I have been successful in my application for the Disney Cultural Representative Program. (More info can be found here: Cultural Represenative Program. I found out about this program in January of this year and decided it was definitely something I wanted to apply for. Unfortunately for me, I had just missed out by 8 hours (Really!!) for the current recruitment campaign. Luckily for me, Yummy Jobs (The UK Recruiters) recruit twice a year. This gave me plenty of time to research the job further and find the WDWIP forum. This forum is full of lovely people who have either been on the program, are about to go on the program or are applying for the program. Here I found a LOT of helpful advice and guidance. The process of applying starts with creating a profile on the Yummy Jobs website and uploading a CV and letter of motivation. I spent quite a few weeks perfecting my letter and worrying about whether it was the sort of thing that would help me to be successful. I found it very useful discussing with fellow applicants on the forum, as well as receiving a lot of advice from successful applicants and very long discussions with my mum. This was then followed by a long wait (almost 3 months) to find out whether I had been successful in getting through to the next stage. One day I was randomly checking my emails when I came across this:
“We are pleased to inform you that you have been invited to a telephone interview. To continue, please login to your Yummy Jobs account and follow the instructions to choose a suitable date and time for you.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Best Regards,
The Yummy Jobs Team”
We look forward to hearing from you!
Best Regards,
The Yummy Jobs Team”
I could not believe it! I quickly logged onto the forum to see who else had received this email, and it was evident in that 9 more pages had quickly appeared on the Telephone Interview Topic with boardies discussing the email we had all received. I then logged onto the Yummy Jobs site and selected an interview date at 11am a few days later. I could have selected an interview slot the next day if I had wanted but I wanted time to prepare. I spent the next few days in a slight panic, worrying what I was going to say. I also checked the forum numerous times to see how everyone else’s interviews had been going. Everyone said that the interviewers were all lovely and friendly, and the best advice I received was to just be myself, remember to breathe, and keep a glass of water nearby. My mum was fantastic throughout the process. She even held mock interviews with me, pretending to be Yummy Jobs – I found this helped me – A LOT!
The Telephone Interview
The morning of my telephone interview arrived and I was super nervous. It didn’t help that my interview was a few minutes later than the slot I had chosen and I waited for the phone in front of me to ring. Eventually it did. My heart started pounding but I calmly answered. The voice on the other end of the phone was bubbly and calming and I hope that’s how I came across. The interviewer asked me a few personal details that needed to be confirmed. I was then told that the arrival dates, should I get the job would be between February & June 2011. The questions then began. I was asked things like:
Why have you applied for the Cultural Representative Program?
What would you do if you had to deal with a difficult customer and how would you resolve the problem.
How would you cope sharing a room and a flat with up to 7 other girls?
Can you tell me a little about your home town?
What would you do if you had to deal with a difficult customer and how would you resolve the problem.
How would you cope sharing a room and a flat with up to 7 other girls?
Can you tell me a little about your home town?
That’s all I can remember as I had a bit of an adrenaline rush afterwards and lost most memory of the interview. I tried to analyse my answers in my head and thought of a lot of things I could of said as soon as the phone call ended. After I had answered the questions I was told they had received over 900 applications so far and had a few hundred people left to interview – Yikes! Finally I was told that I’d receive an email in around 3 weeks time to let me know either way about whether I’d made it to the next stage.
About 16 days later I decided to check the forums and I was surprised to see that many pages had appeared on the Telephone Interviews topic so I decided to check it out. It was here that I found that some boardies had received the email we had all been waiting for – the invite to the face to face interviews in London. I was at my aunt’s house and the signal on my phone wasn’t too good so I was unable to check my email. As soon as I got home, I checked and found out that I had also received the email! I was so happy – I actually screamed! I scanned the forums to see who else would be in attendance on the same interview day as me and then looked into booking train tickets to London.
