PI Alumni Please Respond!

[americangeiko]

Hi,

Even though I haven't been accepted yet, much less had an interview, I've still got some questions that pertain to moving for the internship & after the internship.

1) What's the percentage of people that actually receive housing who aren't in management? 50/50 - 60/40 - etc

2) If you didn't get housing, where did you stay?

3) Were you offered a permenant position after your PI?

4) Did your leader tell you if there was FT openings for you after you completed your PI?

What am I asking?

I'm trying to find out if I should be looking at alternated housing based on the rate of others receiving it. If it's 50/50, I want to have an alternative lined up before the end of November, so I don't have to worry about coming up with a deposit, etc in 1 month.

I'm also trying to get more knowledge about "life after PI" because if almost all PIs are offered FT positions in their area afterwards, I want to move into something other than NorthBridge as I'm going to take the job!

 

[crimsontide27]

Hi,

Even though I haven't been accepted yet, much less had an interview, I've still got some questions that pertain to moving for the internship & after the internship.

1) What's the percentage of people that actually receive housing who aren't in management? 50/50 - 60/40 - etc

2) If you didn't get housing, where did you stay?

3) Were you offered a permenant position after your PI?

4) Did your leader tell you if there was FT openings for you after you completed your PI?

What am I asking?

I'm trying to find out if I should be looking at alternated housing based on the rate of others receiving it. If it's 50/50, I want to have an alternative lined up before the end of November, so I don't have to worry about coming up with a deposit, etc in 1 month.

I'm also trying to get more knowledge about "live after PI" because if almost all PIs are offered FT positions in their area afterwards, I want to move into something other than NorthBridge as I'm going to take the job!

I am not a PI alumni, but I work with quite a few of them all the time and as such, they talk alot about whats going on.

1) I only work with management PIs, so that I dont know. What I do know is there there is not a single PI that I personally knows that likes / wants to stay at Northbridge.

2) The majority of PIs ( that I know of...and in management roles..) choose to either stay at Park Vue and its brother apartment complex behind Port Orleans, Sabal Palms ( across from Vista ) Plantation Park ( next to Vista ), The Cottages ( Hunters Creek ) or Mirabella ( near 535 / World Drive intersection )

3) Out of the 3 rotations of PIs we have gone through, 2 of them have gotten offered a full time job in their position, while the other 10-12 or so were told they had to accept hourly roles until a position opened ( though no guarentees were given if a role did open up ) Many decided to pick up and move back home, as going from a $615 week salary to $8.00 an hour roles for an indefinate time frame was too hard on the budget. For example, one of the front desk managers now works at Ohanas as a host in an hourly position.

4) They knew a month out wether or not they were keeping the job or not. Some got offered to stay as a TA in their current role, while most were given the opportunity to either go hourly, or go home.

Having said that, the majority of managers at all 7 resorts I worked at were PIs at some point in their tenure at Disney. Its certainly the most preferred route to go.

Maybe others can chime in. All my experiences have to do with Management PIs and nothing else, so I cant speak for the others.

 

[DisneyElite4]

I don't know of any Management Interns who are offered housing. They have to find their own housing, which isn't hard to do using networks such as Facebook, Myspace, and this board. All of the places mentioned in the previous posts are great places to check out.

Most PIs are not offered FT positions at the end of their role. There just are not enough roles for all those PIs, and more than 90% of them come down here with the intention to continue in a FT capacity. What crimsontide27 said is spot-on. Only a handful of Management Interns will be offered FT positions or TAs, the rest will have to return to hourly roles and play the waiting game or go home. Sometimes they wait a very long time for an opening, sometimes they do not.

With other Professional Intern positions it's even harder to land a FT position. Occasionally a position will open up in that particular department and the PI will be given the opportunity to interview and many times will get the job. Usually the leader encourages the PI to set up meet and greets if they are interested in a FT career, in the hopes that a position will open up in another area and the person they met will remember them and offer them an interview. I have seen a lot of PIs receive FT professional roles after completion, but the majority do not. They have to either accept an hourly role in the parks or go home. A lot of them continue on in an hourly capacity and apply for Jobs when they are posted. Sometimes it works out for them, sometimes it doesn't.

Good luck!

 

[americangeiko]

I don't know of any Management Interns who are offered housing. They have to find their own housing, which isn't hard to do using networks such as Facebook, Myspace, and this board. All of the places mentioned in the previous posts are great places to check out.

Most PIs are not offered FT positions at the end of their role. There just are not enough roles for all those PIs, and more than 90% of them come down here with the intention to continue in a FT capacity. What crimsontide27 said is spot-on. Only a handful of Management Interns will be offered FT positions or TAs, the rest will have to return to hourly roles and play the waiting game or go home. Sometimes they wait a very long time for an opening, sometimes they do not.

