here. Alright. Right here. It was it was in the eighties when I ate some of these, and that was how I thought of the idea for the apple. Here. I gotta set down my camera for a moment. Alright. Just gonna record this for posterity's sake. Alright. Oh, yeah. That looks good. Heck yeah, man. Great. And you know when I was I was with the Indian tribes, Indian people and they handed me the Ayahuasca. And that was when I realized that my dream has come true to become the Apple computer software in the Apple California. Give a taste.
That is... Let's see what the label says here. That is some wasabi Kit Kat right there. I don't think I'm gonna eat mine. You want the other one? You gonna be okay, man? Mister Jobs. Shit. He's he's... Shit. He's dying.
Or is he becoming more than human? Oh, you know what would have been good? Because we should have beaten the apple Kit Kat. Anyway Right here. So what do you know about our company? He's got another one right there to eat. Answer the question. I know of your amazing product line. I use them every day except for my phone. I have an Android phone. Android is just better. You know? But everything else that your company does is pretty good for the most part.
But What phone do you use? You have something like the Moto? This is actually... I wanna tell you. This is our newest product that we're Oh, shit. What is it? I get a sneak peek? This is this is a sneak peek. I can't... I'm gonna not not allow you to film this, but this is actually our... Shit. This is actually an analog device. Uh-huh. We've actually been doing a lot of research in analog technology. Oh, man. We believe that that is the future. This actually is a two way. Actually, conferencing as well is another feature. And we actually have a... We're actually marrying analog with digital and we have a digital... I actually can't hide side too much. So never mind that.
Truly revolutionary. I know. So once again, I'm Steve Jobs. I think we're probably gonna go with somebody else. What? But thank you for coming in anyway. I hope you stay in the area, in California here. You have very high living costs, but, you know, maybe if you wanna put some references to some other companies within Silicon Valley. What does that say on your blackboard? It's in the Palo Alto area. Is that some... On your schedule, it says, you gonna smoke some cocaine? Anyway, thank you thank you for coming in. Let me show you the doors right this way here. Take a look. It's right. The door's right this way. Come on. Sir. Sir. Here's the door. Wait. Sir. Yeah. Thanks again. Goodbye. Enjoy the sunshine.
Oh, yes. That's why I have my jacket. It's too sun. I know. You know what they say. It's always sunny and...
Transcribed from the audio by speech recognition (Deepgram). Timestamps link to the video above. Errors are possible.