Marine Mammal Interview

This morning I had my interview for the Marine Mammal Professional Internship! I wanted to share my experience with you all because there is very little information available online about Animal Programs Internships, and even less information about the Marine Mammal Internship.

My interview was at 9:30 AM with Kim, the marine mammal manager. We used a program called Blue Jeans, which is an online video conferencing program, to conduct the interview. I was really nervous about using Blue Jeans because I've heard rumors that there are a lot of technical difficulties with it, but everything was fine and the audio and visual worked perfectly the entire interview! I rented a room in my school's career center for the interview and arrived about 20 minutes early. I made sure to dress in business casual clothing and I was in Disney Look as well! I logged in about 8 minutes early to make sure everything was working properly and because I wanted to be online when Kim joined. She joined the conference at exactly 9:30 and our interview began!

The interview began with her just going over some basic information: making sure I had full work availability, that I could lift 50 pounds, and that I understood that this was a learning opportunity and that it would not involve a lot of hands-on work with animals. Then we moved into discussing my prior experience in the field and how it related to the requirements of the internship. We then moved on to discussing this specific internship and why my personality and particular interests drew me to this position. Finally, we wrapped up with some general information about what to expect if accepted and I asked her a few questions before we ended the interview! All in all, it was a 24 minute conference call.

I was extremely nervous before the interview, mostly because I feel as though there is a lot riding on this internship opportunity. I'm graduating in May so I am really hoping to get an internship with Disney so I can begin my post-grad career with the company. However, as soon as the interview started I relaxed and felt very at ease talking with Kim! We laughed and had a genuinely good time. I think the interview went really well and I'm happy with the way I presented myself and my experiences.

Kim did inform me that she is interviewing for 6 positions from a pool of approximately 75 applicants, so the competition is extremely intense for this internship! I am not sure if all 75 applicants get interviews or not, but regardless, there are a lot of people vying for very few positions! Regardless of the outcome, I am extremely thankful for the opportunity to interview for this dream role and I feel really good about my performance. Now I get to continue playing the waiting game and keep my fingers crossed for some good news in the next few weeks!