The Face to Face Interview

Today’s the day! The sun is shining, the tank is clean, and we are…. wait that’s not how it went. It was actually kind of cloudy. Well anyway, it IS interview day and I woke up a bag of nerves. Despite the interview being just 15 minutes away I set my alarm for 5:00am to give me time to get ready. I’d asked my dad to give me a wake up call (he was able to because of his shift pattern at work), and before I woke I dreamt that it was 5:47 and I was about to start running really late…I woke up holding my phone and 3 seconds later my Dad rang apologising for the late call- it was 5:47!! Somehow THREE of my alarms and my trusty father had failed to go off at 5- but the stupidly early time was predominantly a caution, so if I got my skates on the 50 minutes lateness wouldn’t be too terrible. I feel like something (or someone <3) was watching over me to make sure I would wake-up with enough time to get to the interview.Shockingly I didn’t get much sleep last night, and I had no appetite whatsoever- especially when my instant porridge solidified into one giant lump (how did that happen…?)

Regardless of all this, I got ready and packed and left my suitcase at the desk and headed to the Starbucks in Waterloo station to meet others that had gotten through. I only recognised a few people- including two from my pre-screen group- but once again everyone was super friendly and it helped to calm me down. We walked down together and was so early that the building wasn’t open- luckily it wasn’t raining or snowing as it had started to rain earlier, so we just had to deal with the cold.

Eventually a few other people joined us and then we were let in to the same room as before- I got a seat at the front and we were introduced to Sue who would be interviewing us. She was one of the happiest looking people I’d ever met but I was still bloody terrified of her! The presentation was similar to before but more detailed- people in the videos were like “If you’re unsure, just apply” and I wanted to scream “WE’RE ALREADY HERE AND WE ALREADY WANT IT ! GIVE ME GIVE ME!” But I kept a calm smile on my face and nodded occasionally. You definitely couldn’t tell.

My p-p-poker face…

Then we were given our interview times- mine would be at 12:45, and we were told to arrive half an hour before to do a little bit of paperwork. I was happy to have a bit of time to prepare, but glad to not have to wait too long. If we weren’t amongst the first to be interviewed we had to go with a Yummy Jobs member to get pictures of us jumping outside the London Eye.

High School Musical eat your heart out

There I am in the far left in the grey coat (picture was added to the post later)

I had to change from my heels into my boots for the jump! Was a bit awkward for all us lasses with skirts and heels, but I think we managed a pretty decent picture!

Waterloo station has lots of places to eat, so those who had a little, or long, while to wait went back for some food- we sat in Burger King but most of us brought in food from elsewhere, like sandwiches or in my case noodles! Certainly a few dirty looks from the staff, but they didn’t say anything. Just before my interview, me and a girl with the time slot just before me went to the toilets to freshen up then went back. Paperwork was a doddle, and then I spent about 25 minutes having a chat to some of the Yummy Jobs team while I waited. To begin I wanted to be left on my own, but actually talking to them helped me to not get caught up in my own nerves. And then the door opened…and Sue invited me in! Sweet. Merciful. Jesus.

Though to be fair the interview went ok again. I was definitely more nervous and it showed, I bumbled over my words a little and one of my answers was along the lines of : “If you see a spillage, mop it up. Just mop the thing up as soon as possible…with a mop!”

Oh God.

I think that was the worst bit though- she seemed very interested in my experiences in Vietnam and asked me a lot of questions about it. So I tried to use buzzwords like “cultural sensitivity” etc. However true the experience behind these sorts of phrases are, the phrases them selves make you seem like a bit of an arse. But she was smiling throughout and I think I did myself justice. Questions were very simialr to the last interviews to be honest, but it felt about 2 minutes, even though it was actually 15 minutes. I talked a bit about how a lot of my family is based in industry which Birmingham is famous for- car production on my Dad’s side and the jewellery quarter for several generations on my mom’s side which I thought she may like as I figured it steeped my family in the history of Birmingham. Yeah, I know it sounds pretentious but she responded quite well to it! Thanks family 😛

At the end, she asked if I had any questions, shook my hand, and then left. And just like that, it was all over. As I walked back to the station to meet the others it hit me that there was literally nothing more I could do. But initially I left feeling quite positive, and met the others on their way to Las Iguanas- cue cocktails! Great was to wind down after all the stress. Talking to the others that had had their interviews I realised Sue had the best poker face of all- she smiled and nodded and responded well to everyone’s interviews! Nerves re-entered as I tried to discern whether I thought it was a genuine smile or fake one in my interview, but could not tell. Told myself to stop thinking about it- it was over.