The F2F Interview
The weekend of the interviews arrived and I made sure I had everything I needed and checked things off my checklist at least 10 times! Yummy Jobs provided a checklist for the documents required on the day such as my passport, birth certificate, proof of address and a copy of the online application form. I got the train down to London with my mum and 2 of my aunts as we were to go and see Jersey Boys in the West End that night after spending the day exploring the sights of the capital. We also met up with my cousin who lives there and had something to eat before the show. As for the show – it was AMAZING!! We were sat in seats that were up in the Gods – but my god, those actors sure can sing – and dance – and act! Incredible! I still can’t stop singing the songs! Anyhow, the morning of the interview arrived and I found that I couldn’t eat my breakfast – I was too nervous! I got dressed in my suit and got the tube to Waterloo. From there I headed to Chez Gerard – the interview venue. When I got there, it was pretty full even though I got there in plenty of time. We were led to a room at the back of the restaurant where we shown a presentation – that can be found here. The Disney recruiters Jill & Hollis had flown over from America and they were super lovely. They really put everyone at ease. At the end of the presentation we were given our interview times – Mine was at 2pm – the first one after lunch. I left the restaurant and went to meet up with my family and have something to eat for lunch as I had a few hours spare. I then entered the restaurant 20 minutes before my interview time so that the Yummy Jobs team could go through my paperwork. I was told that I would be interviewed by Jill with a guy. I don’t think I ever did find out his name. The recruiters were running late and I actually ended up going in for my interview at about 2.50pm. Jill was friendly, the three of us had a little chat before actually starting the interview – I’m afraid that I might have been a little too chatty. She then had a quick flick through our C V’s and began the questions. We were first asked why we wanted to be a part of the Cultural Representative Program. I answered first, Jill nodded and took notes and I was happy with my answer...... until the guy started talking. I felt the guy I interviewed with outshone me big time - His answers were just SO much better & It might just all be in my head, but I'm sure Jill was much more impressed with his answers than mine. My coping mechanism when I'm nervous is to be a bit like Chandler Bing in Friends and just try to make people laugh - basically I think it's a No for me (but definitely a yes for the guy I interviewed with - He was brilliant) - The good news for me is that I can re-apply in January - & that's not too far away. My only chance of success is if the interview wasn’t really about the questions asked but about showing personality. I managed to make Jill laugh quite a few times, but it turns out so have quite a few people. We were asked about our home town, where we’re currently working and what we would like to do in the future, and how we would get on with living with other people. I managed to talk about McDreamy in Grey’s Anatomy, Johnny Depp and even Lara Croft – I just hope I did enough. I think my interview lasted about 20 minutes and there was nothing else I could do but wait – until 21st October when results were due.
The Results
Quite a few of us off the forum kept in contact via Facebook and via SMS which really helped as we all knew we were in it together. Almost everyday there would be a rumor on the forum that results were due the next day. We all spent about two weeks trying to work up the courage to look at our Email inbox. My heart would literally stop beating for a second every time I received a new email message. I ended up working a lot of overtime at work to distract myself and keep me away from a computer and more specifically - My Email. Then one day while I was at work I went to my locker to check my phone. I had a message off one of my Disney friends that they had received the email and I should check to see. I started to shake and I nervously opened up my email. The signal isn't brilliant at work and so my emails took a long time to load. And then I saw it - a message from Yummy Jobs. The email I had been waiting for. The email that could be telling me my dreams are coming true and I'm moving to Florida. Or could it be the email telling me all my dreams have been crushed?? I thought for a second whether I should wait and open up the email with my mum when I got home from work, but ended up going for it. My phone decided to take AGES to load the message - one final tease. When it finally loaded I could not believe what I saw:
The Results
Quite a few of us off the forum kept in contact via Facebook and via SMS which really helped as we all knew we were in it together. Almost everyday there would be a rumor on the forum that results were due the next day. We all spent about two weeks trying to work up the courage to look at our Email inbox. My heart would literally stop beating for a second every time I received a new email message. I ended up working a lot of overtime at work to distract myself and keep me away from a computer and more specifically - My Email. Then one day while I was at work I went to my locker to check my phone. I had a message off one of my Disney friends that they had received the email and I should check to see. I started to shake and I nervously opened up my email. The signal isn't brilliant at work and so my emails took a long time to load. And then I saw it - a message from Yummy Jobs. The email I had been waiting for. The email that could be telling me my dreams are coming true and I'm moving to Florida. Or could it be the email telling me all my dreams have been crushed?? I thought for a second whether I should wait and open up the email with my mum when I got home from work, but ended up going for it. My phone decided to take AGES to load the message - one final tease. When it finally loaded I could not believe what I saw:
Dear Kirstie,
We hope you enjoyed the recent interviews, and we would like to thank you once again for your attendance. On behalf of the Walt Disney World Representatives and all here at Yummy Jobs we would like to say how great it was to meet you.
I am delighted to have been given the “go-ahead” to be the first to say…..
CONGRATULATIONS!!
You have been offered a role on Disney’s Cultural Representative Program from
May 3rd 2011 to April 27th 2012
Your role in the show will be in Food & Beverage
At first I thought it was a "No" email - breaking me in gently. But no - I only went & got the job!! :)
Key Dates
- 21st June 2010 - Application Sent
- 17th August 2010 - Telephone Interview Invitation Email Received
- 25th August 2010 - Telephone Interview
- 10th September 2010 - Face to Face Interview Invitation Received
- 15th October 2010 - Face To Face Interview Results email Recieved
