Cultural Representative Program

[makelifehappen]

Having spent the past hour combing through the info on the International Program website, I've got a few questions.

Does anyone know:

if these job postings go out at certain times of the year?

if the hiring process is the same each time?

are the hiring times always the same?

Trying to imagine when my daughter would want to apply. So, what can we expect to be a typical start/end time or is the application process open ended and ppl start at all different times throughout the year? Does the interviewing/job offer etc have a specific time frame? Clearly we'd have to apply for a visa if offered a position etc, but people also have to plan their lives around such a big move, so I am wondering how you handle the transition/planning if you don't have any of those kinds of details from the beginning of the process.

Also, the main info says

"To be eligible to apply for the Cultural Representative Program, you MUST:

Speak English fluently
Be at least 18 years of age to apply
You must be fully available to work Sunday through Saturday, including days and nights, holidays and overtime
Be able to authentically represent a country or region we have recreated in look and feel at the Walt Disney World® Resort. Countries and regions represented are: Canada, China, France, Germany, Southeast Asia (India, Indonesia, Thailand), Italy, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Norway, Sub-Saharan Africa (Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Lesotho, Swaziland, and South Africa)"

But I decided to create an acct to have a look at the application in search of the answer to my next question and the details conflict somewhat, as the application reads "Must be at least 18 years old by the assigned program arrival date", so how do you plan for that, if you wanted to apply to begin during the first part of your 18th year?

Thanks in advance for any or all input.

MLH

 

[dsneygirl]

I can't answer all the details about hiring and interview time frames (it's changed a lot since I worked there, they now outsource a lot of it) but WDW does all the work for your VISA you don't pay/apply do anything. (It's a huge program and they bring in thousands of people throughout the year) It used to be if you were "terminated" you had to then pay back all the fees but I don't know if they still do it that way.

When my DH and I started we went completely last minute. I was originally told I was a "maybe" registered for fall semester and booked an apt. Got a call in early June to come in JULY! Put school on hold and got my money back, found a subletter and away I went. My DH was already at school in Sept and he got called to start mid Oct. He also dropped out (got his money and most of his residence fees back).

We both went back to Uni the following Sept. Other people I worked with had their dates months and months in advance. But some people quit, get fired so they often hire people on very little notice. I was 19, turned 20 while I was there, most were 20-24 or so. I would encourage a "just turned 18" year old to wait a couple years.

So to answer you question. I had no details, went on a wing and a prayer and had supportive parents

 

[grover]

WDW will do all the work to obtain the visa once a job has been offered and accepted. They have this whole process worked out and everything flows smoothly and they provide information on what to do/when to do it in terms of the move. Very organized!

In my son's case the time frame from applying to start date was about 21 months. He has been there a while now and people start/leave all through the year. I don't think there is no way to know when the postings will go up on the website, in his case he just had to keep checking on a regular basis and when it appeared he applied.

The process itself included passing thru the online application, if screened in then you do a telephone interview and then if screened in you attend a in person interview. In his case they offered those in Vancouver and Montreal.

Once they offered a position that is when the start date is provided. His start date was about 9 months after being offered the position.
Basically he had to carry on with life/regular plans for school and work and then adjust them when he had a specific start date.

Keep in mind now that 2 years has past since he first applied some of these things may have changed.

 

[makelifehappen]

All good info and whilst they are super organized and spot on with their end of things, the unknowns with regard to timing drive me a bit mad.

My teen is one of the ones that people always say "you wait. she'll be like every other teen" and I say "yeah, sure. You're wrong about this one" *rolls eyes*

She's responsible. She's been working for years. She's a saver. She can't wait to get out on her own and travel the world.

She's travelled alone, bought her own trailer, works crazy hours (and makes decent money) for her age, but it's because she's responsible and grown up.

I'd be happy for her to run off at 18 and have this kind of opportunity. It's pretty incredible, but also works for us.

She attends a non-credited alternative school that allows her to direct her own education. Which is cool in so many ways (college courses at 15, owns her own business etc), but it also means that she will need to apply to post secondary as a mature student (because she wont get an actual diploma) and that can't be done until 19yo.

I thought she was feeling too mature for Disney for a while there, but she's finally back on it and we are returning for our 6th trip this winter. Can't wait.

So, I refreshed her memory about working at Disney (a plan she had for many, many years as a kid) and now she's pumped.

Thanks for all the responses. Looking forward to more!

