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!
Showing posts with label interview. Show all posts
Showing posts with label interview. Show all posts
February 24, 2016
February 23, 2016
Update on Applications
So, as predicted, the first DCP acceptances did go out at the end of last week and the beginning of this week. Unfortunately, I was not a part of the first wave of acceptances, however I still am in progress! I know there is really no rhyme or reason to the waves of acceptances, but it's still frustrating to not hear anything! I'm just trying to remain patient and I'm constantly refreshing my email and dashboard!
However, on the bright side, I received an email from the Marine Mammals Department over the weekend to set up an interview with their team! I have an interview set up for tomorrow, February 24, at 9:30 AM! We are going to be doing a video conference. I'm so excited for the opportunity to speak with some members of the team and tell them about myself, my experiences, and my passion for animal care and training! I'm going to be spending most of today preparing for the interview. I booked a room in my career center so that I have a professional background and I'll be wearing business casual "Disney Look" clothes!
I'm so excited for my interview. I'll be sure to blog about it tomorrow and let you know how it goes!
January 22, 2016
Phone Interview - Round Two
So after submitting my application and passing my Web-Based Interview (WBI) I had my phone interview this morning! It was scheduled for 9 days after my WBI (which was the earliest I could schedule it). I have been looking forward to my phone interview all week, and it lived up to my expectations!
I interviewed with Christy, who was an absolute pleasure to talk to. I was a little bit nervous before she called, but as soon as we got on the phone I felt completely comfortable and at ease. It truly was as though I was talking to a friend about something we are both passionate about! My interview was scheduled for 9:15 AM and my phone rang at 9:17 AM and the interview began. It lasted 23 minutes. I really actually enjoyed this phone interview and felt much more confident going in and coming out than I did on my interview for my Spring 2014 program.
We mostly talked about my last program: the living, learning, and earning aspects of it. We talked a lot about my role at Finding Nemo and how I handled different guest situations there. We also talked a little bit about the roles I felt most qualified for and she asked me some situational questions about those roles. Finally, we ended with her asking me specifically about my interests and requests, which thrilled me, because I wasn't expecting it at all! I'm hoping that was some positive feedback coming from her!
I'll be patiently waiting to hear from now on. I was told the latest I would hear back is mid-March, but I'm hoping it's sooner than that!! I expect that the Professional Internship (PI) applications will open next week, so check back soon to see about the status of my DCP application and how the PI application process works!
Keep having Disney Dreams & throw a little extra pixie dust my way for these next few weeks!
I interviewed with Christy, who was an absolute pleasure to talk to. I was a little bit nervous before she called, but as soon as we got on the phone I felt completely comfortable and at ease. It truly was as though I was talking to a friend about something we are both passionate about! My interview was scheduled for 9:15 AM and my phone rang at 9:17 AM and the interview began. It lasted 23 minutes. I really actually enjoyed this phone interview and felt much more confident going in and coming out than I did on my interview for my Spring 2014 program.
We mostly talked about my last program: the living, learning, and earning aspects of it. We talked a lot about my role at Finding Nemo and how I handled different guest situations there. We also talked a little bit about the roles I felt most qualified for and she asked me some situational questions about those roles. Finally, we ended with her asking me specifically about my interests and requests, which thrilled me, because I wasn't expecting it at all! I'm hoping that was some positive feedback coming from her!
I'll be patiently waiting to hear from now on. I was told the latest I would hear back is mid-March, but I'm hoping it's sooner than that!! I expect that the Professional Internship (PI) applications will open next week, so check back soon to see about the status of my DCP application and how the PI application process works!
Keep having Disney Dreams & throw a little extra pixie dust my way for these next few weeks!
November 6, 2013
Interview Tips
I know that a huge part of the application process for the DCP are the two interviews, the web-based interview (WBI) and the phone interview. For those of you who are considering applying, or who just want to know more about the application and interviews, I wanted to write a post about my experience with the two interviews.
After you complete the initial application, you may get an email telling you that you have moved on to the next step of the application: the web-based interview. This is a completely online interview, where you select an answer to a variety of questions from Disney. My advice for this step is to be yourself, and don't over-think the questions. Some of the questions are timed, but I promise you that you will have enough time to finish the question before time runs out. Just take a deep breath, read the question (out loud helps!) and select the answer that you think is the most "Disney-appropriate question." I've been to Disney World over 50 times, so I have a general idea of how the cast members act and what Disney expects of its cast members, so I didn't have too hard of a time putting myself in a cast member's shoes and selecting the answer that I thought fit best. I know that this step can be really nerve-wracking, but just try to stay calm! As soon as you answer the last question on the WBI, you will get a message saying whether you have moved on to the next step. I passed the WBI, so my next step was to schedule a phone interview!
