Steve Jobs employment application may fetch USD 50k at auction

Boston, Feb 25: A job application filled out and signed by Apple Inc co-founder Steve Jobs is expected to fetch USD 50,000 at an US auction.

Jobs enrolled at Reed College for the fall semester in 1972 but dropped out after just six months to preserve his parents’ meager funds. However, he hung around campus for a year and a half to audit creative courses, including classes on Shakespeare, dance, and calligraphy - which helped shape his artistic worldview that influenced the innovation of the Macintosh computer.

The one-page questionnaire was filled out by Jobs in 1972 where he fills out his address, "reed college"; phone, "none"; and major, "english lit." In the middle section, he wrote "yes" in response to 'Driver's License?' and "possible, but not probable," in reply to 'Access to transportation?'. Concerning his skills, next to 'Computer' and 'Calculator,' he wrote, "yes (design, tech)." At the bottom, he described his 'Special Abilities' as "electronics tech or design engineer. digital. - from Bay near Hewitt-Packard."

In his 2005 Stanford commencement speech, Jobs had said "If I had never dropped in on that single calligraphy course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts."

In 1974, Jobs put his technical skills to work and secured a job as a technician at Atari, heavily relying on the help of Steve Wozniak. In 1976, Jobs and Wozniak set out on their own and founded Apple, introducing the personal computer to the masses.

"It's a remarkable document that reveals Jobs's early aspiration to work in the fledgling tech industry that he would one day revolutionize," said Bobby Livingston Executive VP at Boston-based RR Auction. The auction also features a Mac OS X technical manual signed by Jobs in 2001. The signature was obtained in a parking lot after a training session at Apple in California.

"Steve Jobs was a notoriously difficult signer and his autograph is incredibly scarce among contemporary figures," said Livingston. The manual is also expected to sell for USD 50,000. A newspaper clipping from, 2008, featuring an image of Jobs speaking at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference for the introduction of the iPhone 3G, with the headline, "New, faster iPhone will sell for USD 199," signed by Jobs is also up for auction. Bidding for the items ends on March 7.

PTI