If you have ADHD or know someone who does, you know there are some specific challenges which someone with ADHD must contend with. ADHD to some is a disability which limits their career choices but not only is this untrue it is a great disservice to the employers and society which relegate them to minor positions believing that because they cannot sit still though meetings or fill in time-cards correctly they are somehow not capable.
Some of the traits of ADHD are high energy, hyper focus, creativity and motivation through goals. This leads to the development of new products, sales campaigns and additional profit to those businesses which can recognize the benefit and make accommodations for those with ADHD.
There are also disadvantages as well such as maintaining interest, focus and ensuring the details are correctly attended to. Those with ADHD tend to cause disruptions in social situations, cannot do repetitive tasks for long and need constant stimulation to remain interested and productive.
Depending on the stage a business is in will determine the value someone with ADHD has for them. They are vitally important in the startup stages of business and during fast growth but once a business reaches the management stage where most of its products or services have become commoditized and there is little need for innovation to maintain current profits their value is overshadowed by the additional tasks of maintaining their employment.
List of beneficial traits of someone with ADHD
- High risk tolerance
- Fast paced
- Creative
- High energy
- Goal oriented
- Passionate
- Ultra-structured
- Highly focused
Best Jobs For Someone With ADHD
Any career which requires an element of creativity and out-of-the-box thinking in a fast paced environment is a great choice for someone with ADHD. Having to make fast decisions in a limited informational environment and be able to quickly adapt to environmental changes are ideal careers.
Being able to solve problems quickly and remain highly focused on the task at hand is of supreme value in these professions and no other personality or physiological condition can come close to ADHD.
As such positions such as:
Emergency response personnel
These are jobs like paramedics, firefighters, emergency room doctors and rescue personnel. These careers require the ability to make fast decisions, have a high risk tolerance, have a high amount of energy and be very goal oriented. In situations of an emergency the ability to take risks but be able to quickly adapt to information is vital to having the best outcome.
Entertainment
Comedy is dominated by those with ADHD. Personalities such as Jim Cary, Woody Harrelson, Howie Mandel along with rumors of people like Robin Williams. Since creativity is a highly scored measure for those with ADHD it is natural that they would have a high prevalence in the entertainment industry.
Becoming a successful entertainer requires a high level of risk tolerance, ability to think creatively under pressure and to maintain a high level of energy over a long period of time.
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IT professional
IT is a constantly changing industry which requires the ability to learn at lightning speed, have a high degree of focus and be very project oriented. In IT there is no chance that any individual will know it all or be able to maintain the knowledge needed to support the ever changing technology of today. This gives someone with ADHD the advantage as they are able to quickly get up to speed on technology, creatively solve problems and are very project oriented.
Business ownership
It is without a doubt a fact that a business owner must have a high level of risk tolerance, be able to pivot quickly, come up with creative solutions to complex problems quickly and needs to have a high energy level over a long period of time. This makes business ownership ideal for those with ADHD. Many of the most successful businesses were started by someone with ADHD.
Virgin records – Richard Brandson
Ikea – Ingvar Kamprad
JetBlue Airlines – David Neeleman
Although business ownership is a risky proposition those with ADHD are ideally suited for the challenge.
Artist
The highly creative aspect of the artist is directly associated with having ADHD. The energy needed to learn and improve their skill, along with the ability to focus on a project until it is complete are also valuable to any artist.
Add to that the ability to take a risk without fear of consequences is valuable to those in the creative artistic field. Spending long hours producing something which is new and untested has a high level of risk.
Author
Being an author is another creative career which has a high level of risk, is project oriented and needs a lot of focus to complete. Most written content does not lead to financial gains for the author or the publishing company. The ability to discount the possibility of failure while the project is underway and having the energy it takes to manage the long hours needed to produce any written content are suited to those with ADHD.
Since most authors produce many works before success they need to have many creative ideas and be able to change directions fast to improve their chances of success. These are also traits of someone with ADHD giving them the advantage.
Advertising agent
The field of advertising is a difficult one to be successful as it requires the agent to alter the way a population thinks in favor of their client’s product. If you have ever tried to alter the way someone thinks without them realizing it you will understand the challenge an advertising agent has in his everyday life.
This job requires creativity, ability to learn quickly, maintain a high energy level and be very project oriented. The ability to visualize a campaign, what the message is and how to portray it to their population without being intrusive or shocking is imperative (no one wants to be convinced against their will).
This is a wide field which should provide those with ADHD hope when it comes to career success. Most businesses need people who can look at a problem with fresh eyes, be able to learn fast, make decisions and change those decisions quickly when new information appears. These are some of the most sought after characteristics in industry and they are the domain of those with ADHD.
How to use ADHD to your advantage
As someone with ADHD you have many advantages which others do not have. Your energy level dwarfs most other peoples, your ability to come up with ideas and alternate plans on the fly is of great benefit as well as your propensity to learn new things quickly and regularly.
One of the biggest benefits you have over others is the ability to focus on a problem until it is solved no matter what else is going on. This helps in emergency situations of all kinds from medical to business. Having the capacity to solve one problem at a time without other issues distracting you is a skill which few have and leads to impressive improvements in performance.
You can use these advantages by choosing a career or profession which allows you to be creative, has some element of problem solving, is high energy and constantly changing. Most jobs all have an element of repetition to them so develop methods and systems to mitigate the problems you will have due to these. Consider adding time pressure, goal setting and learning to these to decrease these.
