Tuesday, January 1, 2013

College Program Application Process


This post chronicles my experience applying for the Fall 2013 Program. Things may be different in future seasons. There are several steps involved in applying.
1. Application
2. Web Based Interview
3. Phone interview
4. Waiting
5. Receive/ Accept Offer
6. Pay fees and Choose Arrival dates


Applications went live on February 8th 2013. The application is similar other online job applications, asking for your previous work history, can you work in the US, do you have any criminal history etc. You also select what roles you are interested in. You get to rank each one as either High, Moderate, Low, or No Interest. BE HONEST! Don't mark everything as High thinking you will have a better chance of being accepted. I think a lot of people who were pending (this is explained a little further down) or not accepted simply picked too many roles. If you absolutely do not want to do a role, put it as No Interest. Every season there are people who complain because they got a role they really did not want.

These are the roles I applied for and the ranking I gave them:
High: Concierge, Hospitality, Vacation Planner, BBB
Moderate: Attractions, Merchandise, Full Service Food and Beverage, Recreation
Low: none
No Interest: Housekeeping, Quick Service, Lifeguard, Transportation, Bell Services, Main Entrance Ops, Custodial

I think you should pick 3-4 as High, 3-4 as Moderate, 1-2 as Low. Again if you absolutely do not want to do a specific role put it as "No Interest" as you can see I had a lot I was not interested in.

 Once I completed the application I received this email:


About 1-2 hours later I received an email prompting me to take the Web Based Interview. Lots of people freak out about this. It is one of those tests where they ask you questions like "I am never late" and you need to agree or disagree. The key to this is to be consistent in you answers, as they will ask you the same one different ways, for example they might say "I am never late" and then later "I am always on time" you want to make sure your answers match for this. The other thing is you need to think of it in the context of working for Disney, and what Disney wants. So maybe you are sometimes late in your personal life, but Disney wants people who are not going to be late for work! Many people also think it helps to choose "strongly agree" or "strongly disagree" instead of picking a lot of "neutrals"

If you pass the Web Based Interview you will be asked to schedule a phone interview

You can then log onto your Dashboard and schedule a time that works best for you! Check out my tips for the phone interview HERE and possible interview questions HERE After your phone interview you will get an email thanking you for interviewing and stating that you should hear something within 2-3 weeks.

Now the hard part comes. You wait. I waited 18 days without hearing anything, others were getting accepted 3-4 days after their interview. You can log onto your Dashboard during this time and check your status. You want to see 'In Progress". If you see 'No Longer In Consideration" it means you have not been selected for this season. Try not to obsessively check your email and dashboard.

Sometimes people will receive an email telling them their application is pending a final decision and they will hear back by a certain date. This season the date was April 19th. This means you are "Pending". Now this does not always mean it is a bad thing. Sometimes Disney has trouble trying to decide where you fit, or maybe they are unsure if you are a strong enough candidate. People who are pending do get accepted, but they also get rejected.

Finally I recieved my offer! You will get it by email (Check your spam folder! It sometimes goes there) You will then need to log in and see what your role is. There are several instructions after that on how to accept your role, pay your fees and select your arrival date. You only have 10 days to accept your offer!

So that's the application process! My timeline went like this

Feb 8th - Applications Opened/ Submitted Application
Feb 8th - Invited to take Web Based Interview (about 45 minutes after submission)
Feb 8th - Invited to schedule Phone Interview (about 1 hour after Web Based)
Feb 11th - Had Phone interview (You can read about it HERE)
March 1st - Received Offer for Concierge! My #1 role


** I accepted this offer, but later was offered a Professional Internship, which I decided to take instead. I had applied to the CP as back up plan. My program fees were refunded to me when I switched to the PI

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