With other Professional Intern positions it's even harder to land a FT position. Occasionally a position will open up in that particular department and the PI will be given the opportunity to interview and many times will get the job. Usually the leader encourages the PI to set up meet and greets if they are interested in a FT career, in the hopes that a position will open up in another area and the person they met will remember them and offer them an interview. I have seen a lot of PIs receive FT professional roles after completion, but the majority do not. They have to either accept an hourly role in the parks or go home. A lot of them continue on in an hourly capacity and apply for Jobs when they are posted. Sometimes it works out for them, sometimes it doesn't.

Good luck!

Thanks, I didn't apply for a management PI, but knowing that it's not definite for me to receive a FT position is very helpful. I'm not finished with college yet, so if I don't get offered a FT position it's not that big of a deal. I'm just going to come back and finish up my last 2 1/2 semesters, get my piece of paper, and go teach English in S.Korea for a year. LOL

 

[americangeiko]

I am not a PI alumni, but I work with quite a few of them all the time and as such, they talk alot about whats going on.

1) I only work with management PIs, so that I dont know. What I do know is there there is not a single PI that I personally knows that likes / wants to stay at Northbridge.

2) The majority of PIs ( that I know of...and in management roles..) choose to either stay at Park Vue and its brother apartment complex behind Port Orleans, Sabal Palms ( across from Vista ) Plantation Park ( next to Vista ), The Cottages ( Hunters Creek ) or Mirabella ( near 535 / World Drive intersection )

3) Out of the 3 rotations of PIs we have gone through, 2 of them have gotten offered a full time job in their position, while the other 10-12 or so were told they had to accept hourly roles until a position opened ( though no guarentees were given if a role did open up ) Many decided to pick up and move back home, as going from a $615 week salary to $8.00 an hour roles for an indefinate time frame was too hard on the budget. For example, one of the front desk managers now works at Ohanas as a host in an hourly position.

4) They knew a month out wether or not they were keeping the job or not. Some got offered to stay as a TA in their current role, while most were given the opportunity to either go hourly, or go home.

Having said that, the majority of managers at all 7 resorts I worked at were PIs at some point in their tenure at Disney. Its certainly the most preferred route to go.

Maybe others can chime in. All my experiences have to do with Management PIs and nothing else, so I cant speak for the others.

Thanks. Your information was *very* helpful. I've heard mixed things about Northbridge, but compaired to Vista, it sounds delightful though the drive is going to be insane if I end up at MK or AK.

I wouldn't mind an hourly position, but it'd definitely have to be more than $8/hr as I make more than that doing what I do now. (I love Disney, but I've gotta eat too!)

I plan to take any PI that's offered to me regardless of whether or not I'll receive a FT position at the end of my program. Should there not be anything I can take hourly, I'm going to continue my education at my present college. (2 1/2 more semester, yee haw!)

 

[weish]

Hi,

Even though I haven't been accepted yet, much less had an interview, I've still got some questions that pertain to moving for the internship & after the internship.

1) What's the percentage of people that actually receive housing who aren't in management? 50/50 - 60/40 - etc

2) If you didn't get housing, where did you stay?

3) Were you offered a permenant position after your PI?

4) Did your leader tell you if there was FT openings for you after you completed your PI?

What am I asking?

I'm trying to find out if I should be looking at alternated housing based on the rate of others receiving it. If it's 50/50, I want to have an alternative lined up before the end of November, so I don't have to worry about coming up with a deposit, etc in 1 month.

I'm also trying to get more knowledge about "life after PI" because if almost all PIs are offered FT positions in their area afterwards, I want to move into something other than NorthBridge as I'm going to take the job!

I'm currently on my PI so I can answer some of these questions.

1. From what I understand, just about everyone who wants to live in Northbridge gets housing.

2. Being married, I couldn't live in Northbridge because my husband would not be able to stay with me (our cats couldn't stay with us either). I checked Craigslist for long term rentals in apartments and townhouses around the area and found a great furnished vacation resort that is really close to where I work. There is always a ton of postings on Craigslist. Also definitely check Facebook because there are always groups formed for the next term of PIs and everyone is always looking for roommates in alternate housing.

We currently live in Emerald Island Resort. Some of my friends are living at Encantada, Fiesta Key, and Coral Cay, which are other vacation resorts.

3. Being offered a permanent position after a PI is generally rare because it depends on openings. Of course, if you are a great asset to the company you may get offered a TA position since there isn't an opening in the department. Several people who were PIs last term are currently TAs since leadership wanted to keep them but did not have openings for them.

Also, it is possible to extend your internship another 6 months if you're interested in continuing where you are (or apply for another internship). The best advice I was offered about this was that if you're interested in staying, start telling the right people that you'd like to stay with your department.

4. Again, there are very rarely FT openings in a department. You will usually have to apply for the position and interview (if you're lucky enough to be there when there is an opening) but like the previous poster said, most of the time PIs get the position. Some leaders are great and help you network but there's also just checking the job listings for Disney for FT positions.

I think a lot of this might be repeat but I hope this helps!