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Originally Posted by Ivan
What did you do for Disney? I liked The Last Samurai too.
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Well you asked for it, here comes my bitching session...
Long story short (yeah right), started working for them as a "cast member" (thats what they call thier employees) doing the graveyard shift (maintenance) at Disneyland while attending class during the day. Went from part time to full time, to trainer to lead (foreman). I decided once graduated or close to it, I'd move into management. I did numerous interships and even took time out of my vacation in Orlando to get an overview of thier operations. Well Disneyland decided to revamp management...and were ADDING management positions. I was fairly close to graduation. I figured it a lock because I applied for a position within the department I was in. Hell, none of the canidates had a degree and none of them were even close to graduating. Plus none of them even had done an internship anywhere in the company or showed much devotion to the company. Well this is where it gets ugly...
I was called in the office one day and was told "you are over qualified and should seek another position outside the department". Seems plausble, except for a few problems:
1) Even if you meet all the qualifications, its hell to transfer. Its actually easier to quit the company for a year and then re-apply in a different area.
2) The goal of the new management jobs were to hire first within the department before hiring outside (if that was legal or not, I don't know).
3) Even if they opened the position outside the department, previous management exp. was required...see a problem here?
4) It was interesting to note that every flippin time I'd apply for a position outside the department, my application would get returned due to a) passed deadline (manager would sit on it) b) manager forgot to sign it...then passed deadline c) manager forgot to get HR approval first..and pass deadline.
This was pathetic. Almost the entire department knew that I got royally screwed. Couldn't even walk by half of them without someone saying "hey, there's a knife in your back". Whats even worse is, other people who were accepted and were going through the management program would come up to me asking what I did on a certain project in the program...they had assumed that I had already been through it. They were rather surprised to find out that I had not been selected, some down right shocked. Except the ones that played racquetball with managers on thier day off. Add insult to injury, they made another trainer the Head Trainer. The very schmuck I trained who was not even good enough to hold my sack (and had the gaul to ask me questions when he ran into training problems). I was not asked if I wanted the job, nor was I informed that the position was open (it was filled before I had a chance to inquire).
Well, I fled the company and all the time I spent doing the internships was for nought. I did internships at Bank of America, Coca-Cola Enterprise's, did some consultant work for smaller companies and worked as a temp to find the in to other companies. Ended up as a Pricing Analyst at Farmers Insurance Group by almost pure accident.
I'm not bitter at the company, If I had a job offer from them, I would still probally consider it (hey, it was a fun company to work for). But, I'm also very happy here at Farmers. For me to leave, Disney would have to offer double what I make now...and that would smack me right into the six figures...and since Disney has the reputation for paying lower (a lot lower...ex. My salary is higer than their Department Managers salary...and I was applying for a position below that), chances are its not going to happen. I really don't know all the reasons for the Bull Shit when I was there, my only guess is some of the managers in the dept felt threatend. Found out only a few had a college degree and none of those was above an Associates. Plus, I had the reputation for doing more with less...and that could have been contributing factor. Who knows!?
Hope this doesn't derail the thread.
2004-06-16, 04:47 PM
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