The Important Stuff: Application

Hi all!

The application for the Disney Australia/New Zealand J-1 Cultural Exchange Program is comprised of a series of steps. These include:

- Job details
- Login/create an account
- Personal information
- Education
- Work experience
- Criminal history
- Equal Employment
- Resume/CV and cover letter

Let's go over these one by one, shall we?

Job Details:

This page just outlines the program, it's eligibility criteria and some other stuff you should read but probably won't. Definitely read over the eligibility criteria carefully to make sure you can apply. Most of the criteria are based on the requirements of the J-1 visa so Disney cannot bend the rules for anyone unless they want to being giving away places to people who will be knocked back at immigration.

Login/Create An Account:

This was possibly the most difficult part of the whole application. Make sure you read the instructions carefully because all of your carefully typed information will be cleared if you get it wrong. The password criteria in particular is a doozy. Not only do you have to have lowercase letters, upper case letters and numerals, you have to have at least one non-alphanumeric character in there as well. Make sure to write down your login details because you are sure to need a reminder at some point.

You also have to complete three security questions but as far as I've experienced you never have to use them. But then again, I was the smart cookie who wrote her password down.

Personal Information:

As the name suggests this information is all about you! Your name, contact details, address all that you type stuff. There's not much in here that should stump you. I do advise looking up an article and working out how to internationalize your phone numbers. I highly doubt they will ever feel the need to shoot you a text but if the Big Cheese does want to send some emots my way I want to make sure he knows my digits.

Education:

This is all about your learning experience. You choose your institution and major from a drop down list and they also want to know your start and end dates. Don't stress too much about these as it's not too important. When you get to your PSSF the school will officially confirm your graduation date and Disney won't NLIC you if they don't match up. Believe me, I was out by nearly a month and it was fine.

If this is not your first time in the post-secondary education system then there are apparently up to six slots for you to fill with proof of your ultimate wisdom. Use them wisely.

Work Experience:

This section is quite a bit similar to the education section. They want to know the name of your employer, what kind of work you do, when you started there and other such serious information. Apparently there used to be a place for you to put references but it appears they have removed it. Volunteer work also counts under this heading instead of having its own section.

Never fear. If you don't have previous work experience then you can skip this section. Like the education section, if this is not your first time at the employment rodeo, there are six spots for you to fill with your most recent employment details.

Criminal History:

This part kinda stumped me because it doesn't mention Florida at all. There's some legal stuff about how some employers in some states have to know about your criminal history while others don't. From memory when they ask you if you have any criminal history you can say 'Yes', 'No' or 'I prefer not to answer'. If you have criminal history it's up to you what you do here. If you're a goody two shoes like me then it's probably best to just press 'No'. You could always go the 'Why do you wanna know?' approach but in this situation it's probably a better plan to avoid the confrontation.

Equal Employment:

Throughout this section they will ask you questions about your gender and race. As I've not done extensive research on how this information is used I cannot really comment on it too much. As far as I understand it is to ensure that Disney employs an equal number of Cast Members from minority groups as it does majority groups. It also strives to ensure that people from different backgrounds are on equal footing when it comes to employment opportunities. Again you have the option to answer 'Yes', 'No' or 'I prefer not to answer'. How you answer these questions is dependent entirely on your personal viewpoints and circumstances.

Resume/CV and Cover Letter:

While I have heard that Disney rarely reads these for our particular program is it compulsory to submit a resume/CV. You cannot progress without one. Make sure you do research into good resume and cover letter writing to ensure that your documents look as professional as possible. Also ensure that if you used custom fonts or formatting you save and submit as a PDF so the document remains the same if Disney happens to look upon it.

One thing to keep in mind for this program is that every (eligible) applicant gets an interview. If you make a mistake in your resume or you don't think your cover letter was as good as it could be, don't sweat. Once you are in front of them they will not be thinking of your resume. If you dazzle them with your personality and your answers in the interview, they will not even remember if your resume had spelling errors or if it was written in gold ink.

And that's it! I could be forgetting something (and I'm sure I am) but I'll add it in later if I remember. My next post will be about Disney Onboarding Central or DOCs. In the meantime I hope this post was useful and I'll see you real soon!

- Lily