Blog Update

I've been working on my blog a lot lately and there's more to come so I thought I'd give y'all an update:

1. I've finally set aside some time to update my DICP Guide.  See that button up the top there?  Go click on that and it will take you to my guide.  It's a work in progress and I plan to update it as I go through the interview.  I've recently added a tour of the Disney Careers Dashboard (including what those blue status bar boxes all mean!) and a guide to the Disney Look, complete with awesome (if I do say so myself) collages of Disney Look appropriate clothing that I made myself.  There will be more updates to the guide coming soon, so please keep checking back.
2. I'm doing some tweaking on my resources page (Once again, just up there in that row of buttons under my lovely banner).  I've recently updated the blogs section and as soon as I post this I will be adding links to some of my favourite vlogs too, so you should definitely check that out.
3. I've added a new way for y'all to contact me to ask questions, say hi or just to tell me whether or not I should be using the word 'Y'all'.  If you look to the column there on the left (with my smiling picture) and you scroll down a bit, you will see a section titled 'Contact Bec' and then there's a little form to send me a message!  I'll try to get around to questions as quickly as I can.  Of course you can also comment on any of my blog posts, in fact comments are encouraged!  I love to hear from people and I love making new friends so don't be shy to drop me a line.
4. For those of you following the story of my application dramas, I promise that the third (and final) installment is on its way.  If you haven't read about my dramas yet, follow these links to Part 1 and Part 2.
5. My interview with Disney is on September 9th and I promise to do a full report afterwards, so make sure to check back for that.
6. I recently hit 600 page views for this blog, which may not seem like much for some people but it's a very big deal to me.  Thank you so, so, so much to everyone who is reading along, please keep reading and make sure to tell your friends about my blog too.  

Ok, that's enough updating for now.  I better keep my promise and go add those vlog links to the resources page.  Keep reading and have a magical day!

The Emotional Equivalent of Space Mountain: Part 2

I promised I would update my application saga today so here I am, keeping my promise.  When we left off, I was about to call Disney International Recruiting in America.  After working out how to put in the international phone codes I managed to get through to Disney recruiting.  Unfortunately, my delight at speaking to a real person was short lived when I realised that I wasn’t going to get much help.   Unfortunately the recruiter in charge of the Australia and New Zealand program was out of the office (I knew this already as she was in New Zealand conducting interviews) and apparently she was the only one who could tell me anything about my application.  I was told “Your application still needs to be reviewed”, but pretty much couldn’t be told anything else except to call back in about a week when the recruiters would be back in the office.

So, frustrated and confused and a little worried, I waited that very long week until the day I’d been told to ring back.  Because of time differences between Australia and America, I had to wait up until about 11pm for the Disney offices to open so I could call them.  I spoke to a different person this time, but this call was even less helpful than the first.  Despite being advised to call back at this time, the recruiter was once again not in the office so I couldn’t speak to her.  This time I was given some generic information about application reviews involving a lot of variables like experience etc.  When I tried to question further about my application and personal information, it became evident that I couldn’t be told anything specific.  Even more frustrated, I wrote yet another email to recruiting but decided to call back the following day.  Once again the recruiters weren’t available but this time I was told that the delay could have been caused by me being ineligible for a visa.  Still confused, I woke the next morning to an awful discovery – according to my Dashboard, I had been made No Longer In Consideration.

I was devastated.  I didn’t understand what I had done wrong or why they wouldn’t even give me an opportunity to interview.  The explanations I had received didn’t make sense and suggestions that I wasn’t eligible were equally baffling.  I was disappointed, upset and completely bewildered.  Not expecting to really hear much, I nonetheless wrote one last email to recruiting, asking politely for some feedback or at the very least an explanation for the decision to make me NLIC.  To be honest though, I didn’t really expect to hear anything.

And I didn’t hear anything…until 5 days later, when an email popped up in my inbox from none other than the very recruiter I hadn’t been able to contact.  And what she had to say gave me a very small glimmer of hope.

To Be Continued…

Interview Prep Update

So this is just going to be a quick update on my interview prep - I promise to update my application saga tomorrow!

