just wondering when interviews/ presentations are held for the 2007
season and when a good time to think about applying would be?
Thank you for your time
I didn't really think a lot about it, just e-mailing on the off-chance that they would send me some information about the programme. So I was more than a little suprised when I received this e-mail a week later:
Many thanks for your interest in the Walt Disney World International
Programs!
We would like to arrange a brief telephone interview with you to get to know
you a little bit better.
Please email me back to let me know your availability for a 10-15 minute
telephone conversation during the following times;
Saturday between 11pm - 4pm
When I receive your reply I will confirm the date and time of your interview
by email.
We look forward to considering you for a position on the Walt Disney World
International Programs!
Suzy
Yummy Jobs
Well, why not, I thought- might as well give it a go. At this point I don't think I'd realised how big a deal this whole application process was, but it still didn't stop me from feeling exceptionally nervous when I had my phone interview that following week. This also meant that I said some stupid things and thought I'd done rather badly, meaning that I promptly forgot about the whole ordeal, and got on with life. I've got to admit, I didn't really give the interview a second thought for a while, which meant that I was even more shocked to find out that I had a face to face interview in Cardiff on the 6th November! It was at this point that the obsession kicked in. I started manically searching the Internet for websites and information about the international programme, which lead me to The WDWIP website and forums, where I managed to speak to lots of other people worrying about the interview process. It also lead me to a number of Disney Diaries. Now I'm warning you now, not only are these things addictive, but they're also very bad for your mental health! If you're reading this after I've been to Florida and are currently in the middle of the application process, I apologise for the fact that it, hopefully, will make you desperate to go! You never know, I may have an awful time there, but none of the authors of the diaries I read had had such a problem. Never a good thing when you're already someone who gets quite nervous before interviews, I can tell you! But it also made me really look forward to the interview, look forward to my chance to place my Disneyland Bid.
And so, after I worked out where the UWIC campus I was supposed to be having my interview at was (ideally placed about a 20 minute walk from my halls! It was like fate in action!), the 6th November slowly rolled around and I found myself seeing 7am for the first time since I began university. I'd forgotten that time existed, and it was not a welcome reminder, believe me. But still, nervously I applied my make-up and dressed myself in 'business-like attire', thanked God that it wasn't raining and headed down to the Colchester Avenue Campus to find that I'd arrived there before half of the interviewers, and so was going to end up hanging around the campus café, dressed in a black pencil skirt, shirt and smart jacket amongst lots of students in their obligatory jeans, feeling more than a little bit stupid. But thankfully I soon worked out that I had to go and see Jason from Yummy Jobs, who gave me some forms to fill out, and other people started to arrive. My interview experience was a little odd though, I think. As part of a course at UWIC, students have to complete an internship over the summer, so all of the people from that course were at the interview, and obviously hadn't been told to wear the 'business-like attire' that I'd spent two weeks worrying about, turning up for the presentation in jeans and skimpy tops. Um, what?! People also seemed to have gotten quite lost, and the presentation ended up starting about half an hour after it should have done.
Still, it was worth the wait, and after the presentation I was all the more desperate to go. We were then given our interview times. Luckily I was the second group of people to be interviewed, and had a half hour wait in which I had to decide which areas I was going to apply for. First choice Merchandise- lots of customer interaction, and you get to play with all the Disney toys. By 'play' I mean rearrange and look after, obviously...
We were interviewed in pairs, two pairs being interviewed at a time. The girls I interviewed with were so lovely that by this point I was sure there was no way I'd be chosen over people like them. This, of course, did nothing to relax me, even though our interviewer, Kim, was really lovely and very easy to talk to. It was a strange interview though- in other interviews I've experienced it has been like a conversation, questions flowing from what I'd said beforehand and so on, whereas in this one they had very definite set questions, which they didn't deter from. If you wanted to get onto a topic that made you look good then you had to do it yourself by waffling on a lot. I don't think interviewing in pairs helped confidence-wise either- it's never good to be comparing yourself constantly to the person beside you! Still, the interview hardly seemed to take any time, and it seemed to be over almost instantly, after which my interview partner was measured to see what character height she was (she'd applied for entertainment), we chatted a bit more about the interview and what we thought about it, and parted ways. Hopefully I'll see her again in Florida, though!
And so the waiting game began. My phone was on constantly, I pissed people off by checking the display obsessively and, in the last week, logging onto wap in every free moment I had at university. Waiting is not good for your health either. This whole application process just isn't, clearly! They had told us three weeks in the interview, but as the end of the three weeks neared my hope deteriorated. I was pretty sure after the interview that I hadn't performed particularly well, and as the day marking three weeks since my interview went by flew past I was almost certain about the outcome.
But then Thursday 30th November came around. I was getting ready for a big night out with the girlies and had an hour or so to kill beforehand, so decided to log onto MSN. I started talking to some people I knew from the WDWIP forums, bemoaning the fact that we STILL hadn't heard, when, at around 9:15 one of them suddenly exclaimed
'FUCK YES'!
He had gotten in, received that e-mail that very moment. Well, while I was pleased for him, my empty inbox made my heart sink. Much as I was sure that I hadn't gotten in, it was still quite disheartening for it to actually be real. Then another person got in. I got upset again. When... suddenly my inbox displayed '1 new message'. My eyes scanned the first line. I could see the word 'Alexis' (from Yummy Jobs) and 'congratulations'. My hands began to shake. I clicked the message:
Get your passport ready as CONGRATULATIONS are in order!
The recruiters from Walt Disney World were very impressed when they met with you at your interview recently and they would love to offer you a position on the Walt Disney World International College Program.
Your start date (the day you fly to Orlando) would be June 5, 07 and the completion date of the Program would be Aug 31, 07. The role that you are being offered is Merchandise.
At this stage we need to know whether you would like to accept this position. Please email me by Friday 8th December to let me know if you would like to accept the job offer.
If your answer is positive, we will contact you in the New Year to go through all the details of the Program and to explain everything that needs to happen in order to get you to Orlando! We aim to contact you by the end of January with this information.
We would just like to say very very well done and here’s to a great experience working, living and learning at Walt Disney World in Summer 2007!
Kindest regards
The Yummy Jobs Team
I think I uttered something like 'oh my god, oh my god, oh my god' before screaming 'HELL YES' and jumping around the flat, much to the amusement of my flatmates! I WAS GOING TO LIVE IN DISNEYLAND FLORIDA OVER THE SUMMER! I screamed a lot, I phoned my Mum, I text all my friends from home, and was just generally very, very hyper. Snakebite + Extreme Hyperness made for an extremely amusing evening, I can tell you.
So that's the story of my application to Disneyland. It was very long-winded, full of twists and turns, but like every Disney fairy tale, at the moment it has a happy ending. And so begins my Floridian adventures. I leave on the 24th June (some minor complications involving my university being funny about term dates, but a very easily fixed complication, if anyone was wondering why I'm not leaving on the 5th as detailed in the above e-mail), to work in merchandise. This diary will be periodically updated with random Disney ramblings until then. The next six months could go very slowly!!
Doesn't matter who you are
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true*~*
