Dreamworld Job - Casting Call?

[kujotess]

Does anyone know what happens at a "casting call" for employment opportunities on the holidays? Anyone been to one before? Its this tuesday, wednesday and thursday!! Thanks

Edited October 28, 2013 by kujotess

[Randy23]

Basically a interview. One on one with the department that you will be applying for. It does get busy. Once you arrive, you'll be asked to fill out a sheet with contact details etc then wait for your name to be called. They will then ask you about 6 or so questions. Then they will tell you when you should hear back if successful.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Remember, in most cases they're looking for people who can make things fun. Answer the questions seriously, but always with a smile.

When I went for my interview with Wonderland many years ago, they did it as a group. Split us up into groups of 4, gave us a random product to sell (none of which were easy) and asked us to come up with a high energy TV advertisement to sell the product - each of us had to speak for at least a minute.

While we were brainstorming, one of the interviewers came around, heard us talking about taking the mickey out of Tim Shaw and his old Demtel ads - his eyes lit up and he told us 'yeah you have to use that'... 5 minutes of high energy fast talking about a book on australian native plants never sounded so good, and our group of 4 were the only group that all 4 of us got through to the next stage.

[Gary86]

I went to the last casting call which was meant to be employment for the September holidays right up to February 2014. I was going for a retail job but didn't get it despite I have a lot of retail experience. But it's all part of Dreamworlds cost cutting. The younger you are the cheaper it is to employ you.

[Brad2912]

Don't know you personally Gary so I'm not talking specifically regarding you. I interview heaps of people as part of my job and the people with the most experience are often not the best candidates. They are set in their ways. It is also common that people without experience show a lot more desire & passion in interviews as they want a chance, and given what DW is looking for that may take precedence over experience. Again not saying you were not passionate, or didn't come across well in the interview, but I don't think you can simply label it a cost-cutting measure and a focus on junior recruitment for the reason u didn't get the role.

[S.W24]

Thats a really good point Brad2912, You also need to keep in mind that these days our parks have changed a lot of there bargaining agreements and award summaries that now make it a standard rate for entry level no matter your age. Once you reach 12months of employment and you tick all the boxes they will then make you competent which will up your hourly rate slightly. From there you can end up on a senior rate at the discretion of your department manager. In this case your work ethic is a big contributor to how this matrix works. I interview a lot of people in my job and you can come across all different types of things, people that have little experience in the role but interview really well, then you have the complete opposite also. To think it comes down to cost cutting is a very narrow minded opinion, Cost cutting would be closing your retail outlet if it was quite and your sales per labour was down or under budget. The best advice i could ever give you is ask for feedback if your unsuccessful!

[Gary86]

Well I did get a seasonal job at Dreamworld back when I was in year 12. It was my first job.

[Spotty]

Dreamworld are pretty iffy on rehiring staff that have previously worked there, I don't quite know why but they just are. Village Roadshow are the same too generally. I worked at Dreamworld in 2008 as a seasonal and was offered ongoing work but had to turn it down due to wanting to focus on my year 12. I recently went for an interview with them and never even got a response back despite leaving on good terms. I do agree with a lot of the things other people are saying, and especially with roles in the theme parks they mostly go for your character and personality. If your bubbly, enthusiastic and approachable generally you stand a good chance. It's not always about experience with jobs (but it can help) it's just about weather your likeable I guess.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

This...

Cost cutting would be closing your retail outlet if it was quite and your sales per labour was down or under budget.

[raymond265]

not cost cutting. my girlfriend got a job in the last intake for the September holidays. she was told she would only work 3 weeks and then nothing to the December holidays. she has been working 35 hours a week since and they are making her permanent. Dreamworld are over the top about cutting costs atm but they still seem interested in keeping there good workers. if you have the right attitude you will get the job. they are less interested in skills because they can train you.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

You say you're in Newcastle... long distance relationship?

[kujotess]

I have another question, I had a group interview for a job at movieworld on the weekend for school traineeship.. Some of my friends have gotten emails regarding 1 on 1 interviews but i haven't! Will they not email me if I don't get the job? This is torture

Edited October 30, 2013 by kujotess

[Brad2912]

Dreamworld are pretty iffy on rehiring staff that have previously worked there, I don't quite know why but they just are. Village Roadshow are the same too generally.