Today has been a crazy busy day and it started with me (finally!) officially booking in my Disney interview in Melbourne on September 9th!  Cue that excited dancing I was talking about in my last post.  Next up was my role checklist, which I filled out pretty easily because I'd planned my preferences aaaages ago like the nerd I am.  When I got home tonight I hopped online and booked my flights to and from Melbourne (I will be flying in and out on the same day).  After that I downloaded the Proof of Student Status Form to take into Tafe with me tomorrow and then logged into DOC (Disney's Onboarding Central) to upload the rest of my documents.

I'm going to update my DICP guide soon, hopefully over the coming weekend, and I'll go into detail about all of these things there so keep an eye out for that.

Also, I went shopping yesterday to get the last of the things I needed for my interview outfit.  I did a bit on co-ordinating with pieces I already owned so all I needed to buy was a new skirt, some stockings/tights and I treated myself to a new black handbag so I don't have to take my ratty handbag that's falling apart.

Today marks two weeks until my interview so I'm glad to have all of these things sorted now.  It's been a pretty bumpy journey for me to get to this point, but now I can sit back and enjoy the excitement.

Thanks for Reading!

The Emotional Equivalent of Space Mountain: Part 1

 If you read my last entry, you know that my application process for the program has been rather eventful.  I thought I would go into more detail about what I went through and the roller-coaster of emotions that I had to endure.

I feel I need to preface this story by saying that you cannot ever be over-prepared for the torture of waiting for updates on your application.  I thought I was prepared and boy was I wrong.  So very, very wrong.

So let’s back up to a couple of weeks ago.  After 14 weeks of waiting, Disney finally sent out emails inviting Australian applicants to interviews.  This should have resulted in me dancing around the house, squealing and singing Disney songs at the top of my lungs...right? 

Wrong!

In case you haven't worked it out yet, I did not receive one of those lovely "Please book an interview" emails.  My mind immediately started racing with thoughts and questions that all revolved around one theme: Does this mean it's all over for me, that the Disney Adventure has stopped before it's even begun?

Well, in a word: No. 

In three words: I'm not sure. 

In four? I don't think so.

You see my friends, this process is not always easy as the lucky, never-had-a-problem, gosh-this-was-simple, applicants would have you believe.  Oh no, not at all.  At this point I felt like I was on the world’s longest train journey and just as we were almost at our destination the train stalled at some stupid town where nobody ever goes!

"Attention Passengers, we have made an unscheduled stop at Frustration Station.  We have no idea when we will be back on our way again, so please just sit back, relax and stew in your over-active imagination's capacity to think up as many worse case scenarios as possible."

See, whilst I hadn't yet received an interview invite, neither had I been made NLIC.  In other words, my application was still open but just hasn't moved anywhere yet.  I’d been suspicious for a few weeks that something might be wrong, since I hadn't received an email about uploading anything to DOC.  I tried to get to the bottom of this through research and emailing Disney recruiting and the answer I got every time was "Keep checking your email and dashboard for updates."  (I will tell you now that nobody can send a vague email that doesn't actually answer your questions like Disney recruiting).  I did what I was asked and remained patient, sure that Disney recruiting knew what they were talking about, yet in the back of my mind this niggling little thought wouldn't leave me alone - a thought that told me something was wrong.

Well when I didn't receive an interview invite, it took me all of 2 minutes on to work out that something was indeed very, very wrong.  I emailed Disney but couldn't bear the waiting so eventually I bit the bullet and made a phone call to Disney recruiting.  It was an international call to their offices in Florida, since that was the only number I had been given.  And if I thought the waiting was annoying, I was about to learn that frustration could reach a whole new level!

Stay tuned for the next installment of my application saga!

Disney Drama in 9 Easy Steps

So I haven't updated in forever and for good reason too!  I will update with some more in-depth posts soon but for now I don't have a lot of time so I'm going to keep it brief.  I have been AWOL because my application has been rather...erm, well...let's say 'rocky' (I want to use much stronger language but my rational brain is suggesting I keep it censored for now, lol.

Long story short :

1. I did not receive a DOC request
2. I did not receive an interview invitation
3. I rang Disney and bugged the daylights out of the poor recruiting staff
4. I got made NLIC
5. I was devastated
6. I emailed Disney and asked for an explanation
7. Jill (The wonderful Aus/NZ recruiter) phoned me and we discovered there was a misunderstanding about my student status.
8. I have been made eligible for the program again!
9. I am now awaiting the promised interview invitation.

So there you have it!  Jill said I should receive the email this weekend so expect lots of updates soon!