Landing a Job at Apple

Meng Xiong (MEM '21) has no idea how a recruiter from Apple found him on LinkedIn, but he is glad they did.  

Xiong, who is finishing Northwestern's Master of Engineering Management (MEM) part-time program, received a message about a job opportunity with the tech giant, and he figured the opportunity was too good to pass up. He went through multiple rounds of interviews before becoming a global supply manager on Apple's iPhone team in April.

In his role, Xiong works cross-functionally across the entire lifecycle of new products to focus on design, quality, manufacturing, finance, and the supply base. He and his teammates make sure all products are shipped with the stringent functional and aesthetic requirements that customers expect out of an Apple product.  

"The opportunity was a once-in-a-lifetime moment," Xiong said of the job opportunity. "I always tell myself that I should never decline an interview opportunity when a company recruiter takes the time to reach out." 

He approached his interview with Apple the same way he approached projects in MEM — whether he succeeded or failed, his goal was for it to be a learning experience. He wanted to learn more about business and gain a core set of skills that allowed him to dive deeper into strategy work.

His favorite moments from MEM often came in the final week of each class, when he was able to look back and see how much he'd learned and grown from the beginning of the quarter. 

Though still new to his role, Xiong has already seen the value of lessons learned in courses like Operations Excellence, Decision Tools for Managers, Leadership and Organizational Behavior, and Computer Simulation for Risk and Operations Analysis.

"It would take an essay to convey how much each course had an impact on how I got my job at Apple and how I will succeed with the foundation that was set by all of the wonderful professors in the program," he said.

MEM gave Xiong more than an educational foundation. He also developed a core group of friends, mentors, and supporters in his classmates.

"I went into Northwestern with an open mind, and I knew that on top of getting a world-class education, there was going to be a diverse set of individuals who would shape how I came out of the MEM program," Xiong said. "Take every opportunity to learn more about your classmates, because they are the people who may one day shape your career and how you approach working on diverse teams."