The last hurdle to overcome; the final interview!
You’ve been waiting weeks, you’ve been continuously checking your email inbox every moment you are awake, you've been stressing out about getting the result. And finally this appeared in your inbox!
Yet again massive congratulations to you! You are only one stage away from working in Walt Disney World for the entire year! All that stands between you going to Orlando or you staying at home in the rainy UK is the face-to-face interview!
*NOTE* Please understand that this is based upon my own personal experience regarding the UK CRP application from January 2017. Please do not take the information I have given here as the gospel truth as everyone’s application process will be slightly different. This blog is an advice blog, not a blog in which all information given should be copied. Your application will be unique to you, I am just here to give you an insight into the application and beyond and to give you hints and tips along the way! Finally the opinions and information expressed in these posts are my own and are not those of Disney or any company associated with the CRP application!
After you have received the congratulations email from Yummy Jobs, your contact for this stage of the application will now be the Disney international recruitment team. You will start to receive emails from Disney themselves, to which you will need to act upon asap! So keep an eye on your email account for a few days after your congratulations email as you will have to do the following steps!
1. Disney will ask you to complete an application form with them! Don’t worry its not as stressful as Yummy Jobs' application, all you’re doing here is transferring the info from the Yummy Jobs application to the Disney one, information such as personal contact info, work history and employment history
2. You will be asked to complete a role checklist! This is basically putting your job preferences in order from highest to lowest. REMEMBER the UK pavilion in EPCOT only has food and beverage opportunities or merchandising opportunities!
3. You will be asked to choose an interview date and a time slot! WARNING this is done on a first come first serve basis, so if you want an early interview slot, you best be watching your emails! Now I will sound like a moaning moggy but this point does need to be addressed as this issue did seem to crop up... I understand that you may be at work or university or just busy and you may not get to read your e-mails until after the majority of people have chosen their time slots, but please don't moan about it, there are usually 3 days of final interviews, there is bound to be at least one of those days that you can attend. Remember there will be a lot of people who would die to be in your position, so be extremely thankful you have got this far before complaining that you may not have got the slot you wanted.
4. Finally, after you have done all that you will be given a link to Disney's On boarding website, otherwise known as DOC
This is pretty straight forward! All you need to do is provide a copy of your passport, emergency contact information, you address and where you would obtain your visa if you were successful at the next stage.
Where is the face-to-face interview held?
It’s in Hammersmith in London, there are several tube stations that run into Hammersmith. Yet again, if you are travelling from more than an hour away I would suggest getting a hotel the night before, and try and share with a few people you've met that way you can keep the cost down!
So what happens on the day?
Again you’ll have another presentation all about the Cultural Representative Program, this time however it will be presented by the a Disney international recruiter. This presentation goes into a lot more detail than the Yummy Jobs presentation regarding costs, rates of pay, working hours, available dates to start the program and housing. I’d definitely take a notebook and pen with you for this!
Now you will already know when your interview slot is so if you are in the first interview slot, you can just stay around in Disney HQ, if not you have to return roughly 15 minutes before your interview slot. Again there are loads of places to get a bite to eat and drink in Hammersmith so go off with your fellow CRP applicants and chat for a while!
It’s time for your final ever interview for the CRP!
You’re probably going to be nervous as hell, I certainly was! Going up in the lift in Disney HQ to the interview room was the most heart pounding couple of minutes of my life, a thousand thoughts run through your mind but remember you only have this one interview to go!
When you go into the interview room remember to smile, be happy and shake the interviewers hand. Our recruiter for the final interviews in March 2017 was Sue, she was lovely, you have nothing to worry about at all, she'll make you feel at ease, and your 20 minute interview will soon fly by!
Now a lot of questions are asked, the interview clearly needs to ask a lot of in depth questions in order to make the right decision, now I don’t want to scare you with the list of possible questions that you may be asked, after all the recruiter makes it feel just like a conversation. And again please don’t rehearse answers to these questions, you may not get asked these specific questions!
Now as my preference was merchandise, please understand that these questions were tailored to me and my experience, I’m sure that you will get similar questions in relation to food and beverage if that is your preference!
• What is your motivation for the program? And why did you apply for the job?
• Asked about the job that I hold at the moment
• Asked about both past food and beverage experience and retail/merchandise experience (this was the only time that my f & b experience was spoken about, to which it was very brief!)
• When have you dealt with a difficult customer/guest?
• How would you deal with difficult housemates?
• Asked about my leadership experience in the workplace
• When have I met people from other nationalities in the workplace, and how have you made their experience special? (I believe this question was asked because I have worked for a Premier League football team for 4 years to which I have met and encounter guests from all around the world who have visited just for the football game!)
