The Disney College Program is one of the most unique internship experiences a college student can have. After all, the Disney Parks are renowned for their amazing attractions and shows, timeless stories and characters, and world-class customer service. The opportunity to work there is an amazing experience that teaches students a wealth of transferable skills, no matter which career path they take. Plus, when entering a job competition, how many other candidates can say that they not only worked at a Fortune 100 company, but at one of the most popular vacation destinations in the country? Participating in the Disney College Program and listing that experience on a resume is sure to get a potential employer’s attention.
However, with so many diverse roles available during Disney College Program—ranging everywhere from attractions to custodial to costuming—there’s also a diverse and varied skill set that participating students learn. That leaves many Disney alumni with this question: How do I put my Disney College Program on my resume?
Tips for Drafting Your Disney College Program Resume:
Before you begin writing out your Disney College Program on your resume, you need to create the first draft.
Why create a first draft? There are several different reasons, but the most important is making sure that you’ve analyzed your entire experience, all the information gained from it, and prioritized it. It’s easy to write something off the top of your head, but it’s also easy to forget about an important class you took or an event you partook in (especially if it was at the beginning of your program). Writing everything out and then looking at it as a whole will make sure that you have all the information possible and can effectively evaluate it to see what will work best on your resume.
(Tip: Write your first draft as a list so that it’s easy to read when you analyze it later.)
To get started with your draft, here are 5 steps you should follow:
1. List Your Role(s) and Location(s) During the Disney College Program
Although you’re assigned to one role when you receive your job offer, you may have had the opportunity to cross-train into a different role or location during your program. You may have also switched roles and/or locations if you extended your Disney College Program for an additional semester or summer, as well as if your original role was seasonal (such as lifeguarding). No matter what you did, list all of the roles and locations you worked at while on your Disney College Program in your initial draft.
You should also write down any shifts you picked up that were outside your normal location(s) and what that role was. This shows that you have the initiative to help out when and where needed!
2. List Any Classes, Seminars, or Tours You Took on your Disney College Program
Did you take a class or seminar during your Disney College Program? Or maybe you went on a Discover Disney tour? Write it down! List what the class/seminar/tour was called, how long it was, how many times it met, what you learned, any activities you did, guest speakers you heard from, etc. If you can’t remember the details, you can always reference DORMS or talk to friends who took the class with you.
3. Write Down Any Additional Opportunities You Took Part In
One of the great parts about the Disney College Program is that there are so many additional opportunities outside of work and classes, such as attending workshops or taking part in a VoluntEAR event. If you partook in any of these opportunities, write down what they were, what they involved, and (for volunteering events) what impact(s) you had on the volunteer efforts.
4. List Any Certificates or Recognitions You Earned
If you completed your Disney College Program, you walked away with at least one certificate (your completion certificate). However, you can also earn other certificates by taking classes and (if my memory serves me correctly) taking part in a certain number of additional opportunities, such as workshops. You can also be recognized while at work through 4 Key cards and Cast Compliments. If you earned any of these, be sure to list them and what they were earned for!
5. Reference the Disney College Program Website for Additional Program Information
The Disney College Program website is a wealth of information that you can use as a resource while creating your resume—especially for information about your role—as they’ll have an entire list of the different responsibilities your role includes! Look up your role on their website and look for any responsibilities that pertained to you while performing your role.
You can also reference this list for keywords, such as “maintain”, “monitor”, “assist”, “manage”, etc. These are action verbs that you can use when writing the final draft for your resume listing; you’ll create a starting list of ideas in the next step.
(Note: Do not copy and paste directly from the Disney College Program website. Not only is it cheating, but it can backfire on you if the hiring manager decides to do more research into the role you did while at Disney and sees your resume listing copied from their website. You can use the Disney College Program list of role responsibilities as a reference, resource, and inspiration, but not as a one-size-fits-all for your resume.)
How to Analyze and Organize Your List
Now that you’ve written out everything you accomplished and learned on your Disney College Program, the next step is to analyze it and begin grouping everything until you have a list of 5-10 categories. However, these categories are going to exclude your basic role information (ex. role, location, season participated, etc.); this role information is considered essential information and is going to go in the “header” and “subheader” of your resume listing.
When grouping these items, look for similarities in everything you listed, such as grouping all of your awards and recognitions into a category or your additional opportunities into a category. You could also split one large category (such as awards and recognitions) into two separate categories if there’s too much information to put in a single one. Just make sure that the items listed within it still match up, such as having class awards in one and Cast Member recognitions in another.
Once you have everything put into its own category, you’ll want to make a list of action verbs that you can use on your resume that relate to everything you just listed. You can use the Disney College Program website to see which ones they used for your role and/or you can reference this list of 185 action verbs, which I love not only because of how many it lists, but it divides them up based on the action taken (such as customer service).
