Work at Apple? First, find the job advert

THE world’s biggest technology companies are known for asking difficult questions and running strange competitions to attract top talent.

Apple took the recruiting game a step further this week and hid a job advert on its website. The posting, for a technical engineer, said: “Hey there! You found us. We are looking for a talented engineer to develop a critical infrastructure component.”

But the stunt backfired when a journalist discovered the post by mistake. Zack Whittaker, security editor for US news site ZDNET, stumbled on the advert when he was analysing information sent from iphone apps to advertisers.

“Trust me, there was little proficiency needed to find the page, which, since it was widely reported, has been taken down,” said Whittaker.

He added that he did not apply for the job, which has now been removed.

Apple is not the first organisation to seek technical talent in innovative ways. The use of cryptic challenges to find staff stretches back to the Second World War, when Bletchley Park published puzzles in newspapers.