To take advantage of the benefits of someone with ADHD within your organization you need to learn how someone with ADHD works. Demanding that they sit still through meetings, spend time filling in forms correctly or doing basic and mundane work will lead to poor results. It is like asking a sprinter to run a marathon.
Those with ADHD are idea machines. They love to solve problems of all types and are frequently puzzlers liking the challenge of discovering the solution to a problem. If your business has stagnated and you have exhausted all your ideas regarding growth then your ADHD employee becomes one of the most valuable resources you have.
Creativity being one of their most valuable abilities. One of the common complaints about the corporate structure is its inability to pivot quickly. There are many reasons why one of which is that the corporate structure drives creative people away leaving only breuroctatic systems behind which tend to stagnate and deteriorate. By having someone with ADHD onboard you have the chance of developing new solutions to problems which normally you would not have access to.
Challenges of hiring someone with ADHD
Although someone with ADHD is highly creative, energetic and passionate there are some challenges which come with the package.
Not detailed oriented
Those with ADHD tend to see the big picture and get bored quickly with minute details which (although necessary) to them do not seem important. Any job or task which requires crossing all the T’s and dotting all the I’s are not good positions for them.
If you need reports filled in in a specific way or other repetitive work be done, realize they are not going to get it right all the time and may not even care if they do. To get the most out of them provide latitude for them or supports which can mitigate their shortcomings.
Finds it difficult to focus they are not interested in
When someone with ADHD is placed into an environment which they find boring or uninteresting their mind quickly wanders to other topics. It is important to remember that they think quickly and need stimulation to remain on task. Long meetings, slow moving teaching sessions or general purpose reading are difficult for anyone with ADHD and can lead to them being a disruption.
Can be easily distracted
Although they can be hyper-focused they are also very distractible when they are not on task. This means that unless they have a clear goal, a problem or puzzle to solve or an outlet for their creativity they can get distracted.
There are some ways to mitigate this such as providing separate locations away from others, noise canceling headphones or music. Anything which provides stimulation or white noise in the background can help them to stay focused for longer periods of time.
Does not manage time well
Those with ADHD perform the best when they are under pressure. The high risk, goal oriented nature of their personalities thrives on challenges. This can lead to them ignoring projects until the last minute and then working hard to complete it when the time pressure becomes high. This leads to missed deadlines and poor work quality.
In software development this is mitigated to a certain degree with the agile method of development where work is divided into two week sprints and projects are assigned. This can help maintain the focus for a project and can be used in other business fields as well.
Avoids boring or repetitive paperwork
Once a problem has been solved and the knowledge is acquired about how something works the interest is gone from any task for someone with ADHD. This means that once the problem has been solved the writing of the report becomes tedious and boring. Other things like filling in daily forms are difficult to finish as they cannot remain focused long enough to complete the task.
It is not that they are slow or cannot maintain mental effort for long periods of time, it is that they cannot focus on something which has already been done and is no longer interesting. To get the most out of someone with ADHD, limit the amount of repetitive paperwork they need to do and systematize as much as possible.
Needs to be constantly on the move
Those with ADHD have an abundance of physical and mental energy and when asked to remain in one place without stimulation they will fidget, tap their hands or feet, tip back on their chair or need to stand and move. This can cause difficulties for them in meetings which require them to remain still or silent throughout the time.
This is not the place for them. Their minds are always working and usually can take in information faster than others filter it and discard what they currently do not need. This is translated by others as being a disruption and inattentive. When asked questions regarding what they learned during the session they frequently cannot remember as they discarded the information as unimportant (which to them is valid) shortly after they heard it.
Can be socially inappropriate
Since those with ADHD are constantly on the go they don’t have time to spend with people who communicate slowly. They often try to finish others sentences, skip the line or interrupt others in mid-sentence. This can lead to poor relations with others in the business environment.
Again those with ADHD have an abundance of energy and find it hard to wait for something or someone so when something is taking longer than they want they try to speed it up anyway they can.
Worst Jobs for those with ADHD
No article for the best career choices for anything would be incomplete without a list of careers which would not be good. The following list is a list of those types of jobs which those with ADHD would find it most difficult flourish in:
High detailed jobs
Lawyers, secretaries and health care are not good choices for those with ADHD as the level of detail and sheer amount of forms required to be successful would be overwhelming.
Repetitive jobs
Jobs which require repetitive actions done the same each time are bad career choices. Manufacturing line workers, grocery store stockers or bus drivers are some examples of these types of jobs. Any job which is based on repetitive work with little variation and no problem solving are bad choices.
Solitary jobs without a creative element
Solitary jobs which are repetitive or predictable such as data entry, insurance clerk or editors are good examples of positions which would be difficult to thrive in as someone with ADHD. These jobs are highly detailed, can be repetitive and depend on accuracy with little problem solving involved.
Bureaucratic positions
Although these types of jobs are usually associated with government or large corporations they can be found throughout industry. Wherever there are rules regarding what should and shouldn’t be done without a clear understanding or why, long forms which need to be completed and procedures performed regularly without any clear benefit can lead to difficult relations with employers.
Non-project oriented jobs
Positions which seem to go on forever without end are not good choices. These include management positions, maintenance jobs and cleaning/housekeeping jobs are jobs which go on forever without a clear end and cannot be ever considered complete.