I just had my phone interview for the Disney College Program Fall 2014 semester! My interview was scheduled for 7:45 PM EST, but my interviewer ended up calling at 7:59 PM. My interview was over by 8:18 PM. I was familiar with most of my questions from my last interview, and though I had notes in front of me, I did not look at them once to be perfectly honest.
Before asking the more difficult questions, my interviewer verified that I was applying for the Fall 2014 season, in Florida, as well as which roles I would be applying for.
Here are the questions I was asked:
Why do you want to participate in the Disney College Program?
Tell me about your work experience.
Do you prefer a fast paced or a slow paced work environment?
Do you feel comfortable delivering narrations in front of a group?
Do you have cash handling experience?
Do you have sales experience?
What are your top 3 roles and why?
How do you deal with a repetitive job?
What would you do if a task at work is interrupted?
Do you feel you would be able to work in Florida heat/rain?
How would you interact with a guest who approaches you to provide excellent guest service?
How would you remain calm during an emergency?
I feel as though the program went well. Most of the questions I was asked were related to the Vacation Planner role, which is my first choice. Merchandise was my second choice, and I was not asked many Merchandise-specific related questions, which I thought was kind of weird considering I spent 4 years working at Staples as a cashier. Attractions was my third choice and I was only asked a couple of questions about this role.
Now the waiting game begins. I'll be writing more about this phone interview in my book, "Brittany Earns her Ears," pending my acceptance into the program, so be sure to check that out early next year if you're interested!
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I know I said that I wasn't going to make another post until after my phone interview, (which is in about six hours,) but last night I came across a posting on the Disney Career website for a Collections Curator Internship! I'm still not getting my hopes up for anything other than the DCP, because I'm just too realistic and would rather not be disappointed. However, that internship is perfect for me! It would combine what I want to do for a career with Disney. If I were offered this position I would definitely pursue this rather than the DCP. (Sidenote-- both this and the Yellow Shoes internship I applied for are both still in the Submission stage.)
My phone interview for the DCP is tonight, so I'll write more then! (:
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Phone interviews began a couple of days ago for the Fall 2014 DCP, and already some of the applicants who interviewed are going NLIC'ed (no longer in consideration... ie: denied.) While this is not good for those people who are getting NLIC'ed, it is good for someone like Chaz, who is still in submission. So far, the applicants who have been NLIC'ed after the phone interview were not people who I would have expected to get in anyways. I know this sounds harsh, but you can learn a lot about people from the way they interact on Facebook, so that's my opinion. I've noticed that some of them have very poor communication skills, which probably did not work well during the phone interview, and some just seemed like odd fits for the program, which I assume Disney felt the same way about after interviewing them. (I don't want to get into specifics, and turn this into a gossiping post, but an example of this would be like someone who is middle aged, and apparently planning on living with roommates and partaking in the DCP. I assume Disney realized that there are better job opportunities for someone in this position.) This entire recruiting season is confusing compared to past ones-- there are currently a fair number of alumni who are "Pending" following their phone interviews. I could be wrong, but I assumed alumni would be re-accepted fairly quickly if they already made it to the phone interview stage. So I think Disney has definitely changed up the selection process a little bit this season.
I found out (on the Facebook group, so take this with a grain of salt) what "Submission" apparently means in terms of this year's recruiting season. I thought that "Submission" simply meant that you submitted your application but no one got around to looking at it yet. In this case there is nothing wrong with being in "Submission" it just means recruiting has a lot of applications to go through and they haven't gotten to yours yet. Apparently, "Submission" is basically "Pending" for those who haven't been offered a WBI (web based interview.) This would mean that for someone like Chaz, who applied on the first day and has been in "Submission," he could potentially remain in "Submission" only to be NLIC'ed on the last day possible-- April 18th. Harsh, right? According to some of the applicants on the Facebook group who were NLIC'ed in such a way last season, this is the new process. When you are told that not everyone will receive a WBI, this means that you can go the whole recruiting season without hearing anything only to be either offered a WBI or NLIC'ed on the very last day. Unfortunately, this means that most of the applicants in "Submission" probably have a very long wait ahead of them. But, like I mentioned earlier, some of the applicants who have already had phone interviews are already being NLIC'ed (or "Pended," meaning that Disney is waiting to decide what to do with them) which theoretically should be opening up more spots for those who are still in "Submission."
My phone interview is Friday, and I kind of wish it were sooner now. I originally scheduled it for Friday because I was sick when I received the offer to take the interview and I wanted to make sure that I would be 100% by the time it happened. Well, I'm almost 100% better-- my ears are still blocked from being congested, and that's really about all that's wrong with me now. I apparently have the immune system of a 10 year old, because my ears act up like this every time I get sick, so I'm not expecting to have 100% of my hearing back soon. So basically, I could have scheduled my phone interview for earlier in the week and gotten it over with by now. I also have midterms tomorrow and next week, so I don't know how much time I'm actually going to spend preparing for it.
I'll probably wait to write another post until after my phone interview, in which case I'll write about how my interview went and whatnot.
