No internal referral = no FT job?

[Sam23]

After you intern with Disney, do you have a change of getting a full-time job without an internal referral? I ask this as I am frustrated with the hiring process due to my recent internship. When I first started my internship, I was told by so many full-time employees how they started off as interns and worked hard to get where they are at today. Needless to say, it was encouraging.

Fast forward to the end of my internship and the only interns in my department to even get full-time offers were ones who got referrals from within. To add to the frustration, the interns who got these referrals were terrible workers - they were vulgar, inappropriate, and slacked off routinely. Still, they were able to get full-time offers prior to completing their internship. And after discussing this with my roommates, they saw this happen, too.

Meanwhile, I've applied to countless and can't even get an interview! I've asked my manager, who I have good relationship with, if he knows anyone in the department to which I've applied, but he doesn't. It's incredibly frustrating because I'm starting to wonder whether it's all about nepotism and less job performance. It's ruining my view of Disney (on the corporate side). Does anyone have any input? Is my experience isolate, or is this the culture?

 

[SyracuseWolvrine]

My degree is in Information Technology. After doing my CP, I stayed with Disney, but it took me 8 years to work my way into an IT role. You have to be willing to start at the bottom (I worked as a ride operator, worked my way up to trainer, then coordinator, then moved into Resorts, started as a concierge, eventually became a trainer, then a FSA (basically, a coordinator), then was selected by my leadership for a project team that eventually allowed me to network my way into an IT job).