cook

food manager

attendant

senior financial analyst

technical manager

Universal-Studios-Hollywood

It's different from most places. I complained a lot while working there but I actually liked and miss the job.
The interview process is often a two step process. First a one on one interview and sometimes a group interview where they observe how you work with others and then you're interviewed by a group. The second time I applied, I was interviewed in two one on one interviews before I was hired.
It's paid training for about two weeks, they provide the uniforms and wash them while you only have to purchase your own shoes. 
Your assigned a particular area of the park and then you're out there working! The best part was that once the official 2 week training was over, team members and trainers still provided help when needed and you were never on your own until you thought you were ready to work on your own. Basically they do their best to prepare you for every aspect of the job and training is thorough which is something a lot of jobs don't do in my experience.
It can get busy and hectic and often times we were understaffed and working long hours making up for lazy team members or the terrible scheduling but time passed quickly. More often than not, during the slow season, there wasn't much to do but deep clean and restock so in that aspect the job was relatively easy. 
Lots of opportunities for promotions were offered, you just had to really put in the effort and communicate with hire ups. They appreciated team members who weren't afraid to say hi and make small talk with them every so often. 
Leads and managers were often stressed and some times played favorites but the awesome team members more than made up for it. 
The pay was awesome as long as you had hours. Getting hours was the most difficult part of the job because they often hire more than they actually schedule anyone and if you want hours you have to fight for them, put int he effort to call in and place yourself on the schedule daily.
There are strict rules in place that are often updated and changed. Team members/managers are mostly friendly but I never felt like they went out of their way to get to know anyone's name individually unless you gave them reason to.
Overall, it's a nice first job to have, the weekly pay was awesome, the hours were long and often slow. Managers/Supervisors were hit or miss but there were opportunities to be promoted and move around/

My days started with me going upstairs to change into my uniform. Then I would head down to the games area, put my things in my locker in our break room that was so tiny I'm sure we broke fire codes daily. Then I would go to the Shrek Shack to put on my money pouch and count on my money and possibly receive a radio or microphone for the day. I hated the mics. That meant I had to talk for 4 or 6 hours straight. I loved the radios, though. That meant that whenever I needed change or assistance or a manager, I could be sure they were coming soon, and not just stand around looking like an idiot waiting for someone to look in my direction. Now, for the actual job description part of my day. Basically, it was my job to sell a bunch of really hard, really stupid games to a bunch of little children and their irritated parents. Now, I understand the reasoning in making the games so hard: we're in the selling business, we want them to lose so that they keep trying harder to win, so that we get more money. But honestly, and I mean, I'm just being an empathetic human being with a beating heart here, if you're paying $30+ on a stupid game for your 4-12 year old, and they haven't won yet, then it goes from the game being a little bit challenging to the creators of the game being kinda mean. So, basically, I got paid to disappoint little children all day and possibly even make them cry. Then I had to deal with their irritated and angry parents yelling at me about how my game is impossible and I should have a little sympathy. But what they didn't know is that I have more sympathy than they think. It was my job to do these things even though I didn't like them. The angry parents didn't know that, as angry as they were at the injustice to their kids over my game, I had that amount of anger in me each time a child lost my game, because I knew it was unfair. So, that's 1 mom's anger times about 250. My coworkers were rude and mean. The management didn't care about anything. The hardest part of my job was going to work knowing that I was doing something that I 100% didn't believe in. And also knowing that I had been underpaid by them, considering that my lowest check I took home was $27, and that was for a full week's worth of work, and my average checks weren't that much higher than that. The best part of my job was when I stopped working there.

Very entertaining especially with the fun surrounding being at the entertainment capital. Lots of locals and tourist, so many people to talk to. This is an all day standing job, so be prepared to stand straight not leaning on a wall for hours.  Very diverse and a good place to start for experience, opportunity growth is potential.  You get free admission with your employee ID and parking on selected days, discounts at Citywalk.

