Pre-Screen!

I took a half-day from work on the 27^th February and headed to London. I met up with Kandi and Vicki at Waterloo as we had all booked a hotel room together so we could hang out together the night before our interview and try and calm each others nerves ! We had a quick chat about how excited we were and what we had brought as our items to represent the UK. Kandi had brought a Lion because it is very symbolic of the UK and Vicki had a really pretty crystal hot air balloon because she comes from Bristol which hosts a hot air balloon festival every year. I had brought the coat of arms for my hometown but as I come from a small town there was no items I could get with it on so just had a picture, which I wasn’t too happy about.

I had arranged to meet up with my old manager Sharon from the Disney Store. She had done the program before and gave me a Christmas temp job at the Disney Store to get experience for the CRP and we bonded over it straight away. If I’m honest I don’t think I could ever have got this far without her help and I could never thank her enough. I headed off to meet her at the Tower of London and I brought a wooden shield from the gift shop and thought that I could attach the coat of arms to it somehow. Now luckily for me Sharon is an illustrator and drew the coat of arms on the shield for me whilst we had caught up on each other’s lives over a coffee and she spoke all about her experience on the program, which just got me more excited!

After saying goodbye to Sharon I went to the hotel to meet up with Kandi and Vicki and drop off my stuff before heading back out to meet up with some other applicants who we had met through the Facebook group. We met with David, George and Rebecca at McDonalds where we discussed stories of Disney trips and why we’ve applied to the program etc. it was really lovely and calmed all our nerves :) We then went back to the hotel and had a girly sleepover style night practising talking about our items and running over questions asked in previous applications rounds which we found on blogs etc.

The morning of the Pre-Screen came and we all got ready, making sure we looked ‘Disney’ enough- minimal make up, tidy hairstyles and smart interview clothing. I wore a pencil dress that came down to my knees and my ted baker pumps with a glittery bow for a Disney touch :) We made our way over to the Starbucks at waterloo to meet up with everyone from the Facebook group. There was a 9am group and a 2pm group. Kandi and Rebecca were in the 2pm group so stayed behind at Starbucks whilst the rest of us headed to Brasserie Blanc.

When we arrived we were all quite surprised to find so many others who weren’t on the Facebook group or WDWIP forums- we really thought we were pretty much the only ones haha ! We were shown ushered into a room where the Yummy team introduced themselves to us and showed us a presentation on the program which made me want it so much more (something I didn’t think was possible !) and were given opportunities to answer questions and win small prizes, I put my hand up for every question but only answered one about how many cast members worked at Disney World, it wasn’t a prize worthy question but at least I got it correct :) We were given our interview times and headed back to Starbucks to await our turn.

My pre-screen was with Nick and 5 other applicants and we had to take it in turns to answer questions like:

What’s your realistic and unrealistic dream?

What would you find challenging about living in America?

How would you find living with people from all over the world?

What qualities can you take from your current role into the crp?

Name one cultural experience you would like to take part in whilst on your program?

We also had to introduce the person next to us and say their name, where they are from and an interesting fact about that person before we started the interview properly which was pretty scary- I was so worried I would forget something or mess up but the girl I had was called Jenny and she had done the program before. I actually really liked doing this at the start because it gave us the chance to learn something about each other and relax a bit :)

Towards the end of the interview Nick asked us to take turns to describe our items so we all individually stood up and spoke about our items which luckily I had prepared myself for ! I spoke about how each part of the coat of arms represented different places and the history of my home town, whilst trying to look and include everyone in the group not just Nick !

I left not feeling overly confident with my performance and met up with the others in Pizza Express next door where everyone was talking about their interviews, which worried me because everyone else seemed so confident. I stayed until I Kandi and the rest of the 2pmers headed into their interview slot to say good luck and then headed home because I already felt sick about finding out the results.

The next day dragged so much and I was at work until 6pm so was checking my phone constantly until I saw an email pop up from James from Yummy Jobs- I was so nervous I ran round the corner to open it on my own to read:

Dear Roisin,

Greetings from the Yummy Jobs Team!

We would like to thank you for your participation in our recent pre-screen sessions for the Disney International Programs – Disney Cultural Representative Program.

We very much enjoyed our interactions with you and would are delighted to invite you to the final recruitment stage.

·         Your interview will be held on Friday 15^th March 2013 at Brasserie Blanc Restaurant

·         We kindly ask you to arrive at the venue for 08:45am

·         The Disney International Program Presentation will commence at 09:00am

After the presentation your interview will be scheduled and we kindly ask that you are available until 18:00 for interview.

In order to confirm your place at the final interview stage, please reply directly to this email by no later than Wednesday the 6^th March 2013.

In preparation for your interview please complete the following steps:

·         Apply online for the Disney International programs 

Please complete the full application and print the entire document.  Please bring the entire document with you to your interview

·         Please photocopy your passport page and bring two copies with you to your interview

·         Please bring a copy of your most up to date CV

·         Please bring a valid photo id and proof of address

The Yummy Jobs Team would like to congratulate you on reaching this stage of the interview process and very much look forward to seeing you at the final interview stage.

Kind regards,
The Yummy Jobs Team

I was so happy and called my mum and sisters from work straight away to tell them- they were so excited ! :D It was really bittersweet for me though because of everyone who didn’t get through who I was close to :( especially Kandi, Vicki, George and David but they were happy for me and are going to reapply again.

The Application

This was my third time applying for the program (the previous applications not getting passed the CV stage). This is something to be wary of if you are planning on applying- some people are lucky to get through on their first time but most of my friends who have successfully got on the program have applied more than once, one even applied 6 times ! What I’m trying to say is don’t be too downhearted if you don’t get through the first time as it’s a very sought after program :)

I sent off my application in January making sure I had mentioned in my covering letter and motivation the reasons I wanted to take part. As much as you love Disney avoid going on about it too much and focus of the Cultural side of it and why you would love to represent your country- be proud of where you came from.

You can imagine how excited I was to get the following email on the 15^th February 2013.

Dear Roisin,

Greetings from the Yummy Jobs Team!

We would like to thank you for your interest in the Disney International Programs and more specifically the Cultural Representative Program.

After careful review of your application the Yummy Jobs Team is delighted to inform you that you have been successful through to the pre-selection event recruitment stage.
Your pre-selection event will be held on Thursday the 28^th February 2013 at Brasserie Blanc Restaurant, 9 Belvedere Road, Southbank, London, SE1 8YP.

The Yummy Jobs Program presentation will begin at 09:15am and we request that you arrive for registration at 09:00.  Transport to the venue is at your own expense.

Once the presentation is complete you will be scheduled a group interview session which will last for approximately 45 minutes.

We would also ask that your availability for the program covers periods throughout 2013 and up until July 2014. 

Please reply directly to this email to confirm your attendance.  Please not places are limited and we must receive your confirmation by no later than Monday 18^th February 2013.

In preparation for your interview please be prepared to bring the following items with you:

·         A copy of your most up to date CV with a passport style picture attached

·         A photocopy of any previous U.S. visas that you have been issued, this includes your visa page and your actual visa petition document

·         A photocopy of your passport page

·         One item that you feel authentically represents the United Kingdom or your home town

Congratulations on reaching this stage of the recruitment process and we look forward to meeting you.

Naturally I replied straight away to confirm my attendance and started to work on what to take with me to my interview as this was the first year applicants had been asked to take something with them to represent their home town/the UK. What made everything more exciting was that a few of my very good friends that I met through the first application round also got through so we spent the next few weeks excitingly planning to meet up and preparing for pre-screen together.