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A few people have asked me how I divided up my role choices on the DCP application so I figured I'd post it here.
High Interest:
- Merchandise
- Attractions
- Main Entrance Operations
- Recreation
- Full Service Food and Beverage
- Vacation Planner
Moderate Interest:
- Quick Service Food and Beverage
- Photopass
- Hospitality
- Hopper
- Bell Services
- Costuming
- Character Attendant
- BBB/Pirates League
- Concierge
- Transportation
Low Interest:
- Custodial
- Housekeeping
No Interest:
- Lifeguard
- Character Performer
My top three choices are Merchandise, Attractions, and Vacation Planner. (Last time I was accepted, I was given Merchandise.)
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Applications came out yesterday for the Disney College Program Fall/Fall Advantage 2014 season! Just in case you're not familiar with the application process for the DCP, here's a quick rundown:
First you submit your application. The application itself is pretty basic-- it asks for what school you go to, your year in school, where you're from, your work experience, and you choices for roles during the program. (Roles = jobs in Disney speak.) In the application, you are asked to rank the roles offered in the program for high interest, moderate interest, low interest, or no interest. After you submit the application, you are either denied (NLIC, or No Longer In Consideration) or you are asked to move on to the Web Based Interview (WBI.) Keep in mind that you may not be denied or asked to move on to the WBI right away. Your application may be in the Submission stage, meaning that it simply hasn't been reviewed yet.
The second step in the application process is the WBI. The WBI is a series of timed questions about your interests in the program, your personality, and your ability to provide top notch guest service. The WBI is divided into two sections. The first section is a series of multiple choice questions, which you have 50 seconds to answer. The second section contains a series of statements to which you answer Strongly Disagree/Disagree/Neutral/Agree/Strongly Agree, and you have 20 seconds for each of these questions. After completing the WBI, you are told immediately whether or not you passed. If you passed you will go on to the phone interview, if you do not pass you will be NLIC'ed.
Upon successful completion of the WBI, you will be invited to schedule a phone interview. To do this, you simply log into your Disney Careers account and schedule a time that is convenient for you. There are usually 5 days to chose from within the next week or so, and the times range from early in the morning to pretty late at night.
Obviously, the next step is to have the phone interview. (I will discuss the phone interview in more detail in a later post after I have taken mine.) After your phone interview, you will be notified of a decision within a couple of days to a couple of weeks.
I submitted my application about 5 hours after they came out, and received the invitation to take the Web Based Interview about an hour after that. I didn't expect the process to go to quickly this time around, especially after reading all of the horror stories about how last semester's recruiting season went. Last semester was the first time that applicants could be denied without taking a WBI. The last time I applied in 2011, every applicant was given the opportunity to take the WBI, so the fact that I may be denied based upon my application was what has worried me more than anything.
I did not think that the WBI was that bad. The first portion of it, asked questions about why you chose your college. This section was either different the last time I applied, or I just did not remember it because this whole portion of the interview was new to me. The questions asked about if you've lived in a residence hall, or if you chose your college to be close to your family and friends. This was the only part of the WBI that I found kind of confusing. I don't really know what Disney is looking for here. In one sense, I assume they wanted me to say that I chose a college close to my family, because obviously Disney values family, but at the same time, choosing a college far away shows that you have the ability to live independently and are okay with moving far away. I also found it strange that it asked about living in residence halls as part of the WBI. A lot of CP's (Disney College Program Interns) are commuters or attend community colleges, and community colleges usually do not have dorms. I don't know if this question actually factors into their decision making or not, but I thought this was something that was discussed in the Phone Interview rather than the WBI last time I applied.
The second section I found to be much less confusing. This section was all of the statements to which you answer Strongly Disagree/Disagree/Neutral/Agree/Strongly Agree. This part of the WBI was exactly as I remembered it to be from last time. All of the statements were about your personality and guest service abilities, and I did not really find them to be particularly challenging. They also ask the same questions but word them differently, so you need to make sure that your answers remain consistent. You also want to make sure that you stick to the two extremes, Strongly Agree/Disagree rather than staying around Neutral. All in all, I did not find it to be painfully difficult, the worst part about this section is that you only have 20 seconds to answer each question.
I scheduled my phone interview for Friday, February 14th at 7:45 PM. I could have scheduled it sooner, but I've been sick this week and I'd like to ideally be feeling better during my interview. I will also be at home for my interview rather than at school, like I was last time. I may take the interview in my car, just because I would appreciate the added privacy that way, as you can hear everything from every room in my house and I don't want that to freak me out. For the rest of this week, I'll be jotting down notes and preparing myself for the interview, though I'm not too nervous about it at the moment since I've done it before... or I still have a fever and am too delirious to be nervous, I guess that's an option too.
Chaz applied for the DCP an hour or two after I did, but his application is still in submission. This means that he was not automatically NLIC'ed, but no one has reviewed his application yet, so hopefully recruiting starts to look at his sometime soon.
That's it for now, I'm going to go back to sleep for a little bit since I am still not feeling too great.
