Right after applying to the Disney College Program, on February 9th, I got a ‘Thank You for Applying’ email. I was thrilled and was awaiting to receive an invitation for a Phone Interview (PI) soon after that. Normally after the ‘Thank you’ email, Disney invites you to complete a Web Based Interview (WBI) first, but since I passed mine last Fall I was not asked to do it again because it is only required once a year. (A WBI is pretty much a timed quiz that asks you as series of personality and work related questions to see if you’d be a good fit for Disney.) I went ahead and scheduled my PI for February 19th, 10 days later! Ah!:( I was hopping to take it sooner then that, but there were only 2 dates available at the time. I scheduled it for the evening so I would be able to take it when I got home from work, but luckily I was fortunate enough to have that day off being that work was so slow.
The good thing about having 10 days before your interview is having time to prepare and practice! I had already rehearsed and rehearsed so much last time that I had pretty much still remembered all my answers to the questions. This was actually a blessing because now that I knew what I wanted to say, I could focus on coming off as genuine and more myself. I didn’t really practice the first couple of days because I knew that if I did, I’d be a nerves wreck. When my interview was inching closer and closer, I went back to my Word Document where I had typed up all my Q&A’s from last time and read over them. I found that some of my answers didn’t really flow off the tongue or maybe weren’t quite what Disney was looking for. I decided to copy and paste the questions and answer them again so I could make this interview newer, fresher, more personal- especially since I had worked 5 months at a new job since my last interview.
Last time I had focused so much of my time on the ‘maybe’ Q&A’s but this time I decided to focus my preparation on the definite questions I knew they were going to ask. As you can assume, “Why do you want to do the Disney College Program” was the question I had spend the most time on. This might sound easy to most people but, “because I love the company” or “because I love going to Disneyland,” are definitely not the answers they are looking for. Millions of people love the company and visiting the parks, needless to say, you need a much more thorough, thought out answer. Something that really shows your dedication and passion. Something you can get your finger prints all over and really make it your own.
After editing and revising my answer numerous times, I had finally come to decision on how I wanted to portray to my interviewer why I wanted to do the Disney College Program and why it was so important to me. I practiced what I wanted to say pretty much at every free opportunity. Last Fall my mom and brother had helped me with some ‘mock interviews’ which is pretty much just pretending like you’re really interviewing on the phone. That helped me out a lot, but I didn’t want to ‘rehearse’ this time so we just casually went over my answers in person to make sure they sounded good.
The time had come. All of my months of research, practicing, and praying had led up to this. It was a Wednesday and I had school that afternoon. Thankfully I knew I didn’t need the class anymore since I was changing my major, so my excitement and anticipation wasn’t really disturbing me from my class work. (You might be wondering why I hadn’t dropped the class yet if I didn’t need it. Well, you need to be enrolled in a college class to apply to the DCP, so I remained in the class so I could be sure that that wasn’t hindering me from getting accepted.) Once class was over I rushed home and spent the day practicing for my interview.
It was that time. Disney tells you that your interviewer can call anywhere between 15 minutes before or 15 minutes after your scheduled time. This being extremely important and all, I had everything ready for me to start my interview right at 7pm (15 mins before my scheduled time). I literally had everything you could think of there: my cheat-sheet, my positive note card reminders, my questions, a pencil, water, kleenex, chapstick. Yeah- I was serious. I sat there relaxing so I wouldn’t be nervous when the phone rang and calmly glazed over my notes one last time. I wanted this interview to be totally different then my last two. From 7-7:16 I sat there smiling to get my excited and pumped up about the company and the interview.
My home phone rang! My interviewers name was Nina. She seemed kind of bored and drained from the day. No magic in her voice. Sure she was nice, but I was kind of nervous on this interview going south because what if she didn’t laugh at my jokes? What if we didn’t connect? What if she strictly asks the questions without a nice, bubbly conversation? Yes, all these questions were going through my mind in a matter of seconds. Thankfully when I said ‘Aw, Nina, that’s cute!” she gave a slight giggle. Victory! I kind of felt like I broke through. It was all smooth sailing from there. I mean, how would you feel if you had a hundred interviews in one day… on the phone. Yeah, I don’t blame her.
From my last two interviews I thought I knew the format and order it kind of goes in. Nope. Because pretty much right away she asked me why I wanted to do the DCP. It through me off guard. Wasn’t she suppose to go over my roles of interest first? It must have been because I was open to ANYTHING. Anyways, I only had a second to get myself together. “…Because… *clears throat*…I really want to do the Disney College Program because…” I had to show my confidence. NAILED IT! I got that answer out of the way and it was all down hill from there (in a good way). Nina continued to ask me questions that I had prepared for and I didn’t even get any difficult ones- HAZAH! It was seriously so relaxing and fun compared to my last two. I remained smiling the whole time (something that is a necessity since they can hear it in your voice) and maintained calm, cool, and collected.
Our interview was ending and it was just about 25 minutes long. She asked if I had any questions and I asked her the 3 that I had prepared. My last one was regarding her personal experience with the company and how she got started with Disney. She started to tell me about her first affiliations with Disney and then… silence. Yep, my phone died. I started freaking out! I ran to the living room phone to see if the line was still connected but it was too late. The call had been dropped, there was nothing I could do. It took me a second to realize- there’s still a chance! I had forgotten about my cell phone and how I silenced it. I ran back to my room and flipped it over- it was ringing! I picked up and started apologizing explaining how my phone had died. She was nice about it and said it was fine, she explained how the interview was technically over but wanted to know if I had anymore questions. I told her I didn’t but unfortunately didn’t get to hear the ending to her story. She finished it up and we got a few good laughs in!:) I thanked her for her time and that was it!
Everything was in Disney’s hands now. I did all I could do and that would have to be good enough. The only thing else I could give is my soul (which I learned from the Little Mermaid is NOT a good trade lol). My heart was already poured into the company and I think that showed during my interview. If I didn’t get in this time, I honestly don’t know what I would have to do the next time. From the wise words of Walt himself, “Why worry? If you’ve done the very best you can, worrying won’t make it any better.” So then I just had to wait.
Here are the emails I received:)
Beth 'Baguettes' Disney Magic 