 Planning for your shift could mean coming in 40-an hour early, getting through the lot, traffic could cause you to be late. You have to walk from parking which is in city walk to the front gate which takes about 10-15 minutes depending where you park. There are parking time restrictions as to where employees can park, so if you have a later shift prepare time to find parking especially if it’s packed in the afternoon. 
 You have to prepare to get to wardrobe department after security check and that itself usually goes fast but again you could be waiting for a few minutes depending how many people join the line the same time you did, it’s the only employee gate with two security TSA like lines doing bag checks through scanner. 
The wardrobe department is very big and you have to plan at least being in there for 7 minutes collecting your outfit for your shift, there is another line and scanner that you have to go through so it can scan the clothing items with small  tracking magnets attached inside the clothing,  to your name, AND THEN you can go to the lockers with showers to change. With all that being said be prepared to plan for your shift including Los Angeles freeway and street traffic. 
On busy days there are a lot of people that want to visit and you have to enter the same entrance as the visitors and the line is very unpredictable at times could be long or could be no line, then you divert to the lane where employees go, so it’s a lot of planning ahead and being prepared for your shift. 

Typical day at work: We go to our destination at a certain time, got our uniforms, and headed down to the tram to work. We put up barricades as calls for our daily routine.. we carried around a walkie-talkie. Keeping very attentive to anything that could happen. We continuously watched guests, scare actors, and the environment for sudden disturbances or danger. We would get a lunch and sometimes a 15 minute break.

What I learned: Team work is much like a family. work together, socialize, take care of priorities (the guests) and make sure everyone is having fun.

Management: There was a small problem with that. The managers did not always keep us up to date. (if they took a position out or we were going to change to a different spot)

Your co-workers: I felt they weren't working nearly as hard as I was. Not that I'm complaining.. It just keeps problems from arising if they try to prevent a problem. They waited for a problem and then fixed it. Where as some guests would be injured or the scare actors would get hurt. Wherever I was placed No one got hurt. I always paid attention to make sure everyone was safe and having fun.

Hardest part of the job: We really can't see that well in the dark. Especially without a flashlight. Its always a problem if you can't see.. especially for your own safety or the safety of others.

most enjoyable part of the job: It was really rewarding to see guests enjoying themselves. Seeing them scared silly has never been so rewarding. I'd go back every year as long as I could.

What can I say about being a tour guide at Universal! It’s a dream come true for me it’s such a fun job doing trams and getting to give a tour to 200+ people every day so I know what you’re thinking why is the rating so low if you love it! Two things! Work Culture, and VIP! VIP was such an amazing experience meeting people spending time with them changing lives it’s literally the perfect job for me but of course it’s too good to be true! If you start to make a name for yourself in VIP and you start turning heads you become a threat to a lot of the other tour guides in VIP! It becomes toxic! Think about it VIP is full of failed actors as tour guides waiting for their opportunity so the minute you start getting noticed, recognized consistently! THEY HATE THAT! I’m not going to sit here and say don’t audition or the tour guides or don’t do VIP everyone should have their own experience but I will say not everyone is your friend no matter how much you think, Don’t let the other guides into your personal life, keep your mouth shut, DO NOT trust management to have your back, and limit your jokes as much as possible just stick to the information on the tour! There is no clear outline on what jokes you should or shouldn’t say but they will be quick to try to get rid of you if you do! And finally don’t fall into the trap of drama and negativity! The break room in VIP is always talking negatively about the department, or a fellow guide, or their own guests just don’t engage because they are looking for something to tell on you for DO NOT TRUST ANYONE!

I got hired as a SEASONAL ride op (2014)--

Honestly a typical day at work for me would be a 3 hour commute on the subway system(HORRIBLE) a brisk hike everyday up the biggest hill you could imagine (if they don't have the employee bus available) --STILL HORRIBLE it sucked. And then when you finally get there you have to wait in line for your bad fitting uniform then go into a COLD locker room/bathroom and get dressed it was always crowded in there. I'm a woman and they didn't have that much mirror room. 

I often looked a mess at work simply because the seamstress was in a rush on fitting day and now i was stuck with this because i would have to come early to actually get my clothes adjusted (no thnks)

I proceed outside to get a schedule and get the work day started,

opening meetings always stated late and id often be confused because our sups wouldn't go through things thoroughly.

the coworkers were all around my age and friendly. i had no problems personally but there were always alot of drama between management and sups (super unprofessional) but im not the type to get into those types of things.


the hardest part about working for Universal Studios Hollywood was the commute. YOU NEED TO HAVE A CAR TO REALLY ENJOY COMING AND LEAVING FROM WORK. LOL 

NOW... 
 for the best part just the employee lunch room with wifi The prices were excellent for all that food!. Thats the best part about working for this company. 

overall i would consider coming back to this company but it was a cool experince

The company is a great stepping stone when you are new, and offers a lot of seasonal opportunity to participate in other job positions and different pay rate. For some, that is great; opportunities like that are very few. However, if you cannot separate personal feelings and be objective that a leadership position and a group dynamic can change, you will struggle with authority and being a part of a team.

