You made it through to the face to face interview! Well done! You will more than likely to asked to attend the European, Middle Eastern and African Disney World Headquarters in Hammersmith, London and you will probably be interviewed by real-life American WDW employers (it's more exciting than scary!).
First thing's first, Yummy Jobs will e-mail you asking you register with the Disney system and you have to upload copies of your passport, previous visas, and complete a basic application form ready for the interview. Afterwards, you'll receive a confirmation e-mail from Disney themselves to schedule your interview time and a little bit more info about the location, timings etc.
The dress code from Disney is a little bit more vague; they simply said 'dress appropriately'. To be honest, we took this as dress as you would for any other formal interview. The boys tended to go for a suit (with and without jackets) and girls varied between business formal and slightly more casual. I would call it professional, you need to look smart but be comfortable once again as I really think this will come across in your interview.
In order to prepare for this interview, you don't really need to do anything extra that you did for the pre-screen interview. In my opinion, the pre-screen was a much more intense and pressurised experience. We just refreshed our memories by re-reading our original Yummy Jobs application, CV and cover letter but you don't need to spend very long doing this at all; if your motivation for doing the program is genuine, it should all be in your mind! Perhaps also go over the general questions you prepared for the pre-screen, it make make you feel more relaxed and confident.
It's likely that you'll need to be in London early in the morning, we stayed over night in Hammersmith and although hotels can be expensive, it's worth the peace of mind knowing you are only a five minute walk from the interview venue. There are lots of hotels, coffee shops, restaurants in the surrounding area so you might be able to get a bargain! We stayed in the Holiday Inn.
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| The famous Swarovski Mickey Mouse! |
On the day of the interview, you are taken upstairs of the Headquarters where you are checked in with your passport with some familiar faces from Yummy Jobs! You can mingle and chat for a few minutes before you're called in to watch a presentation about the Program. In our interview group, there were around sixty candidates. The presentation is in a cinema and you will be introduced to the interviewers and given a general program overview, previous CRP'ers may tell you about their job roles, and there was another warm up quiz with prizes (I won a pen... day made!). The presentation itself isn't actually that different to the one shown at the pre-screen, it had maybe a few more specific details about the job and more about the accommodation, other opportunities while you were there. It certainly makes you feel even more excited about the prospect of living in Florida!
Once the presentation is over, you're told to come back at your interview time. Different groups went to grab a drink to kill the time and chat Disney!
When your interview time arrives, groups are taken upstairs to wait to be called. We had three interviewers; we either got called to the far end of the waiting room, or there were two interviewers in a separate room. It seems that the style of interview depends a lot on who is interviewing you; it could either be more like an informal chat, as if they are checking you are who you are or that you coincide with your application, or it could be a more formal interview situation where you need to talk a lot more about your experience, what you'd bring to the job role etc. You may be asked questions such as these (again, not a definitive list):
- Why do you want to do the program?
- How would you deal with a difficult customer?
- Asked about previous experiences (jobs, life experience, working abroad etc)
- How would you cope with working in the Florida heat?
- Do you speak any additional languages/would you be able to communicate with people of different languages?
- How did you find out about the program?
- Have you had any food/health and safety/chemical training?
- Describe your hometown.
The interviewers do try and make your feel comfortable although it can feel a little bit off-putting when they are making notes while you're talking (probably the worst bit about the interview) and they are super nice.
I think one piece of advice I would give though is: be professional. It may seem informal or like a chat but you are being interviewed for a highly competitive and sought after position. You are going to work for an amazing company but Disney also want people that they can rely on and who aren't going to get terminated etc. This face-to-face interview highlighted the fact that Disney is a company who takes their business extremely seriously, you need to be reliable.
At the end of the day, you can only do your best and be yourself. It is an achievement to get this far, you've probably been narrowed down from over 1000 applications to one of sixty.
The wait for your decision after the interview can be quite long but there is lots of support from Facebook groups and blogs! Good luck!
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