Prince here again - just to continue on from yesterday's post about applying for the job, my next step after hearing back from the recruiting agency was to hurtle through a gauntlet of interviews:
Soooo the interview process was the longest part of the whole thing, mostly because there were so many of them to get through before actually landing any kind of job.
By extension, this post is ALSO going to be incredibly long, so if you're serious about wanting to know how this all went down because you're looking to do it yourself, go grab a drink and a snack and sit back for quite a read. I'm going to try and be quite detailed to prepare you - if you really don't care about all the details, know that it was a long process and (spoiler alert!) I made it in the end. Yay!
The Phone Screening Interview
It all began with a phone interview with my PA (Professional Crew Advisor, as Disney calls it) Nicola, who worked with Cast-A-Way. She emailed me with a list of possible times for her to call me, and I replied back with one that worked the best. This phone call would be the first obstacle to overcome before heading on to any face-to-face interview.
I picked Friday, January 13th, at 2:30.
(Apparently it's better to pick a time after lunch so interviewers aren't trying to rush it so they can eat. It's better than near the end of the day when they've seen a number of other people, and it's also better than trying to make yourself extra memorable first thing in the morning.)
Important: Install and have Skype
ready to go for this. It will also come in handy when you get to
the later interviews, as cruise companies will almost always
Skype-interview you.
So, in the day leading up to the phone call, I decided to do some detective work, and looked up Nicola's information online via their website, LinkedIn and after some snooping - Facebook. I wasn't sure what sort of person she was going to be, if she was one of those no-nonsense older motherly types, or if she was a fun happy young sort. From just a wee bit of poking around she seemed, thankfully, to be the latter. I figured I could relax a bit more and be more funny with her on the phone - especially if I had a face to match the voice to.
I cleared my schedule, and - crazy as it sounds - I dressed up in interview clothing and sat in a proper chair for it. This was probably the oddest piece of advice another Cruise applicant had given me when they had aced their online interviews, but I think it works pretty well. It helps you get into the mood and take it very seriously, kinda like putting on a costume before walking out on stage.
I pulled up a picture of what I thought was a very friendly, encouraging photo of Nicola that I swiped from Facebook, and waited anxiously for the phone call. It was 2:30 exactly. 30 seconds passed. Then:
<< INCOMING CALL>>
I got a flash of nerves for a second, cleared my throat and answered it.
The call itself was really lighthearted, I smiled at the picture on the screen as if I was talking to a real person and believe it or not I felt way more comfortable talking to her. Her main questions for me were:
->How can I summarise what I've done at work over the past few years?
->How can my studies/work contribute to the position I'm looking for on a cruise ship?
->Do I consider myself a flexible, adapatable person?
->Am I ok with the idea of living in a small confined space for months?
->Can I commit to a lengthy contract with little communication to home?
->How picky am I with the things I eat and my sleep schedule?
->What do you think is the most important thing to have when you sign up to work with a cruise line?
->Lastly, why do you want to do this? Why is this important to you?
Luckily I prepared much of the answers for this in advance, and she was in an incredibly good mood and we even joked around a bit. Apparently my answers seemed to be decent as she kept laughing and kept on saying "good, good", "that's fantastic" after everything I'd said.
After about 10 minutes, it was over. Nicola said;
"it looks like you'd be a good fit for a Youth Counsellor Position on board, I know Carnival has a lot of openings lately".
I asked about Disney, with bated breath. She said she wasn't sure just yet, and it could be a few weeks/months before they started hiring again. And with a
"if we think you'd be a good candidate for our group interviews next month, we'll be in touch. Take care Prince!", that was it.
THE GROUP INTERVIEW
Fifteen minutes later at exactly 2:46 pm, I got an email inviting me to a formal group interview with the company just over a week later:
"Congratulations on being selected to attend the Carnival Cruise Lines Youth Staff interviews.
The presentation will be held on SUNDAY JANUARY 22, 2012 starting promptly at 9:00am at HUMBER COLLEGE, located at 205 HUMBER COLLEGE BLVD, TORONTO. You will need to head to classroom B215
Please arrive at least 30 minutes prior to the presentation to allow time to complete all necessary paperwork.
Transportation to and from your interview will be at your own expense. Please dress professionally, in business attire.
Please plan on spending the day with us since someone has to be last to be interviewed.
