Disney College Program: Part 2 (Application & Web-Interview)

Part 2: Application and Web-Based Interview. 

Application

Typically, applications for the Fall semester are released sometime in late January/Early February and for Spring semester, Late August/Early September. This year, Fall semester applications were released at 9AM CST on Friday, February 8^th.  Prospective Students can sign up for email updates on the applications, such as when they are posted. Here is the link to the main page where the DCP applications will pop up on: http://cp.disneycareers.com/en/search-jobs/jobsearch-results/?co=Disney+College+Program&c=US|CA

Students will click the apply button and fill out the application, much like a regular job. First you will have to create a login which will end up being your dashboard. This is where Disney will communicate with you on your progress (they also send emails). For the application they ask for your general personal information, which park you are applying for, job/volunteer experience (up to 4), and what roles you are interested in. The application is very easy and takes about 20 minutes. At some point in the application, a page will come up where students can mark either no, low, moderate, or high interest in the specific roles. For my application, I marked low for Main Gate Operations, full service food and beverage, moderate for merchandise, and high for photopass and attractions.

In reality I need to get photopass in order to earn internship credits from my school but I don’t suggest only putting interest in for one role. Just be aware that if you put moderate and high interest for many roles there is a possibility that you could get placed in any of these roles, especially if you have specific experience in a role (like quick service).

Disney's Animal Kingdom

 Web-Based Interview

Within a few hours applicants will receive a thank-you for applying email and an email inviting them to take the web-based interview. This email will include a link to begin the interview. I submitted my application at 1PM and by 4PM had received both my emails. I got home at 6PM and sat down to do my web-based interview. This typically lasts about 20 minutes, depending on how fast you move through it. It’s important to find a quiet place where you can concentrate. The web interview is not too bad it’s very similar to personality quizzes. You answer questions on how much you relate to specific statements based on a numbers scale and then you move onto questions that make you answer with strongly agree/disagree, agree/disagree, and neutral. 

It has been said to be honest with these questions, but the reality is that many have said to only choose the neutral option when absolutely necessary. This is because Disney wants workers who are sure of themselves and know right from wrong. With mine I answered most of my questions with strongly agree/disagree, and agree/disagree, and perhaps one neutral. The questions are typical ones including “I am never late for work”, “I am a positive person”, “I like to work in groups” and so on. It is a timed interview but you are given 50 seconds for each question which is plenty of time. Make sure to read the questions carefully, Disney does have a habit of rephrasing an earlier question and looking for the same response. Let’s say they ask you on the number scale to rate yourself on “I am never late” with 5 being agree and 1 being disagree. They may ask you on the agree/disagree scale “I am always late”, therefore you’d want to be 5 on the first question and strongly disagree on the second. 

 Disney's Grand Floridian Resort

This is where many people get tripped up. You can be denied after the web-based interview. So deep breath, stay focused, and you’ll do fine! I will be honest and say that I was most nervous about this, but it really was not a big deal at all. Don’t let it go to your head! I asked a few of my DCP hopeful friends to share their advice on the process so far!

Marissa says: “Breathe, take a deep breath on every page you get to in the application and focus on getting all your information correct and double check! For the WBI, just don't panic. It seems a lot worse than it is. Be concise and read the questions carefully.”

Jen (who was already accepted for attractions, way to go Jen!): “Read slowly and read the questions out loud. It will help you make sure that you read the question correctly.”

You can pause the interview by clicking the next button without having an answer selected. I accidently did this and when I un-paused it had skipped over the question. Don’t panic, just keep going!

Ultimately, when you’ve finished all of the questions on the interview, you will automatically be taken to a screen that tells you whether you passed or failed. If you passed, then congratulations, you are onto the phone interview! You should receive an email within a few hours with a link to schedule your phone interview. 

This is part 2 of a group of posts that I will be making throughout my journey as a DCP applicant. My next post will be entirely about the phone interview. I applied as a Photopass Photographer and my application is still in progress!