Part 1 discusses the online application process for the Disney College Program.
So you've decided you want to participate in the DCP. The first step to your journey of becoming a DCP participant is filling out the online application. This application goes live twice a year, once in the fall for Spring Advantage/Spring applications and once in the winter for Fall Advantage/ Fall applications.
Finding The Online Application
The online application can be found by going to disneycareers.com or by Googling Disney College Program and clicking on the first link.
Once you find the application and click apply you will be prompted to create a Disney Careers account. You can either set up an account normally or opt to link the account to your LinkedIn profile. I chose to do the latter so I wouldn't have yet another password I had to remember, however, I do have trouble logging into my account on my phone via LinkedIn. This means I can only access my Disney Careers account from my laptop, so this is also something to consider when creating your account.
The Application
The application itself is pretty straightforward. It asks you to fill in basic information about yourself, past work experience, and preference what roles and park (WDW or Disneyland) you prefer to work in. In total it took me about 15 minutes to complete. The application process goes a lot smoother if you have your resume sitting if front of you, so you can transfer over the relevant information.
How to Preference Roles
How you preference roles ultimately comes down to a personal decision.
When filling out the application you are asked to preference roles by stating no interest, low interest, moderate interest, or high interest. The only time you preference out a role is if you put no interest. Even if you list something as low interest you still may wind up in that position, so really consider what you want to preference. I personally put down as many roles as I felt qualified working because I wanted to increase my chance of getting into the program. The more roles you put down, the higher a chance the recruiters have of placing you.
My Application Process
I've actually known about the Disney College Program since I was little because both my mom and dad knew people who did it when they were in college, so it's always been one of those things that have been at the back of my mind. However, I also wasn't willing to miss a semester of school to do the program because I wanted to get through college as quickly as possible, so I never applied.
I looked into the program again as I was nearing my graduation and was devastated when I saw that you could only apply 6 months after your graduation. I had already accepted an offer at a graduate school in London, so I wouldn't fit into that time frame, and I'm not going to lie I was really bummed about it. Well, as fate would have it this past February I was trolling the Disney Careers page looking at potential professional internships with the company when the Disney College Program application popped up. I clicked on it, and saw that you had to have graduated within the past 12 months to apply. I literally did a double take and immediately went to the Disney Blog to find out more. They had just changed the requirement in December! I thought it was meant to be and opened up the application to apply.
The application was pretty straight forward and took me about 15 minutes to complete. All the application details are hashed out above, so I'm not going to go into it too much here. I was relatively open to pretty much anything when I was picking my preferences. I listed about 5 high interest, 4 moderate interest, and 3 low interest positions. After I finished answering all the questions on the application I hit submit!
I immediately got an email thanking me for applying and then spent the rest of the day panicking about my application. After completing the application I began thinking how quickly I had filled it out and how on a whim I had done it and convinced myself I had ruined my chances of being in the program. I didn't think through how to include my past job experience, both of which were interning with state representatives/senators, in a way that would indicate I had the skills Disney was looking for. I completely left off all of my volunteering experiences and I didn't include any key Disney words like all of the other blogs I was reading said to do.
I thought I had shot myself in the foot. I thought I had ruined my one chance at applying. Luckily that wasn't the case! Check out my next post on the Web-Based Interview to hear more about my story.
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