New in OS X: Get MacRumors Push Notifications on your Mac

Resubscribe Now Close

Steve Jobs Employment Questionnaire Sold for $174,757 at Auction

Friday March 16, 2018 10:22 am PDT by Juli Clover
A rare employment questionnaire filled out by former Apple CEO Steve Jobs was auctioned off last week, earning an impressive $174,757.

Jobs filled out the questionnaire in 1973, just after dropping out of Reed College, where he attended school for approximately six months and then audited classes for another year and a half.


The document provided a rare look into Jobs' life at the time, with Jobs listing "english lit" as his major and Reed College as his address. "Computer" and "Calculator" were listed as skills, along with "Design" and "Tech," and Jobs said that he had special abilities that include "Electronics" and digital "Tech or Design Engineer."

Soon after filling out the employment questionnaire, Jobs took a position as a technician at Atari after showing the company a version of Pong designed by Steve Wozniak. Just two years later, Jobs, Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer in Jobs' now iconic garage.

Ahead of the auction, the auction site believed the questionnaire would fetch over $50,000, but it ended up tripling that estimate.


A separate auction for an Mac OS X technical manual signed by Jobs in 2001 also brought in $41,806, while a signed newspaper clipping that Jobs signed sold for $26,950.

Tag: Steve Jobs
[ 60 comments ]


Top Rated Comments

(View all)

Avatar
Porco
19 months ago
“Phone: none”

Even back then, wouldn’t talk about upcoming products...
Rating: 13 Votes
Avatar
4jasontv
19 months ago
Man - the simple days when that was a job application.
Rating: 10 Votes
Avatar
Pupi
19 months ago
Possible but not probabale.
Rating: 8 Votes
Avatar
Sirious
19 months ago
He didn't have a phone, so he made his own
Rating: 7 Votes
Avatar
ookladek
19 months ago
Man every time I see something like this about Steve's past and see how he used to ride hard on Wozniak's back i feel bad for woz.
Rating: 5 Votes
Avatar
nwcs
19 months ago
The first is an interesting historical trivia but it won’t likely have lasting value. It’s not exactly a letter penned by George Washington or an extant copy of the Magna Carta. The people who sold these sold them at a good time to maximize the current value.
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
maerz001
19 months ago
Used toilet paper for $1,267,934.
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
AppleScruff1
19 months ago

You know you have too much money when you waste $174,000 on a Steve Jobs employment questionnaire. You can't fix stupid.


I’d say someone who has that much disposable income is far from stupid.
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
4jasontv
19 months ago

Man every time I see something like this about Steve's past and see how he used to ride hard on Wozniak's back i feel bad for woz.


I feel that too. Even knowing that Woz would have likely given everything away had Jobs never been there doesn't really help. I guess the story we know is better than the one where Woz gives a friend he doesn't really know gift, the recipient realizes it isn't patented, and creates Apple.
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
mrgraff
19 months ago

Man - the simple days when that was a job application.


My first job, Burger King 1991.
I think the application was just name, address, and a contact number. The interview was basically:
"Can you start tomorrow?" "Sure, I guess" "Ok, see you then"
Rating: 2 Votes

[ Read All Comments ]