 

[branmack]

I can't answer all the details about hiring and interview time frames (it's changed a lot since I worked there, they now outsource a lot of it) but WDW does all the work for your VISA you don't pay/apply do anything. (It's a huge program and they bring in thousands of people throughout the year) It used to be if you were "terminated" you had to then pay back all the fees but I don't know if they still do it that way.

When my DH and I started we went completely last minute. I was originally told I was a "maybe" registered for fall semester and booked an apt. Got a call in early June to come in JULY! Put school on hold and got my money back, found a subletter and away I went. My DH was already at school in Sept and he got called to start mid Oct. He also dropped out (got his money and most of his residence fees back).

We both went back to Uni the following Sept. Other people I worked with had their dates months and months in advance. But some people quit, get fired so they often hire people on very little notice. I was 19, turned 20 while I was there, most were 20-24 or so. I would encourage a "just turned 18" year old to wait a couple years.

So to answer you question. I had no details, went on a wing and a prayer and had supportive parents

I agree 18 maybe too young. I was 2 months short of 21 when I arrived and I was one of the youngest ones at the Canadian pavilion. I also found most of the cultural reps from other countries to be older too.

 

[Lisa Anne Colling]

My time there as a CR was over 20 years ago (Yeeks, can I be that old), but when I applied and got hired I was 17. I applied in the summer and had an interview in Nov. At that time Disney came at certain times of the year to do interviews. Not sure if it is the same now. Anyways, thankfully I was hired, but I did not start until the beginning of Jan (I turned 18 at Christmas).
While I was one of the youngest CR, there was others around the same age. Had a fantastic time! Disney took care of everything. No need to apply for a visa, etc... They even drove us to the bank to set up a bank account, they arranged Social security cards, etc... Very simple process that they had down to a science. I would assume that is the same way.
I did find it to be an amazing experience and while it was a lot of fun, it was equally educational and a wonderful training tool for my future jobs! I have begged my kids and husband to let me go again, but for some reason they like having Mom around! LOL!

 

[11point5]

I can give some (fairly recent) info regarding some of your questions, as I just applied for the Cultural Representative Program this summer and I'll be starting my program March 17th, 2015!

What others have said about the visa stuff is definitely still true - Disney sets that all up and pays for it for you, and all you have to worry about is having copies of all the important documents with you when traveling.

I first thought about applying in April 2014, when a friend of mine who was a former Canadian cultural rep told me the application window would be opening. He was right - when I checked the website, the job posting was available for applications and didn't list an "apply by" deadline. I DIDN'T apply right away though, because I needed to talk to my boyfriend about it first (we live together and have been dating for 9 years so I felt like he kinda deserved to have some input on the matter, haha!) He was SUPER mad and hurt that I was even considering leaving for an entire year, felt like I was abandoning our relationship, "running away from real life", etc etc.....so ultimately I decided not to apply, even though working at Disney would be a cool experience. It had never really been a "dream" for me, as I know it is for lots of people. I just thought it would be amazing work and life experience to live and work in my favourite place in the world for a whole year, meeting new friends from all over the place and hopefully making a decent income (as a server at Le Cellier, which was the only role I was considering).

Anyway, time went by and the night before Father's Day, I had a literal dream that I was an old woman and I was so bitter that I never did the cultural rep program! So in the morning (June 15th) I checked the Disney Careers site again, figuring if the job window was STILL open somehow, it was meant to be for me to apply. Sure enough, it was available still so I applied! I didn't tell my boyfriend yet...I had heard from other applicants that the waiting process usually takes MONTHS so I figured I had plenty of time to warm him up to the idea...

On June 23rd, I received an email offering me an online interview with a few different date/time options to choose from. I picked July 11th for my interview, and it was done like Skype but through a company called Montage. I was given a special login code to make sure that not just anyone could login to my web interview. It was very straightforward and only took about 10-15minutes. During the interview, I asked when face-to-face interviews would be held following this round of web interviews, and my recruiter told me THIS WAS IT - there would be no face-to-face interviews! On July 21st, I was offered a position in food & beverage to start "sometime in March 2015". So all in all, from application to being offered the position, it was only about 5 weeks for me.
I didn't get an official start date until September 25th. And it seems like they're doing interviews differently already -- I know of at least 6 people who had face-to-face interviews in Toronto yesterday! So basically, what this long-winded story is trying to say is that Disney hiring is all over the place for wait times, interview style, start date, everything!

I think they have new arrivals every couple of weeks all year long, except for over the Christmas/New Year holidays because it's just too busy.

