Every Theme Park Tourist shares the same dream. You don’t simply want to visit all your favorite destinations, the ones with the best roller coasters and most ludicrous snacks. You also want to find a way to extend your vacations forever, a permanent summer. And since The Walt Disney Company dominates the theme park industry, working for them is the ultimate goal of countless people reading this.
Alas, with so many folks sharing the same aspiration, competition is brutally tough. Disney doesn’t give any random person a job. You’ll have to distinguish yourself from the rest of the crowd. Fortunately, current and former Disney employees are willing to drop clues and hints. They know from experience all the best ways to earn your dream job at a Disney theme park. Here are four tips on how to get a job at Disney.
1. Prove you’re great at customer service
Image: Disney
People who hire at Disney want a certain kind of employee. They have a reputation as the King of Customer Service, and they want to uphold that reputation. They can also afford to be selective. 180,000 people work for The Walt Disney Company, a third of them at Walt Disney World alone. They receive several orders of magnitude more applications than the number of positions they have available. Working at Disney is a bit like winning the lottery, only you get your job rather than quit it.
When Disney’s executives describe their evaluations of the company’s Parks and Resorts division, something stands out. They correctly view customer service as the brick and mortar foundation of their theme park empire. In order to achieve this, the entire corporation prioritizes employee engagement. They are looking for enthusiastic workers whose passion for coming to work each day is unmistakable. The thought process, supported by a great deal of data, is that the energy of workers will spread their infectious joy into all phases of the Happiest Place on Earth, Disneyland, and its siblings across the world.
Jody Sweet, Vice-President of WDPR Recruitment simply states that her company seeks, “…people who are passionate about guest service.” To place the spotlight on yourself, you’ll need to demonstrate that you possess selflessness to accomplish this. There are two ways you can strategize about this.
If you want to work at Disney within the next few months, stop what you’re doing and make a list. Think about every memorable moment of customer service you’ve performed during your career and in your personal life. Write them down. When you’re ready to interview, you’ll want to memorize every detail along with engaging anecdotes about as many as possible. If you have customer service awards, that’s even better. Don’t be afraid to take a picture of your trophy to show during the interview.
If you have some time before you’re ready to apply for your dream job, start strategizing. Come up with ideas about how to improve your resume, particularly with regards to customer service. Google some ideas and don’t be afraid to ask current and former Disney employees for suggestions. They provide wisdom on several sites such as Facebook, Reddit, and various Disney fan sites.
2. Stand out from the crowd. Be yourself.
Image: Disney
Impressing Disney employers won’t be easy. Put yourself in their shoes. They’ve hired some of the most amazing people on the planet. Former Disney employees include Wayne Brady, Kevin Costner, Taye Diggs, Jennifer Hudson, Steve Martin, Michelle Pfeiffer, and the late Robin Williams. We’re talking about people who have dominated Hollywood, Broadway, and the music industry, winning Emmys, Grammys, Oscars, and Tonys along the way. One of them even came back home to reinvent Disney magic for the 21st century. John Lasseter, the founder of Pixar, once provided all the terrible jokes on The Jungle Cruise. I’m sure you’re awesome, really, but when you interview at Disney, you’re going to speak with people who are used to seeing greatness on a daily basis.
You should have a plan about how you will distinguish yourself. Fortunately, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to do so. Sweet notes of the interview process, “I like to ask candidates to tell me about their experiences and interests. We are a storytelling culture, and questions like this let me hear their stories and passions.” Be ready to dazzle by telling the story of you.
My suggestion is to ask your friends for help prior to your interview. Poll them to discover the aspects of your personality that drew them to you, the strengths that you possess that make you unique and wonderful. In the digital age, it wouldn’t even hurt to have a few video recommendations loaded on your phone if you can find a way to sneak them into the conversation. Keep in mind that you’ll only have a few minutes to make your first impression, though. Be prepared to sell these strangers on the brand that is you.
3. Do your research
Image: Disney
Sure, idle fantasies about working for Disney sound great in theory. In execution, the last thing you want is to grow to hate the place you love. For some theme park tourists, Disney is a vacation escape, not a permanent destination. Make certain that you’re willing to give up your current life and move to a heavily congested area like Anaheim, California, or Orlando, Florida.
The way to decide when you’re conflicted is to investigate Disney’s employment record. The good news is that they have the third best reputation of any major American corporation. Also, their Indeed.com grade is excellent. Still, their GlassDoor score of 3.7 for the Parks and Resorts division is just okay. That’s slightly lower than the company’s overall score of 3.8. The issue you should accept in advance if you want to work at the parks is that they pay lower than average. The CareerBliss stats are fairly alarming.
The report notes the following. “Walt Disney Parks and Resorts employees earn $36,000 annually on average, or $17 per hour, which is 52% lower than the national salary average of $61,000 per year.” If the potential payment concerns you, feel free to address this during the interview. Sweet indicates that Disney employers expect this. “The recruiter will usually ask about salary expectations. We want to make sure we are aligned so we don’t get too far down the interview process without being clear on the range for the position.”
In fact, you’d be making a huge mistake if you don’t ask these sorts of questions. Sweet adds, “If an interviewee doesn’t have any questions, it signals they aren’t prepared or genuinely interested.” So, create another list of questions you have about working for Disney. During your interview, don’t merely ask the questions but also explain why you’re curious about each one. It’ll present another opportunity for you to distinguish yourself.
4. Act boldly
Image: Disney
I’m not saying that the following example will work for everyone, but it does reinforce the maxim that fortune favors the bold. Lori Malcolm is a thought leader in the business world as well as Senior VP of Human Resources for Checkers Drive-In Restaurants. Before her current career, however, she desperately wanted to work at Disney. She felt confident getting a job there would be great for her future, and the results bore out this belief. The actual action taken to earn an interview was a bit shadier.
Malcolm revealed to Business Insider that when she tried to earn an interview, Disney refused to get in contact with her. They threw her resume on the pile with all the other applicants, virtually assuring that she’d never hear from them. When people want something bad enough, they do crazy things. Malcolm’s thing is what law enforcement officials call unlawful entrance. She hunted down the building where Disney’s hiring staff resides. Then, she waited until someone with an ID badge opened the door. She snuck in and headed straight to the recruitment department.
Confidently, she walked up to one of the people and said the following. “Hi Anita, I’m Lori Malcolm. I’ve been trying to reach you, and I just wanted to put a face to a name for you.” Whoever Anita was, she had every right to call the cops at that moment. Instead, she decided to place the face with the resume, eventually bringing in Malcolm for an interview and offering her a job. There’s a fine line between bravery and stupidity. What Malcolm did was probably both.
Still, there’s something to learn from her actions. Standing out from the crowd is a surefire way to move your application to the front of the list. No, you shouldn’t plot anything unlawful to do it. That would be horrible. Still, there are steps you can take. Consider the virality of the Internet. Use it to your advantage.
You should research inventive ways that people have used to gain the attention of angel investors, reality show casting agents, and corporate employers. Pick your favorite ideas and figure out how to make them unique to your application. At a minimum, you’ll entertain a Disney employee during an otherwise forgettable day at work.
Sweet’s words on potential interview questions explain the value of this tactic. “I also like to ask them why they want to work at Disney. It seems like a simple question, but you can learn a lot about a person’s interests and motivation.” In creating something with social virality, you can demonstrate your motivation before you even perform your first interview.