You'll generally find most companies are like that. If you left your job previously, it was obviously for a reason, you either were not committed (in business terms; you could have had a very viable personal reason for leaving) or you were moved on. The risk in re-hiring is you may have a change of mind again and then the company is back in the same spot again, needing to recruit. From having worked within Ardent, i know line managers cannot make decisions on re-hires, it is left up to HR/Snr Management and generally the answers are simply no.

I have another question, I had a group interview for a job at movieworld on the weekend for school traineeship.. Some of my friends have gotten emails regarding 1 on 1 interviews but i haven't! Will they not email me if I don't get the job? This is torture

You should definitely get an email either way. The recruitment program they use automatically tracks and emails candidates. Have you recieved an email from them previously (i.e confirmation of interview times etc). If not, they could possibly have your email address wrong in the system. Also check your junk mail/spam folder incase your email program has dumped it.

[MaxxTheMonster]

I attended the first round interviews a few years back for Dreamworld. You fill in the paperwork and sit around. The issue then was that they went alphabetically by surname and they finished at a certain time. Too bad for anyone whose surname started with an M or later because we didn't get an interview and they didn't even take our paperwork to look over.

MW did a group interview where they gave us a short script (5 mins per person) that we had to present to get through to the 1 on 1 interviews. Got called back and had to present the LTRR script for the first room. Word of warning... Do not let them become aware you know it back to front or any of the pre show scripts. They immediately ended my interview and told me I was too "overqualified" for the position.

I returned the following year and played it dumb, forgot parts of the script and "had to use the script" as I was too nervous. It was the worst interview I have given and was sucessful.

They will not contact you if you are not successful and while calling them to find out may seem like you are showing interest in the position. They take it as you are pushy and impatient. These words are straight from the mouth of the HR department head when I spoke to her.

[Brad2912]

Do not let them become aware you know it back to front or any of the pre show scripts. They immediately ended my interview and told me I was too "overqualified" for the position.

I returned the following year and played it dumb, forgot parts of the script and "had to use the script" as I was too nervous. It was the worst interview I have given and was sucessful.

They will not contact you if you are not successful and while calling them to find out may seem like you are showing interest in the position. They take it as you are pushy and impatient. These words are straight from the mouth of the HR department head when I spoke to her.

Let me get this straight, they gave you a script to learn, and because you learnt it and were good at remembering a script they said you were overqualified and ended your interview?? Just like that? Those exact words? Come on... There was certainly something else to the reason you didnt get the job.

Regarding getting the job the following year, different recruiter? different mindframe? Maybe because you were "playing dumb" you came across more personable, maybe you were better presented the second time. Who knows.

[raymond265]

You say you're in Newcastle... long distance relationship?

obviously I haven't updated my details. she loves the job the only bit that sucks is not getting paid extra for working weekends.

[kujotess]

Do you think they'd email all the people accepted for an interview within 1 day?? :

[joz]

It depends on how they feel like doing it, based on all the different stories I've heard. I'm pretty sure it changes. I once went through a group interview, and at the end was asked to stay back with a few others to confirm some details on a form we all filled out. After everyone else had left we were told that we had all been successful in our application and start dates were confirmed. Sometimes they'll call you later if you were successful, it just depends on how they want to do it.

[Gary86]

Back in 2005 I attended a group interview at Movie World. I think I applied for the September holidays but was too late but got the interview for the Christmas period after applying again. I recall just having to say a bit about myself and I had to phone up the next day to see if I was successful... and I was. I think one of the main reasons I got the job which was a seasonal food and beverage was because I did the same thing over at Dreamworld the year before. They kept on asking me things like whether Dreamworld had mobile carts.

The parks hire more staff in Food and Beverage. This year I tried out at both Dreamworld and Movie World for a retail job. The Dreamworld interview was held at White Water World just inside the entry after the park closed where they held one on one group interviews. To get an interview all you had to do was apply online and attend a session. With Movie World the interview was held at Outback Spectacular which was a one on one group interview. I may have missed out since I was after ongoing work and because I was employed they didn't want me to trow my job away in case they didn't have any work for me after the holidays. From now on I will only go for non seasonal jobs if I apply.

