I started the application process in August 2012, when I submitted my application to Yummy Jobs, they are the company that deals with applications for Disney in the UK, I just had to send in my CV, I attached a paragraph to my normal CV about my love for Disney to try and make it more appropriate. It must have worked because on the closing date for applications in September I received an email from Yummy Jobs saying that I had been successful and had gotten through to the first stage of interviews.
Group Interview
My group interview was held in Edinburgh, I go to university in Glasgow so had a reasonable distance to travel but not too far. The interview began at 9am, and we had to arrive at 8:45am. On the interview day I awoke at 6:15am after about 2 hours sleep (SO TIRED) the dress code was smart casual I wore a pink lace design peter pan collared top from Topshop, a black peplum skirt also from Topshop, some thick black tights and some dolly shoes, I kept my make up reasonably natural cooling down my normal eye make up a bit. I got the 7:11 train to Edinburgh Park and got to Edinburgh Napier University (where the interview was being held) at 8:44am after getting very lost. We had to sign in and got given a student status form which we would need to get filled in if we got through to the next stage. The presentation began at 9am and was about all the different roles and accommodation available on the programme, there was also a small quiz at the beginning where they gave out some chocolate, it's just an ice breaker to help break a bit of the tension though :) People who were late, were really obvious and it really didn't look very good so I was glad I arrived on time. After the presentation we were told which interview slot we were in, I was in the 11:20 interview with the girls, before my interview I made my way down to the cafe downstairs where I sat with some other girls who were also waiting, they were all really lovely and chatting to them definitely calmed my nerves, at 11:00 another girl and myself made our way towards the interview rooms. The interview itself was quite relaxed, it was a group interview so you did have to fight to be heard, but it shows that you can bounce off others and get on with people too. They asked general questions like, "Why do you want to do this?", "What do you think of the cultural aspect?" and "What could you bring from the UK?", there were some questions they went round the group to get everyone's answer like "Which Disney character do you think you're most like and why?" I chose Alice from Alice in Wonderland, because she is determined and adventurous. I had no idea how the interview went afterwards, but as our interview was on the Thursday we only had to wait 1 day to find out.
On Friday at 6:20pm after a day of stressing out I got my email and I had gotten through to the final interviews :D :D
Final Interview
My final interview was held in Manchester, I am originally from there so on the Sunday I went home to see my family and get prepared for my interview on the Wednesday. The interview day started at 9am, with the presentation beginning at 9:30am. On the day I got up at 6:30am, the dress code was smart business wear, I wore the same skirt and tights as in my group interview but wore it with a long sleeved geometric print blouse and a black fitted blazer. I got the train to Oxford road where I met 3 girls who were going to the interview too, they were all really friendly and we got a taxi together to the campus, we got there at 8:30am, so really early, but it's good to be early :'] we went and queued up outside the presentation room, at 9 we started to enter the room, as we went in we gave in some of the forms they'd asked us to bring, the application form, student status and uni form and our passport copy. The presentation was given by 3 people from the Disney company, Janet, Jim and Sue, and it lasted about an hour, there was more detailed information and new videos we hadn't seen about accommodation and life in general on the Disney programme. Again at the end of the presentation we were given our interview times, my interview was at 12 so we went to the cafeteria thing at the uni and sat there and chatted and I had some breakfast/lunch, at 11:30 me and another girl made our way to the first room, at about 11:50 we got called into this room three at a time to check all the documents we had given in were correct, about 2 minutes after I got out of this room Becky from yummy jobs called the same 3 of us again and took us up to wait outside our interview room, we were told we were going to interview with Jim, which I was really happy about as he seemed really lovely and he is one of the main guys at Epcot in charge of like 600 cast members. We were being interviewed individually and one of the other girls was before me, the 10 minute wait before my interview seemed like the longest 10 minutes ever, I swear I was on the brink of a panic attack, luckily the minute I entered the interview room I calmed down and just started having a lovely chat with Jim and laughing a lot, the interview was more of a chat than an interview, he asked me about the roles I had chosen to do and why I wanted to do them, he said he was "impressed with my enthusiasm for attractions" which I thought was a good sign, he then asked me have I ever had to deal with an angry customer, I said truthfully that I hadn't but I had dealt with complaints before so I just told him how I would deal with that. We then had a chat about travel as I have never been to America, so I told him I have been to other places and told him about my world challenge trip to Morocco. And that was pretty much the end of my interview :)
I will find out by the 9th November if I have gotten through to the programme of not so fingers crossed, I really hope I get through, if not I will be applying again next year for sure :']
