Sold for £125,000: Steve Jobs’s job application from 1973
A JOB application filled out by Steve Jobs, the Apple co-founder, at the age of 18 has sold for more than £125,000 at auction.
The one-page form from 1973, alongside a signed technical manual and newspaper clipping, sold for more than three times its estimate to an unnamed London internet bidder.
The entrepreneur, who went on to revolutionise the mobile phone market with the launch of Apple’s iPhone, wrote in the phone number section “none”. Asked about access to a vehicle, Jobs wrote: “Possible, but not probable”, while his “special abilities” included “electronics tech” and “design engineer”.
The application was filled out while studying at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, from which he would drop out six months later. He went on to audit classes at the same college, including a course in calligraphy. It does not state the position Jobs was applying for.
In 1974, Jobs put his technical skills to work and secured a job as a technician at Atari. Two years later, he founded Apple with Steve Wozniak.
The personal items were brought under the hammer by RR Auction in the USA. Bobby Livingston, the executive vice-president at RR Auction, said: “Even today several years after his untimely passing it’s still difficult to think of anyone more iconic, or influential who has had such profound impact on our everyday modern lives.” He added: “Steve Jobs’s autograph is incredibly scarce among contemporary figures.”
The anonymous seller of the signed guide recalled how the entrepreneur told him “I feel weird doing that” and initially refused.
“I asked him if he would be kind enough to sign my Mac OS X Administration technical manual.
“He refused and said ‘I feel weird doing that.’ I refused to back down.
“After a bit of cajoling on my part, he finally told me to hand over the manual and pen. He said ‘give me those’ and he autographed my manual.”