By the way another reason I may have missed out is when I told them I work at Coles they were very interested in what I do. Back then I was really just a filler. Now I have started working checkouts I may have a better chance if a suitable job came up.

[Brad2912]

one on one group interview.

how do they work exactly?

I may have missed out since I was after ongoing work and because I was employed they didn't want me to trow my job away in case they didn't have any work for me after the holidays

why did you apply for a seasonal role if you were after an on-going position. Most of the guest services and f&b staff that are regulars, started as seasonal casuals and proved their wares. I also don't think they care enough about to other job to not give you position as you would have to give it up. If you are someone they wanted (i.e. you stood out, excelled in the interview etc) they would have given you the role in knowing that you would have done a good job and it probably would have led to ongoing employment.

[Gary86]

With the one on one interview at Dreamworld we all filled out an application form and handed it in to the correct person (there were labelled boxes for each department). After that we all stood around until our name was called out by one of the many interviewers. There were many staff from around the park doing them so many people could be interviewed at the same time. Movie World was pretty much the same but the interview session was only for two departments and we already had our application forms that we printed out when we got invited to the interview session. We split into 2 lines, whoever was in front had to what till the next one was called and hand in our application form.

I applied for the jobs since it did say possibility of ongoing work on the job ads. At both interviews they did ask at the end when I would be available to start. Although another reason I may have missed out was that I was not available to work nights since I don't drive and would use public transport but I always see Village staff catching the bus so I don't really see that an issue. I mean I may not be able to work night events but they still would need staff during the day they can't work all day and night.

[Randy23]

^^^ With public transport some parks aren't a fan even though it good as coomera station is near Dreamworld. But most of time you are 'On Call' so they would want staff to get there in time if anything happens or sometimes trains or buses maybe late which may cause the staff member to late for the shift. IMO

[Brad2912]

Spot on Randy. Own transport is key for a lot of casual positions, as you are generally on call for weekends and school holidays. Same goes for having limited availability. If they have 1 person who is readily available vs another that can only work days, you know who will get the job (providing interview/skills/personality are fairly like for like)

[MaxxTheMonster]

Let me get this straight, they gave you a script to learn, and because you learnt it and were good at remembering a script they said you were overqualified and ended your interview?? Just like that? Those exact words? Come on... There was certainly something else to the reason you didnt get the job.

Regarding getting the job the following year, different recruiter? different mindframe? Maybe because you were "playing dumb" you came across more personable, maybe you were better presented the second time. Who knows.

I did the script they gave and continued on with the scripting not remembering where it finished. They stopped me and stated that wasn't part of the script we were given and queried how I knew the rest word for word. I informed them I had been a long time attendee to the park and knew most of their scripts back to front. After asking me to do a few, including lethal weapon, parts of the movie magic sound stage (keeping in mind this was a 40 minute approx script for 4 different staff) and the great gremlin adventure which had closed approx 1 year prior, they ended the interview.

The same head of HR did my interview both years. I wore suit pants and a button up long sleeve shirt the first year, jeans and a short sleeve button up shirt the following. I told them I had finished year 12 and did a lot of drama and music since high school the first year, left it out in the second.

I called the first year as they had said they would know by a certain date so called the following day to be told they hadn't made the decision that they would know the next day. I called the following day and was informed that I was unsuccessful. When I asked why I was told I was overqualified for the position and that me calling them to enquire about the position had come accross as pushy and impatient.

[Brad2912]

fair enough Wyncenuros

As someone who interviews regularly, it puzzles me why they would have asked you to continue to recite other ride/show scripts (thus showing your vast knowledge and ability to remember scripting) only then to say you are too qualified. Either the recruiter had no idea what she was doing, or there was some other reason why she didnt want to give you the job and that was her 'out'.

You got offered the job the year that you wore jeans to an interview? Fair enough. Seems they have some bizarre people running recruitment over there.