Here's how to get a job at Apple, according to CEO Tim Cook

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Tim Cook

Getty Images/Justin Sullivan

Apple has worked hard to build its unique office culture. Its employees are obsessive about changing the world and maintaining a cult-like mentality to get there.   

Hiring people that will fit in and flourish for a company that - as its CEO Tim Cook jokes, "has more secrets than the CIA" - isn't an easy process.

When asked by Charlie Rose during a "60 Minutes" interview how Apple finds those people, Cook said he's looking for people who are inherently not satisfied with things and want to change the world as a result.

"You look for people who work for a different reason. People who want to change the world. People who work with a passion and idealism. People that don't take no for an answer. People who don't accept the status quo," Cook said. "People that are inherently not satisifed with things. People who see things and they know it should be different, and they sit and they focus on it until they find an answer. People that can't be told things are impossible. They can't accept that."

Those are all great qualities for people to have, but as Rose points out, that's not what your typical résumé lists. Cook admits its hard to screen for, but once you know it you see it. "We don't test," he said. 

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Apple instead has 10 or 12 people do an interview and look at the candidate from different points of view rather than limiting it to only one person making a decision, Cook said.

They're not looking for someone who agrees and is a perfect match with all 12 people. Cook points out that he's surrounded by people who disagree with him often. But it's important to be able to defend your point of view, and still have the drive to want to change the world. 

"We're looking for wicked smart people who have a point of view, and want to debate that point of view, and people that want to change something," Cook said. "People that want to make things better."

Watch the full segment from "60 Minutes Overtime" below. 

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