Abstract:
Since this period of time, the autumn recruitment has begun, and job interviews have once again become a hot topic across the Internet. Recently, two Apple interview experiences published on Xiaohongshu have sparked widespread discussion on social platforms. The extremely long interview process and disparity in final results have made many job-seeking netizens complain that they are stressed out.
According to content shared on the Xiaohongshu platform, a job seeker submitted his resume for an Apple position in early June and did not receive a formal offer until mid-October. The entire job search cycle lasted more than four months, and he went through a total of 12 rounds of interviews.
The most testing one was the onsite interview on July 8. Because the position to be applied for is not in the city where the job seeker is located, netizens took a special flight to the interview location.
The day lasted from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and seven interviews were conducted in a row for a full seven hours. Each round required a different interviewer. The length of a single round of communication ranged from 30 minutes to an hour. Even during lunch time, the interview had to be completed while eating.
Just when many netizens lamented that this blogger finally got what he wanted after going through a long process, the experience of another job seeker named Jojo also attracted everyone's attention.
Similarly applying for an Apple position, Jojo started interviewing in July and went all the way to October. After going through 11 rounds of interviews, after investing a lot of time and energy, Jojo finally received a rejection.
What’s interesting is that netizens rushed to the comment area of the netizen who got the offer to leave messages, joking, "Congratulations on defeating Jojo."
It is currently impossible to confirm whether the two applied for the same position, but the strong contrast of "lost in 11 rounds and landed in 12 rounds" has made many job seekers lament that the difference between them is only one round, but the endings are very different. A large number of netizens complained: There are only 18 levels of hell, and the torment of interviews at large companies is unbearable.
It is understood that multiple rounds of high-intensity interviews are no longer unique to Apple. In recent years, leading technology companies have generally lengthened recruitment links and improved screening standards. This is directly related to the continued increase in the supply of graduates and intensifying competition in the job market.
According to public information from the Ministry of Education, the number of college graduates in the country in 2025 is 12.22 million; and the number of college graduates in 2026 is expected to reach 12.7 million, an increase of 480,000 from the previous year. The total number of graduates continues to be at a high level.
With the huge job seeker population and the limited supply of high-quality positions, companies are more cautious when hiring, and tend to reduce the cost of trial and error through multiple rounds of interviews and multi-dimensional cross-evaluations. It has become the norm to have more rounds of interviews and longer waiting periods.
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