• I was also asked why I stayed in a workplace for such a long period of time, and what special about that workplace (this again was in relation to my football merchandise job!)
• What are your sales goals in the workplace at the moment and how do you promote sales?
• What do you do when your workplace is quiet?
• We also had a general chat about what made good customer service
• What qualities are important to you in the workplace? And how have you demonstrated the use of such qualities?
• Even though it was apparent that my role preference was merchandise as the recruiter only asked me merchandising specific questions, she still asked me why I want to go into merchandise at WDW
• I was also asked to talk about my hometown, what makes it special and why am I passionate about sharing knowledge of my hometown with others? (In preparation for such a question just read over the initial statement you made in the first yummy jobs application!)
• I was finally asked if I would be interested in conducting the tea tours which occur in the UK pavilion during Flower and Garden festival, and we also spoke about how to become a Disney trainer
I was also asked the usual routine questions that the recruiter seemed to ask everyone such as:
1. Dates of availability
2. Any tattoos or piercings
3. Would you be okay with undergoing a drugs test if needed?
4. Are you okay working outside?
5. Are you okay with working in hot temperatures and high humidity?
6. Are you okay with carrying heavy items/boxes
Now if your preference is food and beverage don’t worry! I have asked around some of my fellow CRP friends who's preference was food and beverage and they have provided me with some of the specific questions they were asked!
• What did you enjoy about working in a quick service food environment?
• How would you feel about moving into a table service environment?
• Are you okay with carrying heavy trays?
• What did you enjoy about serving in a full/table service setting?
• Have you ever spoke to anyone on the CRP who works in the UK Pav about their experience on the program?
• How do you deal with pressure when you’re working in a busy restaurant?
• Have you ever had any food safety or health and safety training?
And that’s it! Your interview will honestly be over in a flash! I totally understand that the list of questions above seems ridiculously long, and yes I’m going to be honest the interview is very intense, but its all over in about 20 minutes. You can breathe a sigh of release, your CRP application journey IS FINISHED!
Again I would recommend asking your interviewer a question about the program or job role before you leave, and again just shake their hand, thank them for their time and venture into the wide world again. YOU'VE DONE YOUR BEST THATS ALL YOU CAN DO! WELL DONE FOR GETTING THROUGH ALL OF THIS!
Yet again massive congratulations to you! You are only one stage away from working in Walt Disney World for the entire year! All that stands between you going to Orlando or you staying at home in the rainy UK is the face-to-face interview!
*NOTE* Please understand that this is based upon my own personal experience regarding the UK CRP application from January 2017. Please do not take the information I have given here as the gospel truth as everyone’s application process will be slightly different. This blog is an advice blog, not a blog in which all information given should be copied. Your application will be unique to you, I am just here to give you an insight into the application and beyond and to give you hints and tips along the way! Finally the opinions and information expressed in these posts are my own and are not those of Disney or any company associated with the CRP application!
After you have received the congratulations email from Yummy Jobs, your contact for this stage of the application will now be the Disney international recruitment team. You will start to receive emails from Disney themselves, to which you will need to act upon asap! So keep an eye on your email account for a few days after your congratulations email as you will have to do the following steps!
1. Disney will ask you to complete an application form with them! Don’t worry its not as stressful as Yummy Jobs' application, all you’re doing here is transferring the info from the Yummy Jobs application to the Disney one, information such as personal contact info, work history and employment history
2. You will be asked to complete a role checklist! This is basically putting your job preferences in order from highest to lowest. REMEMBER the UK pavilion in EPCOT only has food and beverage opportunities or merchandising opportunities!
3. You will be asked to choose an interview date and a time slot! WARNING this is done on a first come first serve basis, so if you want an early interview slot, you best be watching your emails! Now I will sound like a moaning moggy but this point does need to be addressed as this issue did seem to crop up... I understand that you may be at work or university or just busy and you may not get to read your e-mails until after the majority of people have chosen their time slots, but please don't moan about it, there are usually 3 days of final interviews, there is bound to be at least one of those days that you can attend. Remember there will be a lot of people who would die to be in your position, so be extremely thankful you have got this far before complaining that you may not have got the slot you wanted.
4. Finally, after you have done all that you will be given a link to Disney's On boarding website, otherwise known as DOC
This is pretty straight forward! All you need to do is provide a copy of your passport, emergency contact information, you address and where you would obtain your visa if you were successful at the next stage.
Where is the face-to-face interview held?
It’s in Hammersmith in London, there are several tube stations that run into Hammersmith. Yet again, if you are travelling from more than an hour away I would suggest getting a hotel the night before, and try and share with a few people you've met that way you can keep the cost down!