As for ages, I feel like maybe 18 will be a bit young but there will be lots of other people doing college programs who will be around your daughter's age, and age is really just a number. It sounds like, even if she's 17 when applying, as long as her start date would be after her 18th birthday she'll be fine. They'll cover that in her interview though. I was asked in mine if I had any preference regarding a start date (I did not).

Anyway hopefully this was somewhat helpful! All the best to your daughter if she does decide to apply!

 

[KkBb]

Do they let you pick when you want to come?

 

[minnie56]

DD did the college program and the CP twice....fab experiences!

 

[katt789]

Having spent the past hour combing through the info on the International Program website, I've got a few questions.

Does anyone know:

if these job postings go out at certain times of the year?

if the hiring process is the same each time?

are the hiring times always the same?

Trying to imagine when my daughter would want to apply. So, what can we expect to be a typical start/end time or is the application process open ended and ppl start at all different times throughout the year? Does the interviewing/job offer etc have a specific time frame? Clearly we'd have to apply for a visa if offered a position etc, but people also have to plan their lives around such a big move, so I am wondering how you handle the transition/planning if you don't have any of those kinds of details from the beginning of the process.

Also, the main info says

"To be eligible to apply for the Cultural Representative Program, you MUST:

Speak English fluently
Be at least 18 years of age to apply
You must be fully available to work Sunday through Saturday, including days and nights, holidays and overtime
Be able to authentically represent a country or region we have recreated in look and feel at the Walt Disney World® Resort. Countries and regions represented are: Canada, China, France, Germany, Southeast Asia (India, Indonesia, Thailand), Italy, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Norway, Sub-Saharan Africa (Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Lesotho, Swaziland, and South Africa)"

But I decided to create an acct to have a look at the application in search of the answer to my next question and the details conflict somewhat, as the application reads "Must be at least 18 years old by the assigned program arrival date", so how do you plan for that, if you wanted to apply to begin during the first part of your 18th year?

Thanks in advance for any or all input.

MLH

I just finished the program in October so I will try and give you as much as I can!

Job postings I *believe* are out all the time, they hire pretty regularly! You can find them on disneycareers if you filter it, or through disney international programs, or I'm sure just google-ing it.

Hiring process is in no way the same for everyone. I had friends on the program who applied, waited, online interview, waited, skype interview, waited, face to face interview, waited, then finally got the call to come down on a specific date. I must have lucked out majorly when I applied, I heard back right away to book an interview in toronto the following week. I went down, we interviewed, they asked when I would like to start, I said anytime after Sept 30th. 2 days later I got my acceptance email. Some people's process takes nearly a year or more than that, where as mine could have started any day after that interview. In my interview group were people that were into the service aspect of the job by the time I got down there (which means they'd officially been there at least 2.5-3 months already!)

Don't worry about the visa, Disney does all of that for you & they ship it to you all ready to go before your departure date.

People start all throughout the year, literally. There's a little bit of a freeze over Dec/Jan, but I believe people started arriving again in Feb. Arrival groups are all sorts of different sizes too. Example, our date had an arrival group of over 30 Italians, but only 4 of us, the last group before I left only had 1 girl for food & bev! I was able to pick a date pretty much, to start, but I'm sure it's not always like that, but I'm sure your daughter could give a time frame if she needed!

Since I knew pretty far in advance about moving I was able to get everything done in a timely manner, clean out my house, find someone to rent the room I was in, move stuff back to my Mom's (picture frames, minor furniture, books, some clothes, etc) and then finally get ready to move down. I've always been a person itching for adventure so it wasn't a big thing for me to move, and I'd spent a TON of time in Orlando/Disney already, I was more than ready to go!

Age wise, 18 is fine! We had a couple of people at that age in the restaurant, and you can still serve alcohol at that age if she wants food & bev. She'll be in a "wellness" housing, which means no alcohol in the house, and everyone in there will be under 21 (or have agreed to live in a wellness apt) It also means that if there is any alcohol found in the apt, if it comes back to her, she will be termed. They don't joke around with that stuff at housing, so it's ideal to stay away. For the timing of everything, I'd say apply no earlier than 6 months before her 18th bday, she can explain that in the interview, and her start date will then be after her birthday if she was to get it. It could however delay her start date but a LONG time, or end up in her not getting the job, say, if they need people NOW. So play it safe and apply as close to as possible.

The whole experience and program itself was amazing & wonderful. It can be great for a variety of things, and depending on your role, it can make a lot of money, but it isn't a walk in the park to get to that tipped position. I would do it all again!!