Phone Interview Part 1- The Last Step towards doing a DCP

     This is the most talked about part of the application process. So you've passed the WBI, within a couple of minutes to an hour you should receive the following email prompting you to schedule your phone interview.

     Just like with the WBI you have three days to schedule your phone interview. At the bottom of the email there is a second piece that tells you how to schedule the interview. You will schedule your interview by going to your dashboard and under the following section will be a link to schedule your interview.

 

     The link will have a calendar and a list of available times for each date. You will be very excited and want to do the interview as soon as possible. I myself was willing to do an interview two hours later that day, but I am glad I didn't. Plus, you cannot register for an interview for the same day you're registering just at a later time that day. So even if there is a wide open time later that day, it won't let you register for it and even if you call the help number they will just tell you that you can't register for a same day interview. Most likely the times available are going to be a few days away, if you feel that it is a comfortable enough time for you go for that time. However, time slots do fill up very fast so if you wait around to register the next available date will wind up being two weeks away.

My personal tips for scheduling your interview are: 

•pick a time of day that you will have nothing else going on and can easily have 20 minutes before the interview and 45 or more minutes for the interview

-most interviews only last around 15-30 minutes but there have been some that lasted close to an hour, so you want to schedule the interview at a time where you have plenty of wiggle room

•if you look around the top of a hour they will sometimes release time slots for earlier dates and times that somebody let go of because they had to reschedule

-this is how I was able to snag a week away interview when the only available date was two weeks away, they say they don't release those dates at a certain time but I was refreshing the page for 3 hours and at the top of the hours is when they popped up

*if you are wondering why it took me three hours to do this, it was because there were a lot of other people doing the same thing I was. You have to be quick. It's almost like buying front row tickets to a concert.

•Make sure you pick a date that allows you to prepare for your interview

-A next day interview might seem amazing but you don't want to go into an interview unprepared and it not go as well as it could if you prepared more.

•Make sure you have the correct time zone entered

-This can lead to scheduling a time that is different from the time you thought you were getting.

When you have scheduled your interview you will get the following email:

     Now on to what everyone is most interested in, Ways to Prepare for Your DCP Phone Interview. On this blog I will go over how I prepared for my phone interview, and I will make another on my phone interview itself and what to remember during it then I will post the link here: http://savingmouseketeers.blogspot.com/2014/03/phone-interview-part-2-last-step.html

Here are my tips on preparing for the Disney College Program Phone Interview:

•Look up list of questions that have been seen on the DCP Phone Interview

-You can find these just about anywhere on the internet, below are two of my favorite list.

http://earsonemily.blogspot.com/p/phone-interview-questions.html And http://onegirlsdisneydream.tumblr.com/possiblequestions 

If you notice at the end of the first link the blogger leads you to the second link.

• Make Flashcards

-If you are a flash card person like me, make them and then do practice interviews by yourself or with someone else as the interviewer.

•watch a ton of vlogs

-Just go on YouTube and type in Disney College Program Phone Interview and there are pages upon pages of videos of vloggers talking about their own interview experiences, tips, and how they prepared.

•do practice interviews aloud by yourself or with someone else

-You can do a practice interview in front of a mirror, walking to class, with someone else playing the interviewer, or my favorite choice of in the car going somewhere. By practicing your answers aloud it will help you practice a professional voice and speech (as in how you speak not a presentation) so that you are not saying ums and uhhs as well as slang words you would use with your friends and family. 

•type or write out a cheat sheet to use during the interview

-Write out the questions that you are most worried about or want to make sure you cover all that you want to when it’s asked. This will then be kept in front of you during the interview.

Here is what mine looked like:

I wrote down my top three roles and why I wanted them/would be good at them This is the question I was most worried about because there are so many right answers to it, so I made bullets of all the things I wanted to get a crossed on that question this was another question I wanted to have solid examples on if it was asked they almost always ask about an emergency situation that you have dealt with and your past work experience so I wanted solid examples for these as well These are the most popular situational questions that are asked in regards to my top role choice so I wanted to be prepared for all of them in case one was thrown my way   •come up with and make a cheat sheet of questions to ask your interviewer when you are done - having questions prepared shows that you have done a lot of research on the DCP and trust in the interviewer to be a great source of information (which they totally are) just make sure to not ask too many questions, I limited myself to about five. These were a few of my questions

Remember these tips are just my personal opinion based on my experience with preparing for the Disney College Program Phone Interview. I suggest looking at other vlogs and blogs to come up with an approach for preparing for the DCP Phone Interview that is right for you.