It is also very important that you bring the following items with you;
- Copy of the information page from your passport. If you do not have a passport please bring a copy of your photo I.D. such as a driver’s license or school I.D. card.
- A new and updated resume.
- A Vulnerable sector Criminal Background Check, this includes a fingerprint search also. If
you do not already have this, you can try to apply for one before the
interviews. If you do not have it in time for the interviews, please be
aware that, should you be employed by Carnival, you will need to be able
to obtain this.
- Copy of your First Aid and CPR certificates (if you have these)
- Copies of any applicable diplomas
- A photograph, passport size will do.
- 2 reference letters
- The two application forms, attached to this email, filled out.
Please note that food service at the college is very limited, so you may want to pack an appropriate lunch
Please do not forget to bring a big smile and lots of energy!
Good luck and have a great day!"
Now, this was A LOT of stuff to get sorted out in a week. Which can be intimidating for most, especially since I didn't have most of these readily available. So over a few days I had to get it all done.
- I quickly wrote to my former employers for new reference letters, as I knew those would take some time.
- I didn't have my First Aid, CPR, or Vulnerable Sector Background Check on hand so I hoped it wouldn't be a big deal if I came without it.
- I photocopied my passport at school, printed off the forms.
- I went to Facebook and printed off a picture of myself at a Black's Photography studio that I thought would look fun and memorable for them to have, and wasn't a bland passport mugshot:
I dressed fairly similar to this, except with a solid red tie and no Dalton Academy Warbler jacket. I figured that if I was interviewing for Carnival, I might as well dress in their colours. (This was something I personally liked to see when I was an interviewer for other things, it subconsciously made me imagine what the applicant would be like working with us).
I cleared my schedule for the whole day, and arrived impeccably early. Getting to the Humber Campus was a breeze for me, thankfully - I used to have to get picked up from there commuting home from my University 2 years ago. It was absolute hell back then to do, but now taking the bus there it was for something far more exciting. I decided against actually eating anything at the time except for a lot of minty gum. All I packed for the day was a few cans of Diet Coke, and an assortment of gummy snacks. I wanted to smell fresh and be perky.
In addition, I brought my laptop just in case the wait got too long, and this proved to be incredibly useful in the end.
-----
INTERVIEW DAY
As soon as I show up, there's another girl also wandering about the hallways of Humber College. Dressed in a cute little navy suit-jacket & skirt combo, I figured she was here for the same reason. I decided to make friends. Her name was Michelle; turns out she drove all the way here for this from Michigan overnight, and had been waiting for months on the invite. Yikes. Pressure much? Michelle and I exchanged pleasantries and small talk as we made it to the classroom, incredibly early.
A lady came by, carrying boxes full of things, also looking a bit lost.
She asked us if this was the right room, lamenting the confusing hallways of the campus. We offered to help her carry her stuff while she fiddled around with her keys to open the door. After thanking us for our help, she asked us for our names and if we were excited for the long day ahead. Turns out she was Wendy, the Carnival representative. BAM- we got some major brownie points right there.
Other people started to arrive, most of them not saying anything to each other - except here was Michelle and I yapping away like good buddies, already kinda excited. There were some other girls who looked like they wanted to join in our conversation, but didn't out of nerves.
Finally, Nicola showed up and said hello to everyone - from the murmur of recognition of her voice I figured she probably phone-screened everyone there with us. As I passed her on the way in she said, "How're ya doin, Prince!" It felt pretty great being recognized, even though I was also maybe one of three guys in that room. I think there were about 20-22 candidates in total for the group interview. Most of us were in our early twenties, young and glossy in dressy clothing. There were some older looking ones, some shabbier looking ones, a guy in sneakers.
A handful of people arrived late, only two had called Nicola in advance to let her know. The rest she didn't seem pleased about. There were also a couple no-shows, this made them VERY unimpressed. Apparently - if you're ever going to go to a group interview for them,
DON'T show up late. Or even worse, don't NOT SHOW UP AT ALL. I later learned this is a huuuuuge no-no for them as far as ever being considered again for a cruise line.
The day started off with an informational booklet that we went through page by page about the Cruise line, about the ships they have and all of the staff. I sat next to Michelle and we spent about a good hour learning about the history of Carnival and what the positions are like on board. We learnt about all of the kids spaces where we'd potentially be working and the different needs of each age group. We then spent a good hour talking about uniforms and crew member protocol. It was kinda like doing job training/orientation - which was weird because the whole time it felt like we all already had the job.
