Industrial Engineering - resume and interview prep

Hosted by MS&E alum Brandon Wulff, Industrial Engineer at Disney (focus areas: Genie+ and commercial strategy), and Johnny Dodero, Senior Industrial Engineer (focus areas: food and beverage (f&b), retail, downtown Disney, hotels)

There were two parts to this presentation: 

1. An info session about Disney, the roles available in the Industrial Engineering team (IE) that are relevant to MS&E students, and what they’re looking for/how to stand out.
2. General advice relevant for all job seekers into IE type roles, covering resumes and interview skills, particularly answering case study questions.

Part one: Disney info session.

Disney as a company:
Obviously a huge company, and divided into 3 main segments:
1) Entertainment (Film, TV, Media, Distribution, Linear Networks, Disney+, etc…)
2) ESPN (ESPN Networks, ESPN+, etc…) 
3) Experiences (Parks, cruises, adventures by Disney, Consumer products, etc…)

The IE team exists within the Experiences segment, primarily in Parks and Cruises. IEs primary role is to improve day-to-day efficiency for any part of these businesses as well as improve the efficiency for future developments (i.e. new attractions, lands, cruise ships, etc..) For example: if a theme park ride isn’t meeting the capacity goals, they’ll come in and figure out how to improve things, though the following kinds of work:

• Decision and computer simulation modeling – confirm throughput expectations and suggest improvements, if/then type conversations.
• Measuring impact – if we change this component, what are the consequences? (eg, Tower of Terror, now Guardians of the Galaxy ride, the IE team suggested having the numbers for the boarding groups). They’ve also examined things like single rider lines, boarding group sizes, adding particular numbers of Genie+ spaces per hour etc. 
• Capacity/demand analysis, eg, what should the Genie+ versus standby capacity be? Or if another ride has a planned long term closure for renovation, how will this reduction in overall ride capacity impact demand for other rides?
• Process design and improvement – eg, consulting with the Imagineering team to design locations and experiences. What will be most efficient way for their desired storytelling to happen? How to use data and analytics to help tell these stories?

There are various sub-teams:

• Attractions team
• Revenue driving business (anything except ticketing, for example, retail, f&b)
• Project development (future looking, the development or redevelopment of specific areas of the park - restrooms, pathways etc)
• Facilities and operations services (back of house, attraction maintenance, textiles and costume services)
• Downtown Disney and arrivals (retail, arrival experience, security)
• Advanced analytics (research in AI) (this team is based out of the Florida WDW location, not California DL – though they help with all parks) 

MS&E students are particularly suited for roles in IE, and Disney is recruiting for internships and full time roles. 

Internships:

• Assigned to one of the sub-teams within the overall IE team. 
• Assigned a coach for mentoring.
• Lots of training - Disney traditions, IE specifics, safety, day in the park, guest interaction 101 and more.
• Technical exposure - IE team members are Excel and Powerpoint super users! Plus other systems like Tableau, Power Apps, Python etc.
• Work is varied – typically you’ll get a long term project with ownership, some quick hits (eg, 1 week project), supporting studies (eg, counting guest density at a ride or restaurant), supporting events (eg, pride night), supporting any new attraction or restaurant openings or re-openings.
• Fun stuff – eg, annual scavenger hunts, canoe races, volunteer days at things like beach cleanups.
• Practicalities: 
  • 40hpw with occasional shift needs (eg, analysing the fireworks) 
  • 4 days in office, 1 remote (though better to come in person!)
  • 3 terms – fall, spring, summer, with some flexibility to deal with quarter systems like at Stanford.
  • Either DL or WDW.
• The internship should be considered to be an extended interview for full time roles, as Disney primarily hires from the intern pool. Interns that perform well and have not graduated can return for additional internship experience in subsequent terms. 

What you’ll be measured on for your performance review: (these are therefore the traits they’re looking for in interviews too!)

• Analytical skills – can you solve the problem in a way that makes sense and is communicable? There is never only one right way to solve a problem, so how are your critical thinking skills?
• Conceptual thinking – do you understand the objectives and scope? Eg, what is the bigger picture, how does work around capacity relate to things like financials and the guest experience?
• Consulting/communication skills – can you represent your projects, stay composed under questioning about it etc?
• Project/time management – can you plan and achieve results, can you prioritize, do you take ownership?
• Relationship building – Disney is close to everyones hearts and people who work there love what they’re doing! So, do you get along with others, are you able to network, can you influence people?

