The other day I had my phone interview for the Disney College Program! I was so nervous but I got through it and now I play the waiting game! So it all started when I woke up...well no. It all started the second I signed up for the interview. I have been anxiously awaiting for this day to come. I guess I'll go through my process of how I prepared, the actual interview, and the long waiting for an answer.
It started off with my preparing for my interview. The second I signed up for my interview I started to freak out. Of course this was the worst thing to do because my interview wasn't until another week. I started off reading different blogs and seeing what potential questions could be. This blog is the one everyone usually links to see what questions can be asked. It's a great basis for preparing for the interview. I would go through some of those, see what roles I really wanted, and went from there! I made some notes to have during my interview just in case I completely freeze and don't know anything. I had index cards all over my desk with bullet points and words like "SMILE!" in really large writing. My biggest advice while preparing for the interview is don't sound completely rehearsed when it's time for the actual interview! You don't want to be reading word for word from your notes. That definitely will not help you! The interviewer will know you are reading from a script. They want to hear who you are and what you think. Not just some script you prepared. Of course practice some questions, get the gist of things, just don't be rehearsed. You want to be prepared, not rehearsed.
After all of that preparing the day had finally come. My interview day. Of course I had an oral presentation in my class at 10:30 so I had to try and focus my energy towards that. Obviously I didn't. I read over it once and then kept going over my DCP notes and read through the Facebook group pages. Once my class was over I pretty much went on lock down. I put a lovely note on my door that pretty much said that I was going to be doing a phone interview soon and asked politely if my roommates could keep it quiet in the kitchen and living room. This way I wouldn't have to stress about noise outside of my room. Then I put myself on lockdown. I locked my door and sat there going over my notes. I tried not to stress myself out too much. This was about an hour to an hour and a half before my interview. I'd look over my notes and then went online to the Facebook groups or something completely not related to the DCP. So the closer it came to the interview the more I tried to breath and step away from my notes. It was around 1:30 at this point (my interview was scheduled for 1:45) so I decided to sit down and wait for the call.
At 1:41 the phone rang with "unknown"as the caller. I took a deep breath and answered the phone. "Hello! This is Alyssa!" Of course with a smile. The interviewer introduced herself, I was so nervous I only half listened to her name but I think it was Patty. She was so sweet. At first she went over what was going on, if this time still worked for me, and what was going to happen next. I honestly do not remember every question she asked me but I'll try my best to write down all the ones I was asked! At first she asked me general questions and then asked me my top two roles. Now that was hard. Just two?! I didn't like that but I did it! I told her front desk and vacation planner So she started asking me specific role questions and then back to more generic questions that didn't need much thought. Here are the questions I remember her asking me. I definitely don't remember the order of which she asked me:
- Why do you want to do the Disney College Program? (Pretty sure everyone asks this)
- Tell me about your work experience and how can they help you with this job.
- How do you feel about repetitive tasks?
- Describe a situation where you had to deal with a difficult customer.
- How do you feel about working indoors/outdoors and in the heat?
- How do you know you will stay calm during an emergency?
- What would you do if a repeat guest wanted their normal room but it was not available?
- How would you communicate with someone who does not speak English?
- Why do you want to be a Vacation Planner?
- How would you deal with roommate conflict?
- How do you prioritize and organize your tasks?
- How would you make a guest feel special?
- Do you have any tattoos or piercings?
- Are you going to bring a car?
I don't remember any other questions but there probably were some. Like I said, I was so focused on answering them fully and clearly that I forget what I was asked. After all of her questions I was able to ask any questions I had. The phone call lasted 22 minutes. I feel alright about it. I thought I answered some questions well and others probably needed a little more work. I'm trying to think positive though! 2-3 weeks I will find out! Good luck to everyone else out there! If you have any questions please ask!