How to Write the Header and Subheader
Now that you’ve done some prewriting, it’s time to put everything together into your Disney College Program Resume listing.
While each resume layout will be different, you’ll want to start off by listing the place of employment (in this case, The Walt Disney Company). In my own resume, I then follow this up by listing “Disney College Program” and my primary role. In this case, it would look something like this:
The Walt Disney Company | Disney College Program | Role
Based on the layout of your resume, this may change a little bit. For example, the above example is considered my “header” for the listing, with the dates of my programs (as I participated in Fall 2018 and Spring 2019) listed below it in an italicized subheading; please note that you’ll want to list the actual dates (in month and year form) of your program, as any other employer outside of The Walt Disney Company will not understand what you mean by “Fall 2018” or “Fall Advantage 2018”.
Using the header and subheader, a resume listing would then look like this:
The Walt Disney Company | Disney College Program | Role
August 2018-January 2019
The subheader and the header of the above example could also be switched depending on the layout of your resume.
If your resume doesn’t have a subheading style to list the dates of your program, you could take out “Disney College Program” and replace it with the dates of your program, so the header would then look something like this:
The Walt Disney Company | August 2018-January 2019 | Role
The placement of the date, role, and the company could also be alternated, based on your preference and the resume layout you are utilizing. Personally, I like to put the company name first, as it’s more likely to catch a hiring manager’s attention. No matter what layout you choose, make sure that it is consistent throughout your entire resume.
How to Write the Bullet Points in Your Resume
Now that you’ve written the header and subheader, it’s time to refer back to your list and write out the bullet points in your resume. Note that the key to writing a resume listing is to keep it short, simple, and to the point; after all, most hiring managers only read a resume for a few seconds, so you need to make sure that the important information is easy to find.
Also, an important tip to remember (per my university’s career center) is to have the “action verbs” of your current position in the present tense and any past positions listed in the past tense. This may seem obvious but I have heard some say that everything should be listed in the present tense, so it’s worth making a note of.
Using the categories you drafted in step 2, form the information together into a clear and coherent sentence. Start with the strongest, most vital information in your first 2 bullet points, then add the less important stuff in the last bullet points. The number of recommended bullet points varies (I personally use about 5 per position), but I recommend creating 8-10 per position. However, do not list all 8-10 per job on your resume; instead, pick the 4 to 5 that are most relevant to the position you are applying to and then list those on the resume you send in; by creating 8-10 bullet points, you can interchange them based on the job you’re applying for.
For example, some bullet points (for various roles) may look like this:
- Directed Guests around the parks and provided recommendations based on their questions, concerns, and interests
- Mentored incoming Cast Members as a trainer in my location
- Monitored FastPass+ selections on kiosks and educated Guests on how to use the My Disney Experience app
- Translated questions, comments, and concerns at the front desk to meet the needs of all Guests
Like I said before, a hiring manager typically only spends a few seconds looking at each resume, which means that you should only put 4-5 bullet points for each job. In fact, your resume may go through a computer that scans for keywords before being seen by a hiring manager or recruiter. That’s why you’ll want to select about 5 bullet points from the 8-10 options that you created that best fit the job you’re applying for. You may also want to switch out the action verbs in your bullet points to match the job description or job responsibilities.
For example, in the “Mentored incoming Cast Members as a trainer in my location” example, you could switch out the action verb “mentored” for one found in the description of the job you’re applying for, such as “educated”.
Putting Everything Together for Your Disney College Program Resume
Now that you’ve written out the heading, the (optional) subheading, and the bullet points, it’s time to put everything together! Using my previous bullet point examples (using responsibilities from multiple different roles), your listing for the Disney College Program on your resume should look something like this:
The Walt Disney Company | Disney College Program | Role
August 2018-January 2019
- Directed Guests around the parks and provided recommendations based on their questions and interests
- Mentored incoming Cast Members as a trainer in my location
- Monitored FastPass+ selections on kiosks and educated Guests on how to use the My Disney Experience app
- Translated questions, comments, and concerns at the front desk to meet the needs of all Guests
Final Thoughts on Putting Your Disney College Program on a Resume
There’s no doubt that the Disney College Program is an absolutely wonderful program for students and can be an amazing talking point in any job interview. However, with the wide variety of skills learned and roles offered in the Disney College Program, it can be hard for many participants to know how to list their Disney College Program on their resume. However, no matter what your role is, you no doubt learned transferable skills by working at one of the most visited vacation destinations on Earth and your resume is the perfect place to show them off.
Have any additional questions about the Disney College Program? Check out my posts on how to document your Disney College Program, how to create a Disney College Program bucket list, and more!