So what happens on the day?
Again you’ll have another presentation all about the Cultural Representative Program, this time however it will be presented by the a Disney international recruiter. This presentation goes into a lot more detail than the Yummy Jobs presentation regarding costs, rates of pay, working hours, available dates to start the program and housing. I’d definitely take a notebook and pen with you for this!
Now you will already know when your interview slot is so if you are in the first interview slot, you can just stay around in Disney HQ, if not you have to return roughly 15 minutes before your interview slot. Again there are loads of places to get a bite to eat and drink in Hammersmith so go off with your fellow CRP applicants and chat for a while!
It’s time for your final ever interview for the CRP!
You’re probably going to be nervous as hell, I certainly was! Going up in the lift in Disney HQ to the interview room was the most heart pounding couple of minutes of my life, a thousand thoughts run through your mind but remember you only have this one interview to go!
When you go into the interview room remember to smile, be happy and shake the interviewers hand. Our recruiter for the final interviews in March 2017 was Sue, she was lovely, you have nothing to worry about at all, she'll make you feel at ease, and your 20 minute interview will soon fly by!
Now a lot of questions are asked, the interview clearly needs to ask a lot of in depth questions in order to make the right decision, now I don’t want to scare you with the list of possible questions that you may be asked, after all the recruiter makes it feel just like a conversation. And again please don’t rehearse answers to these questions, you may not get asked these specific questions!
Now as my preference was merchandise, please understand that these questions were tailored to me and my experience, I’m sure that you will get similar questions in relation to food and beverage if that is your preference!
• What is your motivation for the program? And why did you apply for the job?
• Asked about the job that I hold at the moment
• Asked about both past food and beverage experience and retail/merchandise experience (this was the only time that my f & b experience was spoken about, to which it was very brief!)
• When have you dealt with a difficult customer/guest?
• How would you deal with difficult housemates?
• Asked about my leadership experience in the workplace
• When have I met people from other nationalities in the workplace, and how have you made their experience special? (I believe this question was asked because I have worked for a Premier League football team for 4 years to which I have met and encounter guests from all around the world who have visited just for the football game!)
• I was also asked why I stayed in a workplace for such a long period of time, and what special about that workplace (this again was in relation to my football merchandise job!)
• What are your sales goals in the workplace at the moment and how do you promote sales?
• What do you do when your workplace is quiet?
• We also had a general chat about what made good customer service
• What qualities are important to you in the workplace? And how have you demonstrated the use of such qualities?
• Even though it was apparent that my role preference was merchandise as the recruiter only asked me merchandising specific questions, she still asked me why I want to go into merchandise at WDW
• I was also asked to talk about my hometown, what makes it special and why am I passionate about sharing knowledge of my hometown with others? (In preparation for such a question just read over the initial statement you made in the first yummy jobs application!)
• I was finally asked if I would be interested in conducting the tea tours which occur in the UK pavilion during Flower and Garden festival, and we also spoke about how to become a Disney trainer
I was also asked the usual routine questions that the recruiter seemed to ask everyone such as:
1. Dates of availability
2. Any tattoos or piercings
3. Would you be okay with undergoing a drugs test if needed?
4. Are you okay working outside?
5. Are you okay with working in hot temperatures and high humidity?
6. Are you okay with carrying heavy items/boxes
Now if your preference is food and beverage don’t worry! I have asked around some of my fellow CRP friends who's preference was food and beverage and they have provided me with some of the specific questions they were asked!
• What did you enjoy about working in a quick service food environment?
• How would you feel about moving into a table service environment?
• Are you okay with carrying heavy trays?
• What did you enjoy about serving in a full/table service setting?
• Have you ever spoke to anyone on the CRP who works in the UK Pav about their experience on the program?
• How do you deal with pressure when you’re working in a busy restaurant?
• Have you ever had any food safety or health and safety training?
And that’s it! Your interview will honestly be over in a flash! I totally understand that the list of questions above seems ridiculously long, and yes I’m going to be honest the interview is very intense, but its all over in about 20 minutes. You can breathe a sigh of release, your CRP application journey IS FINISHED!
Again I would recommend asking your interviewer a question about the program or job role before you leave, and again just shake their hand, thank them for their time and venture into the wide world again. YOU'VE DONE YOUR BEST THATS ALL YOU CAN DO! WELL DONE FOR GETTING THROUGH ALL OF THIS!
Now the real wait begins...
Until the next post, goodbye!
Hi, thank you for your guide to the application + your guide to the interview!
ReplyDeleteJust a quick question - what do you wear to this type of interview? Is is professional wear?