Apple's European headquarters employs 4,000 workers in Hollyhill Cork, Ireland where they make have an iMac production line. In Apple's in-house restaurant one of the employees says that Apple's secret to success is it has a "start-up spirit" that's alive and well.
Among the 4,000-strong workforce, a sense of opportunity suggests that those willing to work hard can climb the ladder in a job they almost unanimously say they wouldn't swap for the world.
Many now in senior management have been here for decades and watched the company's Irish footprint evolve from a manufacturing facility with 60 staff 30 years ago into the most crucial cog of the ever-expanding Apple empire outside of its Cupertino base in northern California.
Today, its Irish operations serve a variety of roles ranging from sales support; distribution; technology support and customer care; mapping and manufacturing.
Its thousands of employees makes it the largest private employer in Cork with over €100m invested in the country's second city since 2009 and a further 2,500 jobs supported locally.
An unassuming Galician by the name of Alfonso, who loves Irish mythology, just happens to be responsible for the logistics of Apple's 110 retail stores across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa noted during the interview that Apple is "always disrupting the market." For more on this story, read the full Irish Examiner report here.
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