(Front Desk) Interview advice needed

[HarryFromMarydelDE]

Hello,

I am going to Casting on Friday to interview for a transfer to a resort Front Desk position. I was wondering if anyone here who may have interviewed for this role can give me any advice on anything that may be specific to a Front Desk interview. Also, I was talking to one of my fellow Cast Members on Main Street East who used to work Front Desk at the Polynesian and she said that at the interview they will ask for my five preferred resorts. We may be moving down around Davenport in August so I was think of putting Animal Kingdom on my list since it's in that direction; I also figured I would put the Contemporary down since I have thought that was the world's coolest building since I was born (well, it wasn't built yet when I was born, but since I was old enough to have a world's coolest building idea anyhow.) My friend who used to work at the Polynesian suggested Pop Century since she said the value resorts usually have openings and have a lot of Front Desk positions. Does anyone else have any suggestions? I assume you can check a box or something that says "or anywhere else with an opening" but don't know.

-Harry

[Shorty82]

No advice but good luck! MSE will miss you if you transfer, or at least I will.

[SRT_GB]

I applied to transfer to FD when I was working at the DLR hotels but both times I got called for an interview I turned it down. First time was because I had a conflict on the day they wanted to interview me and they weren't going to be flexible, the second time they called the day after I put in my 2 weeks' notice.

My guess is they may ask you about your willingness/ability to work graveyard shifts, since I assume that's where a lot of FD CMs start out. Judging from what I observed of FD CMs, FD is like Guest Relations in a lot of ways, so they may also ask about your ability to adapt to changing scenarios, service recovery, that sort of thing.

Hope that helps, and good luck!

[Theme Park Where]

I worked the front desk at Caribbean Beach and Grand Floridian. Actually, I was a concierge, then the training coordinator for FD/Conc at the Grand. When I interviewed, they asked the usual interview questions, but it was clear they were looking for problem solvers who could deal with people from a lot of different cultures, backgrounds, etc. on a face-to-face basis. When I worked there, we had to be able to do dining, check ins, room assigning, etc. I think they've simplified the front desk position quite a bit and you don't do much of anything other than checking people in and out, making room keys, etc. They've implimented the lobby concierge to do much of the other work. They will ask your willingness to assist with luggage, to make room deliveries, and to do that sort of task. They didn't ask me about night shift, although I ended up volunteering for it and did that for almost a year at Caribbean. Most of the overnight people have been with the company for a long time. They do that shift because they enjoy it. You would most likely end up on a late pm shift (like 2pm to 10:30pm or even 4pm to midnight) at first since the early morning shifts go first.

Oh, and the computer system is rather complicated (and buggy) so they'll ask about your comfort level/skill with computers most likely.

[HarryFromMarydelDE]

I'm very familiar with computers and I love helping guests; helping guests is the biggest reason I want to transfer there from Merchandise. I worked in security at various locations (a hotel, then a museum, then an agricultural research facility for five years, finally at an oil refinery) for seven years so I am also used to helping solve people problems face-to-face. I only work night shifts (the Sun and I have a restraining order, we have to stay at least 92 million miles from each other) so I don't think scheduling will be a problem. Thanks for the advice so far guys, and any more would be appreciated as well.

-Harry