The Interviews...

Hello All!

So - the dreaded interviews, dun dun dun...

Actually, both of my formal interviews were fairly pain free.  Since I'd been communicating with my recruiter monthly for over a year the chance to actually speak with her was nice.  Although a little early.  Since I'm on the west coast and she's on the east coast, it was 11am her time, and 8am my time.  So I had to be up early to make sure I looked my interview best.  Although, I have to say, the best thing about a skype interview is that you only have to look fabulous from the waist up.  I had my hair, my makeup, a nice blouse, my jacket, and sweatpants...

This first interview with my recruiter was more about if I would be able to handle life at sea.  She told me some of the ins and outs of ship life, what pay was like, and so on.  We chatted for about 45 minutes and it was a very informal chat.  After that, she sent me a ton of paperwork that I had to fill out, a formal application, a something else I can't remember.  I had to get her copies of my passport.  Of course, she said whenever, and I did it in about 2 hours.  I was so super excited just to get the process going at this point...

We scheduled my interview with the lady from Disney about 3 weeks later.  During this time pretty much all I was doing was getting more and more nervous.  Luckily I had my Disney Store friends to keep me occupied!

My interview with the lady from DCL was on Monday morning at 10am EST, or 7am for me...  So, my alarm went off at 5, I got out of bed, went to Starbucks in my pj's, got a huge cup of coffee, then came home, took a shower, and got ready.

That interview lasted about 30 minutes.  It was different from the first, in that she asked me more questions about merchandise and retail than my recrutier did.  Almost as if you got this far, they figured you'd make it on the boat...  I thought my answers were all pretty good.  It was mostly "What would you do if..." scnearios, and almost all of them had happened to me before working at the store.  She was a very nice lady, but difficult to read.  I thought I did well, but didn't know for sure.  She said it would be at least the middle of next week before they'd get back to me.  Boo, 10 days of waiting...

But I made it through a very long week and a half and when I woke up Wednesday (5/1) there was an email in my inbox asking me to consent for a background check.  I didn't know what this meant, since I hadn't heard anything else, so I authorized the check, and then my inbox popped up with the email saying I was provisionally hired as a merchandise hostess.  The job is dependent on my being able to pass the background check (not a problem - since I had to do the exact same one to be hired by Disney in the first place...), and passing the medical exam (I'm really not worried).  There was another form to fill out (I have a feeling this is only the beginning of a trend...) - but this form was cool since I got to put my name tag info on it!  And as any Disney cast member knows - the name tag is everything!

This was the day before my birthday also (and I'm seeing 'Iron Man 3' tonight) - so the past few days have been pretty amazing.

So now my background check is being processed, then I'll move onto my medical exam.  I don't need a C1/D visa because I'm an American (which is nice, one less thing), and I already have my passport so I'm almost good to go!

I am resisiting buying the things I'll need becasue I want to make sure I actually pass before I do, but I am certainly putting a list together...

I am so super stoked about this whole thing (as are all my friends, family and Disney Store peeps - they want to know when I can get them a discount...) and I can't wait to start meeting people (I've already met a few online) and really get going!

-Steph :)