If you have any questions about preparing for the DCP phone interview just comment below and I will try to answer them as best I can.

Web-Based Interview- Step Two to doing a DCP

     If you have made it through the application review round you will receive the following email within about 3 to 4 hours of the Thank You for Applying email.

     If you read the email above you saw where it said that you only have three days to complete this step. Also you might have read where immediately after the WBI you will know whether or not you get to continue on in the interview process. Basically either you get the phone interview or you don't.

     This part of getting into a DCP is the most nerve racking and hardest parts to me. The WBI is very simple. What you do is answer questions about what you would do in certain situations and what you like/dislike. Sounds simple enough, you don't talk to anyone and it looks like a basic survey, but what makes it the worst part is the fact that is computer graded. So a computer is deciding if you selected answers that meet what Disney is looking for. This is also why you get the results immediately after you finish the WBI.

      The WBI is three parts. All three contain the same types of questions. There are some that you have to choose strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, and strongly agree. Here they ask thing like "I like to work outside" "I am always on time" "I like working with others". There are other variations in this format as well. One is something along the lines of not looking forward to at all, not looking forward to it, a neutral option, looking forward to, and most looking forward to. With that they ask things like "working for Disney" "living on your own" " being away from your family and friends". They also ask situational multiple choice questions. One that I can remember was "a child is working at a craft station with a hammer and he hurts his thumb. How would you respond?" Then it had A, B, C, D with different ways you could help like "cheer the kid up by making him laugh" "comfort him and make him feel better" "find his parents" "get him a band aid or first aid". As you can see for the most part these are all correct answers, as are most of the choices for these types of questions on the WBI. You just have to go with your gut choice. Now, for each section of the interview there is a time limit per question. The first section is untimed, the second you get about 30-45 seconds per question to answer, and the third you get about 20-30 seconds per question to answer. This is to help make sure you are answering the questions truthfully and not how you think you they might want you to. All of the questions that you answer in each part are the same just worded or arranged differently so that you don't even notice it is the same question, unless you pay attention.

So here are my personal tips for the WBI:


•As long as you are answering based on what you think you won't have any problems

-you won't trip up by answering the differently worded questions three different ways

•do the WBI in a quiet place

-you will have more concentration and no distractions

•if possible do the interview on a hard wired desktop computer or plug an internet cable into your laptop

-wifi is more likely loose connection to the internet and you want as little risk losing internet access during your WBI as possible

•don't be afraid to put a few neutrals

-it would be weirder if you didn't have any neutrals than if you had a few, I put about one or two on mine and did just fine, but that being said

•don't put too many neutrals

-I would only put about 1-3 of them otherwise you might seem indecisive if you have a lot of neutrals

•don't stress too much about it being timed

-it might not seem like a ton of time to answer a question, but it's plenty, I never ran out of time on a question

•take a moment between each section to refocus

-this will help you re-gather all of your thoughts, and make the each section a bit easier because you didn't rush through the WBI

Remember these are just my opinions based on my experience with the WBI. I suggest that you look at tips from other blogs and vlogs to come up with an approach to the WBI that is right for you.

One vlogger I found really helpful on the WBI was Hannah Blatt. Below is the link to her video on the WBI.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZi5rnb2MQA


If you have any questions about this just comment below and I will answer them best I can!

The Aplication- Step One to doing a DCP

The application for the Disney College Program is surprisingly easy. Unlike most college applications, there are no "about me", "a challenge I have overcome", or "why you should accept me" essays. Almost all of the application is basic information about you: birthday, the college you attend, the year you will graduate, and things of that nature. Now a résumé is not required or encouraged when applying for the DCP. There is a spot on the application though that asks you to list past work and volunteer experience. They will also ask you other things like if you have even committed a felony or been arrested. They also ask your preferences of Walt Disney World or Disneyland and Fall/Spring Advantage or Fall/Spring.