After a 10 minute break we came back inside and were told we'd spend an hour doing icebreakers and activity games; "To get us to stretch and be relaxed after sitting so long". Clearly we were also being evaluated for this too, as Nicola and Wendy sat close together, clipboards up, pointing and muttering about us as we did them. We started by introducing ourselves to each other, the position we wanted on the ship, and what we currently did as a job/school. It was clear that there were some people who were super qualified, some who had only worked at fast-food joints.
I remember playing a game where we had to stand in a circle and say our name, a hobby we liked to do, and an action/motion representing for the hobby (Ex, I'm Brittany, and I like to play tennis!).The person after would do their own thing, then introduce the person before them, their hobby and do their action. And so on, until the last person would have to know all 20 names, hobbies and corresponding actions. I was near the end of the circle - which to some would be terrible, but my years in drama/theatre doing this activity over and over made me super confident that I could pull it off. Most people did their actions awkwardly and halfheartedly, with an "I'm-too-cool-to-care-about-this" air about them. Michelle and I stood together with our gamefaces on. While most everyone else barely made any attempt to memorise all of the other names, let alone do the actions properly, I resolved to get it PERFECT.
I said: "I'm Prince, and I like to do Magic" with an appropriately flashy hand movement. I then proceeded to do everyone else's, having put a bit more effort into memorising all of their names and actions. When I got to the end, I got applause all around. "You're HIRED!" I heard Wendy say from across the room. Michelle was next. She also aced it. "You Too!" Came the voices behind the clipboards. We beamed.
After a lengthy information session about everything we needed to have completed before even boarding a ship - forms, documents, medical screenings, background checks - we were then ushered out to find ourselves lunch before coming back in for one-on-one interviews.
As we left for lunch, Nicola pulled me aside and asked me to stay behind after my one-on-one, she'd just gotten word about an update from Disney and wanted to give me a heads up. I said I would.
When we came back with our lunch in hand, I pulled out the laptop as we proceeded to wait out in the hallway as everyone was called in, one at a time for their one-on-one interviews with Wendy. Nicola stayed out with us for any additional questions and encouragement. Considering there were about 20 of us, this whole one-on-one interview time took another 2 hours. I opted to go last, since most other people were from outside Toronto that day and needed to get home. I also wanted to leave a really memorable impression. So over those 2 hours, I decided to play my music to get everyone else nice and chill - apparently 90s pop gets everyone happy and it lightened up the mood in that hallway considerably. "This is exactly what you'd be doing with the kids" Nicola said to us.
THE INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEW
Finally after everyone else had left and Michelle wished me good luck as she took off, I finally went in for my one-on-one.
It was just Wendy and I, and she looked incredibly tired after all of those interviews. Mine went by incredibly quickly and was very simple. After collecting my paperwork and reassuring me about having some time to get the things I was still missing, she just asked me:
"Describe yourself, and how your experiences would work well as a Youth Counsellor?"
"Why do you think you would adapt well to ship life?
Following this, she asked me if I had any questions for her. Nicola had also entered the room at this point and began cleaning up, as I was the last one. And - I don't know if it was me feeling giddy or just tired, but I decided to ask really different questions, things the others probably didn't ask before me:
"Why are most Youth Counsellors female? Is it harder for guys to get chosen or is it because less guys apply for the position?
"Do you miss it? Living on the ship? Why/why not?"
I definitely threw her off guard for both of these questions, and she and Nicola actually had a good discussion about it in front of me, going over fond memories of when they both used to be actively on board years ago.
Finally, it was time for me to leave. I offered to help clean up and Wendy seemed to be super grateful for that. Yeah, yeah I sucked up a fair bit today to look like that charming, helpful Princely type.
But that wasn't the best part of the day. The best part was at the very end, before I left - Nicola caught up to me in the hallway and said: "Wendy's probably going to email you offering you a job this week. Now, you can take it and I'd be happy for you - but I think you're perfect for Disney and there are spots opening up. I'll email you more about it, but that's something to think about. Take care!"
As soon as I left the campus, I screamed. It was all legit starting to happen! I celebrated with a popsicle in January, I was that thrilled.
Up next: The Disney Interview!
