Disney CEP First Interview/Recruitment Event
21:25
If you're lucky enough to have had your application approved then congratulations! Yummy Jobs get 1000's of applications, not everyone can be approved so you've done amazingly well to get this far! The next step is to attend the first interview stage which is known as a 'Recruitment Event'. From reading other blogs, this stage used to be a telephone interview so you never know, next year's set of applicants could return to telephone interviewing.
My event was on Sunday 19th October 2014 at 9am in a restaurant in Central London. These are regional events, so there was also other events being held in different parts of the country, meaning you'll be invited to the one that it closest to your home location.
As I said in my previous post, I was lucky enough to be taken to London by my parents! We drove up from Plymouth on Saturday morning. We made a few stops for shopping and food along the way before checking into our cheap and cheerful Travelodge hotel in Battersea (just a short drive away from the restaurant) to get a good night's sleep before the next day's early start!
I was sooo nervous Sunday morning!! The e-mail said business-casual was the dress code, this had me stumped from the beginning. After Googling and reading about people's experience of previous Disney Recruitment Events I went for a pair of smart, on trend trousers from Next, a shirt from Primark and some smart cream heels - this seemed to be a good choice as ladies were in similar things and dresses, I saw boys wearing smart jeans/trousers and shirts. Girls keep make-up natural and guys should be clean shaven just like any regular interview.
It didn't help my nerves that we got lost several times before coming across the location by accident! I found several other equally nervous candidates hovering outside the restaurant when I eventually arrived. I got stuck in and introduced myself to everyone to build my confidence and relax - I think it worked a little bit! It was amazing how at home I felt with all these people - after all, we were all in the same boat!
This was a great experience in itself to talk to so many different people from all over the UK, it was really interesting to hear what others were doing at university etc. Two girls had only just returned from this year's program and loved it so much they were applying again! And there was another girl all the way from Scotland who was about to attend her third recruitment event despite never getting any further than this stage before (...oh man..that'll be me in a few years). So that knocked my confidence...
Just before 9am we formed a line and ticked our names off on a register and sat down in a small conference-type room. I'd already seemed to have made some good friends so we continued to chat here while we waited for what was going to happen next. Here we were introduced to the wonderful Yummy Jobs Team! Most had been in our shoes themselves so it was great to hear a bit about their experiences first hand. There was then a small quiz where the team asked a few pretty easy questions about Disney (such as 'can you name the 6 parks in Disney World?'), the correct answer would get a Disney chocolate lolly! I didn't put my hand up quick enough, unfortunately! Next we were shown a short film about the Disney CEP program we were applying for (the same one that's on their website) followed by a very exciting presentation by Louise from YJ. She basically told us everything we'd need to know about the program, from roles, living quarters, opportunities and benefits - it really was hard for everyone not to get extremely excited even though the final prize was so far away!
Ok so now it got scary. Our names were called out in groups and we were assigned an interview "team" and time slot for our interview. My event was based on Disney villains so I got put into 'team Captain Hook'! Luckily my interview time was straight away (perks of having a surname at the top of the alphabet) so I didn't have to hang around and come back later. Helpful for my mum and dad too, who were exploring London while I was in there.
Team Captain Hook was a group of 6 of us, we quickly got chatting; again these were lovely people. A successful ex-CEP applicant (I think he was called Nick?!) interviewed us, he was lovely and bubbly and made us all feel as calm as possible even though I was freaking out. I hate speaking in front of a group of people!!! Anyway, he started by getting us to tell the group a few things about the person sat next to us. This was surprisingly hilarious and good fun. Next he fired out questions for us to answer as we pleased. I wasn't keen on this! Basically he'd ask the question and you kind of had to 'fight' to answer first as you wouldn't want someone to say your answer before you! My team were super outgoing and loud and I found myself often being last to answer, although we kind of made a system ourselves by going round the circle in turn (still meaning I was last). Meanwhile 'Nick' was nodding and smiling and writing notes on our individual "Yummy Passports" that we had to bring with us. My confidence was super low, my voice went shaky and quiet and I felt like my sentences were all a jumble. This was the end of the road.
Some examples of the questions asked:
- What experience have you had dealing with customer service?
- Why do you want to work for Disney?
- If you were in X situation, how would you handle it?
- What Disney character are you most like & why?
For that last question, I chose Ariel. Basically because I've always been eager to escape my home town and explore the big wide world by working abroad and travelling. Similar to Ariel because she wants to escape the constraints of the sea and explore the human world. God know's why..
Tehe.
So, nearing the end of the interview which only lasted about 20 minutes, 'Nick' congratulated us on getting this far as it really is a big achievement. At that point I thought that's all it would ever be for me, I knew I'd done so badly and I was so disappointed in myself. Lucky me, I had the whole 5 hour journey to contemplate the questions asked and think about what I should have said!
I obviously told my parents that it went so poorly and that everyone said so much more than me, were so much more confident and loud than me and seemed to say all the best answers. My dad tried to reassure me by saying:
"You don't have to be the loudest to stand out. Just because they said a lot doesn't mean they said the right things"
And this is a motto I now stand by. It's true! I've always been conscious and worried about being a little bit quieter than my peers, (even though my confidence has massively improved since leaving school), but there's no need to be! You can be too loud. You can say too much and blab about the wrong things. Employers want to know you're not going to be shouting around the workplace and messing about.
I didn't believe it at the time but I am now quietly confident about succeeding in whatever I want to do in the future! Mwahaha!
Check out my other posts on my Disney CEP experience.
[All gifs found on tumblr, credit to the creator]
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