Compensation, culture and perks:

• Compensation is probably a bit lower than the industry average, and you’ll make less than Bay Area high tech.
• People stay for the team and the culture
  • Team is very well respected within the wider company, for example, 3 of the 4 Vice Presidents came through the IE team.
• Culture is very collaborative, not competitive.
• Possible to stay there long term or entire career - the IE team and/or Disney as a wider company.
• Full time work in the IE team has a “rule of thirds”: ⅓ of your time will be spent in the park collecting data, interacting with cast members and guests, ⅓ will be working on the problem at hand, doing the analysis, and ⅓ will be collaborative - working sessions, meetings etc. 
  • Interns do not have this same split, they’ll spend more time in the park doing that data collection and interaction work.
• Perks: main entrance pass for all parks except Tokyo, with unlimited entry for yourself and 3 guests. Spouse also gets their own pass for just them.
  • Interns don’t get these passes, but do get tickets and discounts.

Part 2: General advice no matter where you’re applying for IE type roles:

Your resume:

• You get 10-30 seconds to make impact. So put your more wow thing(s) at the top, to get eyes further down your resume rather than moving on to the next one. 
  • Stanford is a wow thing.
• Include your GPA.
• Experience – highlight leadership where you can. Projects, student leadership etc.
• Be action oriented, and give impact, accomplishments and results for each of your past positions.
  • Estimates are fine, so long as they’re educated and you can back them up. Don’t exaggerate.
• Use strong action verbs.
• Minimize any company or industry specific terminology.
• Proofread, and be consistent. 

Interview tips:

• Almost all companies will start with basically your elevator pitch (tell us about yourself). Be sure to practice this answer - it’s essentially your resume in 90 seconds.
• You’ll also get behavioral questions, which are examining why do you want to be with this specific company, in this specific role, and why they should hire you.
• Structure your answers with the STAR/START model:
  • S: situation: set the stage.
  • T: task: describe the purpose.
  • A: action: explain what *you* did, or what the team overall did *and* what your specific part of that was.
  • R: results: share the outcome.
  • T: take aways: what you learned that you can/will use again.
• Focus on what matters to the audience – which means you need to have done your research to know what that is.
• A compelling story is going to be better than just data.
• “What is your biggest weakness?” Talk about something that is good, but had a negative consequence eg, “I’m super detail oriented and it made me behind in my work.” Add in how you’ve adapted, eg, “I’ve learned to take some time to think through which elements do and don’t need to be detailed out, and seek advice or get clarification, before I dive in.”

Answering case study questions: A Disney IE example of this could be something like “How many churros will be sold at DL/Disney California Adventure tomorrow?” But you can use this advice for any analyst/planner type role.

• They’re assessing your ability to understand and organize ideas. So, think through what you need to know. For this example, that’d be things like:
  • How many carts do you have already per guest, or per square foot. 
  • How many guests are arriving? 
  • Do you have promos or special churros at any carts? 
  • Recent events that might impact things? Eg, increase in interest in Mexican dishes after the movie Coco was released. 
  • How many churros are generally sold per day?
  • What is the capacity for making churros? 
  • How long will the park/cart be open? 
  • Guest demand eg, full capacity at lunchtime, 50% capacity in morning and once dark.
  • What is the weather forecast? Eg, on hot days, people might head for ice-cream rather than churros.
• Approaching a case study: think it through in this order:
  • Ask clarifying questions.
  • Create a structured process, keeping it simple.
  • Use round numbers, and ground your estimates with facts.
  • Your numbers don’t have to be correct, though they shouldn’t be outlandish. It is fine to think and use logic along the lines of “assuming that there are no churro promotions” (usually there aren’t) or “assuming the park will be open for 14 hours tomorrow” (often it is) but not something like “assuming every single guest will buy a churro” (never going to happen).
  • Get your math right, no matter what your numbers are. 
  • Do a ‘sanity check’ of your logic and math.
  • Only now should you give and explain your answer.

Notes prepared by Lindsey Akin.