An hour or two later I left to meet my cousin in Covent Garden, collecting my suitcase first. It was great to see her- she’d gotten engaged since I saw her last and we had lots of catch up on. I had an amazing paella and then we had a cupcake in a lovely little bakery shop- great way to end the trip to London.

I said goodbye to her and returned home. The tiredness hit me on the train, so I curled up and had a nap. When my flatmates asked how it went, I didn’t really now what to tell them- I couldn’t decide how good or bad it had gone. All I knew was I really wanted to get it. Apparently it’s going to be a good few weeks now until we hear. Hopefully my uni work will keep me distracted enough so I don’t dwell on it. Here’s hoping!

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Preparing for the Face to Face Interview

So the last few weeks have flown past, which is hard to believe. I’ve had lots of uni work to do which I guess has helped- it’s now my last term which is a pretty important milestone…though my mind is kinda on other things at the moment (Disney Disney Disney…). I can’t believe it’s come around so quickly! Today after uni I had to travel down to London ready for my 9:00am interview tomorrow. I got up early to pack my stuff and did (another) hair and make-up trial and packed all my stuff so I could head straight to the train station from uni, again ensuring I had all the relevant documents- CV, train and hotel information etc. I asked for opinions on my hair and make up from my friends (bless them I think they were astounded at how bloody anal I was being about the whole thing- though they did end up advising me to use less mascara on the bottom lashes) and ended up making my friends late for there lecture. One of them recently got a place on the Summer Programme though so I really wanted her opinion and help!

The last two weeks again I’ve tried to prepare, thinking of answers to possible questions etc. I feel more nervous about this one than the last interview as it’s the final hurdle so to speak. And this time, the interviewer won’t just be with Yummy Jobs- it will be with a full-on Disney employee!

Journey down to my hotel was fine. It felt nice to be navigating myself around a city I didn’t know very well, and I’d never been to Elephant and Castle before. I couldn’t make my mind up in the dark if it was a dodgy area or urban quirky- in any case I found my hotel with no bother. The room itself was excellent, especially for the price- nice double bed, wardrobe space and a large bathroom. It felt like a flippin sauna in there- though after it being so cold of kind of appreciated that and all I had to do was turn down the radiator.

Strangest thing happened while I was there- my cousin rang and told me she was in London as well! Not expecting that at all but a wonderful surprise as I hadn’t seen her in a while. We arranged to meet tomorrow evening after my interview.

Right, so now I’m hoping to have a pretty decent sleep so I can feel rested tomorrow. Wish me luck 🙂

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Through to the next round!!!

So yesterday in our pre-screen interview we were told that we would be hearing at some point today whether we had got through the first stage. It was nice knowing we didn’t have long to wait but that meant I was a bag of nerves all bleeding day! I had uni today and didn’t take my phone with me because I was concerned how I would react- to either good or bad news! By the time it rolled around to half 4 I had to just lie in bed and keep refreshing my emails- my mind would not concentrate on anything else! I split the screen on my laptop between the facebook group and my email group, and at 16:59 I think I stopped breathing I was so tense. The it was 17:00. 17:01. 17:03. Yeah, I know this seems completely crazy, but I wanted it so damn bad that became this stupid! If they had said we would hear Monday I could have put it to the back of my mind, but knowing that THE email could come through any second was so scary.

At 17:35 I got the email. All I saw was the word ‘delighted’ before doing a little scream!(goodness knows what my flatmates thought if they heard me…). I breathed through a few times before giving it a proper read:

It will be held in the same place as the last interview. This is good in many respects- I know where it is and how to get there which takes away some of the stress, but there’s a slight twinge in disappointment that the interviews wouldn’t be at Disney HQ in London, where they have been held before. But it’s a small detail compared with the over all excitement that I am one step closer to going to Disney!!!

Facebook went crackers, we tried to do a poll so people could answer yes or no and not clog the wall with posts. I saw quite a few people in the ‘no’s that I liked which was a shame, but also a few in the ‘yes’s. I just hope any of the ones that didn’t get through will try again- they deserve to! Interestingly (and wonderfully!) four out of seven of my interview group got through- but none of the Ariels. I was so great to see so many of us got through- I’d been worried about standing out in my group but it seems like they recognised we had a strong one.

This interview will be held in the morning, so I need to stay overnight really. I booked a hotel and train tickets straight away. The travel lodges were expensive around Waterloo, at least £100 where I looked, so I found one in Elephant and Castle for £55. It’s only a couple of tube stops away so shouldn’t be too much extra stress, and it does save a fair bit of money! Including all transport, food and this hotel it so far is really not a cheap experience- I just hope it will all be worth it!

This interview is going to be extra-scary because the interviewer will be someone who is actually from Disney. Hope they love me!

“Love me, love me, say that you love me…”

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