Finally, Thursday 7th of August, the most-awaited day, had arrived! This was the day of the interview and the presentation. The presentation was held at my university, the University of Auckland. It made me feel less nervous as I was already familiar with the place. The previous night I had set the alarm for 4:30 am, I know crazy huh! My alarm went off in the morning at a set time, but I went back to sleep woke up at 5:00 am. I got ready quickly and left the house at around 6:15 am because I had to catch the bus. I left very early because I wanted to get there one hour early just in case something went wrong with the transportation. I didn’t want to make a bad first impression by walking in late to the presentation. All these horrible thoughts were going through my mind, but just to be on the safe side I left home early and reached university at 7:00 am and headed straight to the building where the presentation was to take place I was an hour early and Sophie showed up so we just sat there chatting and waited until 8 am.
Finally, it was time for the presentation. I knew what to expect at the presentation because I had already been once back in March, but I was still very excited. The Disney International recruiters Jill and Scott held the presentation. They were very friendly people and they made the presentation even more exciting. During the presentation, we were shown the videos about Disney World and the recruiters talked us about all the things in detail about the program such as different housing complex we can live in during our program that Disney provides, transportation to and from work and all roles offered on the program, visas, airfares.
There was a little quiz about Disney World and people who answered it correctly won a prize, which was the Disney, luggage tag. It was a fun and very exciting 1-hour presentation. After that, I had to wait a few hours because my interview slot was between 1-2 pm. So I just met up with a friend and went for a coffee and muffin.
At around 12:30, I made my way to the interview location which was the university clock tower. I was about half and hour early. I saw a few people sitting outside waiting to be called in to be interviewed so I just sat there chatting away with another guy, about the program. Most of the people I saw at the interview turned up in casual clothes; however, I turned up in the ‘Disney look’ just to be on the safe side. For those of you who do not know what a 'Disney look' is for an interview 'Disney look' in other words means wearing casual business attire. Although it isn’t compulsory to wear them to the interview, but its nice to make a good first impression but if you don’t turn up in the Disney look don’t stress about it.
For those of you who don't know Disney requires its cast members and employees to comply with that particular look, such as no tattoos no piercings, you have to have your nails cut. Girls if you are going to be wearing makeup then it should be very light and men should make sure their hair is cut to the right length. If you have tattoos, you will need to cover it up. For more detailed information on the 'Disney look' you can check out the link here.
The nerves were already kicking in, but I tried to stay calm until finally I was called in to be interviewed. It wasn’t exactly at 1 but around 12:40 pm due to fewer people there so it was a bit earlier than my usual selected time slot.
I was interviewed by Scott who is the head recruiter of Disney he was a very friendly person. I am glad I got Scott. In my last post, I talked about how Sophie and I went to see careers adviser who said “there is no such thing as a casual interview." Boy, was he absolutely wrong! The interview was a very friendly relaxed casual chat indeed. With a friend who happens to work for Disney. Scott was really cool. He has been with Disney for 27 years, how lucky is that? He is totally living the dream. It was such a casual relaxed conversation. He asked me where I was from and we started to chat about India. The only questions I was asked were:
- What are you studying?
- Why do you want to do the program?
- What are your top 2 roles?
- What I want to do in the future?
- What work experience do you have?
- Where am I from?
- Any tattoos and piercings?
There were a few more I was asked, but these are the only questions I can remember so far. They were very basic questions, the interview lasted about 15-20min but I wasn’t exactly aware of the time because I had so much fun.
When asked about my top 2 roles I emphasized I would love to do attractions so fingers crossed that if I do get accepted into the program I get that role. I would love to work at EPCOT in Captain EO, because I am a huge Michael Jackson fan. Nothing is more perfect than MJ and Disney combined, but I guess I will just have to wait and see what role I get put into. If I do get attractions then somehow I am going to try and put in a request for Captain EO. Though I would just be happy to be there no matter what role I get put into. At the end of the interview, you will have time to ask questions, so it’s always good to prepare the questions beforehand, and make sure they are good questions. The questions that I asked were:
- When can we expect to hear after the interview?
- What are things you I could do in my spare time to experience more of the American culture?
Scott said that this was a good question. It’s good to ask these kinds of questions because the recruiters want to know that you’re not doing the program to just have fun, but you want to learn and experience the American culture. After all it is a cultural exchange program, they encourage you to go around and experience as much of the American culture as you can.
The other question I had at the back of my mind was:
Will I have time to travel around America at the end of the program?
But that was already answered during my presentation anyway so I didn’t bother asking that. The answer is yes, during the end of the program you have 30 days to travel on your J1 visa.
After that it was all over. I felt very good about how it went and hopefully I have set a good impression. My advice to all the future applicants is: If you apply for the program and you grab an interview just relax and be yourself. Don’t be nervous and most importantly remember to smile and show your enthusiasm. So two days after the interview I received the thanks for interviewing email and my Disney dashboard changed from Interview stage to Post Interview Stage. Yay!
So this is where I am currently. I have my fingers and toes crossed. I was told that I would hear about the offers (hopefully) by the end of September, the wait between my interview and my (hopeful) acceptance into the program is very nerve racking and exciting at the same time. The anticipation and the excitement are just ridiculous! I badly want it! So hopefully I will make it! The next time you will hear from me is if I am, accepted into the program (hopefully).
Have a magical day
Priya