The most nerve racking part of the application is the section that you choice which roles you would like to do. This section is one of the last ones that you come across. Here there will be a lot of pictures with a role title and drop bar below it. In the drop bar there are four options: highly interested, moderate interest, low interest, and no interest. Now everyone has a different strategy to this part of the application. Some choose to put at least low interest on every role, because they want to have more of a chance to get accepted. Others choose to only put interest on their top three roles, because those are the only ones they would want to do. I chose the middle route, like most do. I only put interest in the jobs I would really want to do or would be fine with doing if I got it. For example, I did not want to work in custodial because I don't want deal with cleaning bathrooms so I put no interest. I really did not want to do merchandising but if I was accepted into the program in the merchandise role I would not mind doing it so I put low interest. In the end I wound up with about six or seven roles with interest. My advice for this part would be

•Don't be afraid to put no interest on a role

-you won't want to get to the DCP and hate your role, there are plenty of people, myself included, that had more no interest roles than interest and got in to the program just fine

•Make sure you have about 4 to 6 roles with some type of interest

-you don't want to have too few roles with any interest, most phone interviewers ask for you to list your top three roles during the interview so start with three and add interest to some others that if you didn't get your top choices you still wouldn't mind doing on the DCP

•Put high interest in your top 1 to 3 roles

-this will help them see exactly what you are interested in and it will help them tailor your phone interview (if you make it to that round) better and it that will make placing you in a role easier for them because they have

•Read up on all of the roles before you decide you have no interest in it

- a roll that you think will be really just right for you might not be what you want, and a roll that you think will be horrible to do and it actually isn’t bad at all

•Don't be afraid to try for a role you have never had experience in

-most cast members never had experience in their roles beforehand

•Don't put high interest on every single role

-both you, I, and Disney know you are not that interested in every type of role they offer, which leads to my last tip on this part of the application

•Be true to yourself when deciding your interest levels on the roles

-Don't put that you have interest in something that you wouldn't want to do or more interest on something that you are truly only lowly interested in just because that is what you think Disney or someone else will like to see 

Remember these are just my opinions, you should look at some other suggestions from CPs as well and find out how you personally want to approach the application.

 If you are curious to what all the roles are or looking for more information on them look at the following links

The Disney College Program web-site role descriptions

http://cp.disneycareers.com/en/program-components/earning/role-descriptions/

The Disney College Program's YouTube page a ton of helpful videos about the program and the roles

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXCPVNYzIxx9vxGPVtN00SQ

Remember, like any job or college application you should take your time and make sure everything on it looks and sounds like you want it to before you submit it. When you have completed and turned in your application you will receive an email like the following thanking you for applying.

Why I chose to apply for the Fall 2014 Disney College Program

     First some things about me. My name is Jordon and I am 19 years old. I am a sophomore at the University of Tennessee at Martin, and will be a junior at the time of my Disney College Program(DCP for short). I am a Sociology major and Psychology minor. I love helping people so these fields are perfect for me. I come from a pretty large family. I have eight siblings, so in total their are eleven of us in my family!

I found out about the DCP last year randomly through YouTube. While watching some Disney videos, mainly songs, I was suggested to watch a Kelsie Doing Disney video. Look her up she is awesome and her videos are super helpful! That day I watched every one of her videos. I knew immediately that I would definitely do the DCP at some point before I graduate, the question was when. Then right before the fall/fall advantage applications everything kind of fell into place and the timing is great!!

Lifeguarding was my second choice of role for the DCP. My first was character attendant, because I love working with kids. I would have loved to help keep the imagination alive in kids as well as bring it back for adults as they interact with their favorite characters. However, I have more experience with lifeguarding. I have been on the same competitive swim team since I was four years old, and was also an assistant coach for the team. I have also been lifeguard and CPR certified before. I was not able to get a full time summer job as a lifeguard due to the swim team schedule, but I did volunteer as a lifeguard for the Union Mission Camp for underprivileged kids in my town a few times.

So here I am, waiting the 143 days till my DCP arrival date! I plan on adding some more post in the next week about the application process, my phone interview, and how I prepared for it all. Oh and did I mention one of my brothers (the one in the orange above) is doing the program too and we even have the same role. The only difference is he was accepted into Fall Advantage and I got my first choice of just Fall. But more on everything later, for now I’ll leave this post as it is.