The Interview

The closest presentation and interview was about an hour away at Rowan University in November of 1999. I got lost on my way there, but luckily I got there just in time. Being late was the last thing I wanted to stop me from the opportunity to spend a semester in Walt Disney World.

The Campus Representatives from Rowan greeted me at the door and handed me the infamous Mickey stickers. About 75 people were in attendance, but many were parents of interested students and alumni of the program who came to help out.

The WDWCP Recruiter was Eric, a Castmember who had got his start in the Walt Disney Company by participating in the College Program. He started with Disney in the hospitality program, but took the opportunity to move to Recruiting because of his experience as a participant. He told us more about himself, showed a short video about the program, then gave us all of the details. He told us if we were accepted our program would start on January 25.

Eric then turned it over to the Campus Representatives and alumni, so that they could answer our questions. This was great, considering Eric is a Castmember who was there to promote the program. The Alumni could give us very honest opinions based on their personal experiences. They were very upfront with us, and even recommended or discouraged choosing certain roles (jobs).

After the presentation was complete, I knew more than ever that I wanted to be part of this. They allow students from visiting schools to interview that night, so it was time to work on the application. This includes ranking your top five job choices. I chose Attractions first, Lifeguard second, and Recreation third. I also attached a resume and cover letter explaining why I wanted to participate. I hoped this would keep me fresh in their minds even after they interviewed many others.

About a half hour later, I was ready to be interviewed. They interview you in groups, but since there wasn't many of us interviewing that night, we were split into twos. Another Castmember came with Eric who was training to become a recruiter. I ended up being interviewed by him, as was another guy Jason from Brick, NJ. Jason and I had a minute to introduce ourselves, then it was time to start.

The recruiter looked over our applications, and asked questions about past jobs and activities we had written down. Since I am a volunteer firefighter he asked me why I did it and how I liked it. Jason had been a character at Six Flags before so he asked him questions about that. The questions were all pretty easy for us to answer. I was just sure to interact with Jason because I was told that is what they look for. The final question we both had to answer was, "Why should I choose you to be part of this program and work in WDW?"

The interview ended and the recruiter assured us he was impressed with both of us. Jason and I found ourselves talking about possibly following each other down to Florida when we realized we weren't even accepted yet. We exchanged phone numbers, and since they told us it would be about two weeks, the wait had now begun. I walked out to my car with an excited nervousness and a smile on my face.