My phone interview was scheduled 10 days after my WBI. I know some people only had a few days in between their interviews, but I liked having more time. I felt like I could prepare more and think about my answers thoroughly. I did A LOT of research online, I googled it and read people's blogs and looked at the Facebook group. I compiled a list of questions that people claimed were commonly asked, and then thought about how I would choose to answer these questions. On the day of the interview, I had a bunch of notes written out saying things like "smile!" "be magical" "relax" and "take a deep breath". They really helped to calm be down. My school offers a private room for phone interviews in our career center, so I did my interview in there. I had Disney music playing while I was waiting, and I was pacing around the room waiting for my interviewer to call! Be prepared for your interviewer to call anytime from 15 minutes before to 15 minutes after your scheduled time. About 8 minutes after my scheduled interview time, I got a call from a blocked caller, and I knew it was "go time!"
My interviewer's name was Carolyn. She was really nice, very to the point, and very thorough in her questions. I can't tell you too much about the questions that I got asked, but I'll just let you know that you should be prepared to answer situational questions and of course the obvious question "Why do you want to work for Disney?" I got asked a lot of questions that I hadn't even prepared for, and I just took a moment to think about it before I gave my best Disney answer! At the end of the interview, I made sure to thank Carolyn by name, and she told me to have a magical day! All in all I believe my interview was about 20 minutes long!
I'm not going to lie, after my interview I was very unsure about how it went. I thought that I answered most of the questions really well, but I'm one of those people who always second-guesses things, so I began to second-guess myself. But, at that point, I knew all there was left to do was to wait!
I got my acceptance email 13 days after my phone interview, while I was eating lunch after class. It was easily the most exciting day of my year. It was so nice to know that all of my hard-work, preparation, and research had paid off!
My advice to all of you is to do your research! Take the time to think about what kinds of questions you will get asked, and have a general idea of how you want to answer them. Don't try to memorize anything, it will only trip you up if you make a mistake during the interview. All in all, be yourself, SMILE, and make sure the interviewer knows why you deserve to work in the most magical place on earth!
After you complete the initial application, you may get an email telling you that you have moved on to the next step of the application: the web-based interview. This is a completely online interview, where you select an answer to a variety of questions from Disney. My advice for this step is to be yourself, and don't over-think the questions. Some of the questions are timed, but I promise you that you will have enough time to finish the question before time runs out. Just take a deep breath, read the question (out loud helps!) and select the answer that you think is the most "Disney-appropriate question." I've been to Disney World over 50 times, so I have a general idea of how the cast members act and what Disney expects of its cast members, so I didn't have too hard of a time putting myself in a cast member's shoes and selecting the answer that I thought fit best. I know that this step can be really nerve-wracking, but just try to stay calm! As soon as you answer the last question on the WBI, you will get a message saying whether you have moved on to the next step. I passed the WBI, so my next step was to schedule a phone interview!
My phone interview was scheduled 10 days after my WBI. I know some people only had a few days in between their interviews, but I liked having more time. I felt like I could prepare more and think about my answers thoroughly. I did A LOT of research online, I googled it and read people's blogs and looked at the Facebook group. I compiled a list of questions that people claimed were commonly asked, and then thought about how I would choose to answer these questions. On the day of the interview, I had a bunch of notes written out saying things like "smile!" "be magical" "relax" and "take a deep breath". They really helped to calm be down. My school offers a private room for phone interviews in our career center, so I did my interview in there. I had Disney music playing while I was waiting, and I was pacing around the room waiting for my interviewer to call! Be prepared for your interviewer to call anytime from 15 minutes before to 15 minutes after your scheduled time. About 8 minutes after my scheduled interview time, I got a call from a blocked caller, and I knew it was "go time!"
My interviewer's name was Carolyn. She was really nice, very to the point, and very thorough in her questions. I can't tell you too much about the questions that I got asked, but I'll just let you know that you should be prepared to answer situational questions and of course the obvious question "Why do you want to work for Disney?" I got asked a lot of questions that I hadn't even prepared for, and I just took a moment to think about it before I gave my best Disney answer! At the end of the interview, I made sure to thank Carolyn by name, and she told me to have a magical day! All in all I believe my interview was about 20 minutes long!
I'm not going to lie, after my interview I was very unsure about how it went. I thought that I answered most of the questions really well, but I'm one of those people who always second-guesses things, so I began to second-guess myself. But, at that point, I knew all there was left to do was to wait!
I got my acceptance email 13 days after my phone interview, while I was eating lunch after class. It was easily the most exciting day of my year. It was so nice to know that all of my hard-work, preparation, and research had paid off!
My advice to all of you is to do your research! Take the time to think about what kinds of questions you will get asked, and have a general idea of how you want to answer them. Don't try to memorize anything, it will only trip you up if you make a mistake during the interview. All in all, be yourself, SMILE, and make sure the interviewer knows why you deserve to work in the most magical place on earth!
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