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I hate to make a post to rant about things that are only semi-Disney related on this blog, but this needed to be said. This post is about to become very opinionated very quickly, so if you consider going to school to be a "job," you may not want to read on. (Disclaimer: This post is not about anyone in particular, but rather it is about my generation as a whole. Please do not be offended by this post.)
Being a student does not qualify as work experience. There, I said it. If your LinkedIn profile lists "student" under work experience, you're doing something wrong. (On LinkedIn there is a section for education, which is where being a student would go.) If you fill out a survey about yourself, and answer "My job right now is being a student," to the question, "Where do you work?" you are doing something wrong. (Now, don't get me wrong, if you answered "I don't have a job at the moment," that is fine. I don't know your whole situation, maybe you recently lost your job, or maybe you've been trying to find one but nothing's come along. That answer is reasonable. But if you write that being a student is your job, know that I will judge you.)
Logistically, being a student is not a job. Dictionary.com defines "job" as "a post of employment." "Employment" is defined as "an occupation by which someone earns a living." How on Earth do you earn a living as a student? Oh wait, you don't. You can't earn a living as a student, because it isn't a job. In fact, most people pay to be a student rather than get paid themselves, so being a student is almost an acronym to having a job.
Now sometimes people who classify their position as students as a "job" will try to defend themselves by saying something along the lines of: "It's basically a job. I'm in school for x hours a week. I have x hours of homework. I'm learning all of these skills that I'll need when I graduate, blah, blah, blah." Let's compare my "work" as a student to my work as a Museum Assistant, shall we? Alright, so I'm in school for 12.5 hours per week. I work for 20.5 hours per week, assuming I work my regular schedule without picking up any extra shifts, and that it is winter hours at the museum, which it currently is. This means that the number of hours I spend at my job is almost double what I spend at school. As for homework? College students are supposed to learn time management. I used to work at Staples (Monday through Friday from 4-9:30 PM) and I had my homework done. I didn't have much of a life, and there were times where I had the bare minimum of homework done, but the point is that I did it. This was all made possible by time management and maturity. If my Thursday went from having class from 8 AM to 2 PM and work from 4 to 9:30 PM, do you know what I would do after class? HOMEWORK. Do you know why? Because that's the responsible thing to do. If my options at 10 PM when I would arrive back at school were go out because that's apparently what college kids do on Thursdays, or do homework so I don't fall behind on my schoolwork, I would chose the latter. I don't think this is so difficult. As for learning the skills needed after you graduate, this is true, but do you know where I learn the most about working in museums? At my job... at a MUSEUM. I can take all of the History classes I want to, and to be honest my Applied History class this semester is extremely helpful in terms of looking for work after graduation. However, the bulk of my experience and knowledge about my future career path I have learned, as been from my work experience.
Basically what I'm getting at here, is that the term "student" should never be classified as a job and/or work experience. Being a student is something that you pay to do in order to earn a degree which will eventually get you an actual job. Even if you don't have a regularly scheduled job, just put your last internship or volunteer experience, or something on your LinkedIn. I don't care that you're dishing out money for school and not working even though you're in your twenties and have no excuse not to be, and frankly, I would guess that prospective employers feel the same way.
Now to relate this to Disney, since this is my Disney blog: Thankfully, I've found a bunch of girls I'm very excited about (hopefully) living with assuming I am accepted into the Disney College Program. Without them, I might still be looking through the surveys everyone posts on the DCP Facebook page. When someone writes that being a student is their job, I instantly lose respect for you. That isn't your job, for the reasons I've just gone over, and the fact that you've actually worded this scenario as such in your survey makes me want to forget I ever started reading your post. Perhaps I'm wrong for judging people I don't know, but I can't help it. Being a student is not a job, and if you think it is, then well, we probably won't be friends.
That is all.
-end rant.-
As of this morning, my dashboard for the Yellow Shoes internship I applied for is in the submission stage. (The dashboard for those who don't know is a tool that Disney's career website uses to track your progress for jobs you've applied to. Submission is the first stage.)
Oddly enough, with all of the applications I've submitted to Disney, I've never seen the submission stage before. Every other time I've applied for a job with Disney, my dashboard has almost immediately said "in progress." It actually took a couple of days for my dashboard to reach the submission stage too, which I also thought was kind of strange. I submitted the application on January 30th, but it took until today (Feb. 4th) for my dashboard to change. I've skimmed through some of the conversations on the Professional Internships Facebook page, and it seems as though the process simply moves slower for PI's than for other jobs at Disney. I'm not necessarily worried that it took a couple of days for my dashboard to go from nothing to the submission stage, but I think I'm a little bit disappointed considering this is the slowest process I've ever experienced in applying for a job with Disney.
The current widespread rumor is that DCP applications will be out on February 6th, though this is only a rumor I've seen posted on the Facebook page, so I would take that with a grain of salt. I'm hoping that the DCP application process will move along a little bit faster just because I'm driving myself crazy checking my dashboard every hour or so regarding the PI I applied for.
I'm also really looking forward to working on my book, so I can't wait for this whole process to really get going. :)
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