I would say one real positive thing is the networking you can do and all of the different people you can meet in different fields. You may find the job you started out in wasn't actually the job you feel strongly about.  Whether you are seasonal or full-time, you make great connections.

I think a negative was overall management.  Their focus at the time was results (common place) but left no room to truly care about the team they were managing. Specifically in the simple yet tedious act of evaluations.  They were very few and very generic.  In fairness, there were always too many of us for there to be a more personable experience, but that could have been ameliorated by training the supervisors and assistant positions of leadership more, or relying on their closer observations. Delegating the tasks more strongly so that there was some focus on building up the employees and working to make each one more successful in their work. I think this could have greatly improved the work environment in our department as well as trust and professional relationship between employees and the management team.

I enjoy the pace and type of work as well as the cohesive nature of union employment, people tend to work together better as a union team. It is very interesting to see the variance of equipment that goes together to create an amusement park attraction, there is always something new to work on. The relationship between the union employees and management is a bit strained, it sometimes feels like an "us versus them" struggle. The most difficult part of the job is certainly dealing with the aforementioned dynamic, it leads to an excess of poor communication which adversely affects the union employees. The most enjoyable parts of the job are the sense of accomplishment in making large repairs that get venues up in time for the guest to enjoy them, there is satisfaction in knowing that your direct contributions have made the parks guest happy.

In spite of the issues with management, which are the exception and not the rule, USH as an Animation Technician is an enjoyable workplace. I would recommend this job any experienced industrial maintenance professional that is looking to get out of a plant and wants something new and exciting

I worked the overnight shift at Universal doing stocking. At first, it was actually great. I liked my co-workers and I was able to depend on them. My leads were great and the managers did a good job to pretend to be great too at first. Then it only just got worse. From what seemed to be very independent work, overtime we got more smothered by the management. Attendance, by the way, is something that is taken quite seriously by Universal so if you know you're the kind that calls out a lot or a lot of stuff unexpectedly happens, this isn't the job for you. They will fire you for poor attendance. With how I hear things are, I wouldn't really recommend working stock overnight honestly. It's only going to stress you out and it takes a lot of your energy. But not everything is bad. There is some redeeming qualities to working here. You get good benefits if you manage to get full time there. Health and dental insurance, paid vacation, and paid sick days (even if you're part time, you get this after working a certain amount of time there) and a guaranteed 30 hours per week. And also you get free tickets overtime, depending how many years you've worked there and during the holidays they give tickets as well. And you get free admission to the park, as well as really good discounts on merchandise and food.

I worked at Toothsome Chocolate Emporium on the CityWalk, as a dishwasher. The work was mind-numbing, just go in do your job and go out. The worst part about it was we were ALWAYS understaffed, so you'd regularly have one, two if you're lucky, people on one floor handling all the dishes on that floor. It was obvious Universal cared more about the funds rather than having sufficient enough workers at any of the stations in the restaurant. Management only cares about themselves, though there was a couple chefs and one manager who did look out for you as best as they could. Upper management didn't even try to care about you though. They always make you go on your lunch break an hour or two into your shifts (unpaid lunch btw), which for me personally wasn't great but you get used to it. You don't really get a chance to move up anywhere in the company. They always try to keep you just as a dishwasher, very rarely did anyone go up to prep or cook. The best part about the job was the people, everyone else lower on the totem pole who suffers alongside you under one roof cause you really need the money. Love those guys. All in all, only take this job if you really need it.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Cook 17 salaries reported	$23.53 per hour
Food manager 9 salaries reported	$29.61 per hour
Attendant 3 salaries reported	$21.00 per hour
Senior financial analyst 2 salaries reported	$85,000 per year
Technical manager 14 salaries reported	$99,929 per year

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