Best Jobs For ADD or ADHD Individuals
Wednesday March 12, 2008
“I have recently been diagnosed with ADD and my doctor prescribed medication, though it doesn’t appear to have much effect. I am struggling in my job and am thinking about making a change. What are the best jobs for people with ADD?”
--About.com user
Click on Best Jobs to read response.
Please share your own thoughts on this topic.
Photo © Microsoft
Comments
Another issue is medications. Just because one med doesn’t work, doesn’t mean that others wont. I used to take Cylert, which was excellent for me. Since being removed from the market, I have again tried a wide assortment and am using Ritalin LA. Other drugs did almost nothing for me. Adderall I thought was working alright until I found a year had passed me by without me realizing it. That was BAD!
Either way, Cheers!
I have heard that two “careers” that are heavily favored by folks with ADD/ADHD are sale(especially “outside” sales) and business owner (probably after the person has some business experience). Even though people with ADD/ADHD CAN be successful in many professions, I was wondering if there is any research about which professions folks with ADD/ADHD “prefer.”
Stan,
What you say makes sense. I can see how the fast paced, independent aspects of sales would be intriguing. I can also see how being a business owner would allow individuals to make use of their leadership, creativity, etc.
I am uncertain about research in this area…would love to hear from others on this topic.
My guess is that we are all so unique in our abilities, skills, interests, strengths that it would be hard to pinpoint preferences. Others please share your thoughts…
Keath
Iguanatom,
Great point! The right medicine can indeed make all the difference in the world. Your post reminds others not to get discouraged during this process. Keep in close communication with your doctor and realize you may have to go through some trial and error to get things just right.
Thanks for posting.
Keath
Ok, here it is plain & simple……
.Do what you “LOVE” to do….or, what your good at…..if you love, or, are good at something that isn’t considered “traditional”….all the more reason you should do it….Find a way to make $$ at it….nobody said it’s easy dealing w/ this “condition”..
…
Was diagnosed @ 46 yrs young….now about to turn 49, i’m back in college finishing my degree….
have fun—–
I truly believe that you must find the proper balance between medication and career. I have been a salesperson for many years now and have always loved the profession. However, earlier on, I was held back by not having the correct mix of medicine. It has only been over the past year that I have founds the right combination (Adderal and Dexedrine)and have doubled my earnings.
Sales can be excellent for someone with ADD/ADHD, however, unless you are stable and focused, the highs and lows of the sales cycle can be frustrating and demoralizing. I would strongly suggest doing all due diligence in properly researching your career before signing up. If you know you cannot take heat…stay away from the kitchen.
In my opinion ADD folks are great at what interests them. It is whatever ilicits a much more pleasureable response than the distractions.
I have worked in the IT industry and find many ADD folks there. They are adept at troubleshooting because there is a sort of “adrenaline rush” that helps them focus. On the other hand they drift through trying things intuitively assessing what works and what doesn’t and every detail whether it seems to matter or not.
This is where ADD folks shine because they tend to keep the details on the surface of their minds where other “normal” folks tend to forget details as they dismiss them because they seemed unimportant at the time. The ADD troubleshooter sees something and suddenly links symptoms together that were dismissed by others.
At a car wreck the ADD EMT works on an injured person as others ask how they can help. The ADD person continues and immediately says “Manage traffic and see if you can get somebody for the other direction, check the ditch because there was a bicycle that looked like it had a bent wheel and there was no rider.”
The ADD person is like a deer with nothing to do but browse for food. It has a hyperdriven fight-or-flight nature. Its only defense is sharp senses and great quickness and speed. While it eats you see its ears turn and the tail twitch. At any sound you see it hunker, cocking the legs for a quick jump. The deer usually knows what is going on around it whether it matters or not.
Oops, I forgot the main question.
As I said I see many in IT who tend to thrive on an intense program,design, or troubleshooting. They often are night people, functioning their best in the quiet of night with their conscious minds tired form the day’s interactions with people and the subconscious tends to be more free to be creative. (My Jungian influence shows itself)They practically worship coffee (hence JAVA and other coffee related terms in their esoterica) or Coca Cola. Others who oddly seem to smoke and use caffiene are the EMTs.
I know I can think of more but it seems to me that ADD people tend to like things that require great effort for short lengths of time which yield a sort of instant gratification. They tend to start a project and look like they are doing great only to lose interest when the project seems “whipped”, like it is mostly conquered and only mundane details remain. They also may see all the details of a big project as overwhelming (again conscious of all the variables at once) and avoid getting started in the first place.
Anyway, it is 11:07PM and I changed the oil in the car an hour ago but stopped to eat. I need to go back out, check and top off the oil, and clean up… typical!
Oh, one more thing about the deer.
We tend to be anxious and constantly aware of what evil/problems are out there.
One may become overly-aware of negatives in one’s life. I did. I was told I was hyper-vigilant… just like the deer. Being that anxious for a long time can lead to depression. It did in my case. I am totally recovered now.
…You want stories? I got stories!
Mike,
Your responses are all wonderfully insightful! Thank you so much for sharing…and yes, I would actually love stories!
Recently we have had some posts in our Forum with several readers struggling with their ADD. If you ever have the time, it would be great for them to hear how you have coped and pulled through.
You have a good way of identifying the positives and reframing, plus you have struggled through the anxiety and depression.
Thank you and Stan, Iguanatom, Lee and JD for your words. It means a lot for others to hear from you.
Warm regards,
Keath
After being fired 3 times, I found the easiest option was to start my own business as 1.) I could not fire myself and 2.) I had made a ton of cash for the last idiot boss.
But basically ADD people are best at whatever interests them. Just remember that ‘normal folks’ do not have the ability to the extent we have to hyper focus, see outside the box, invent, create, and challenge etc etc.
Love what you do and you will be successful…and yes take that risk, it is what sets you apart.
I agree with Mike. I’m a systems administrator and I find this job perfect for ADD. However, it really depends what kind of office you work in. If the job requires detail oriented, repetitive tasks and/or documentation, forget it.
If it’s a true engineering (designing, administration, troubleshooting) then it is better.
If you’re new in the field, I would recommend doing contract/project based work to keep the challenges, learning level and “scenery” changes high–until you can land the higher level jobs which require more complex thinking.
It has been a while since I posted the comments above. I will read the responses soon and respond. I guess I got distracted, eh?
It is almost 1AM and I will force myself to go to bed. See you all soon!
Mike I enjoyed your deer analogies. I too am told that I move from one thing to another. I see so much that needs to be done that I seldom finish any one thing that I start. I am now on Adderall and it has helped me, but getting the dose right is so important. I agree that the job question comes down to finding something that you love. I am in Grad school for Rehab Counseling. As long as it is something that you enjoy and are interested in I think that it is something that a person with ADHD can do great in!! That has always been the key for me, even before I was medicated.
my son is having problem in his first job. He has started a job in food service that requires fast timing. He is not able to keep up and is afraid he will be fired. He goes in 45 min early off the clock trying to get ahead and he can not. He does everything very slowly no matter what the task.
I want to encourage him but am getting no where.
A little back ground. My husband is very hard on him and he can never seem to do anything good enough to soot him. I have discussed this many times with my son and tell him that he just needs to do the best he can. He is very upset that he can not please him father. The job I thought would be something he could do is turning out harder then he thought. I have encouraged him to go into work with a I can do it attitude and hope this will help.
What else can I do to help him? I want him to know he can accomplish anything if he tries but how can I help him at this point. I have always helped at school but that has to end and he has to be able to make it on his own at some point.
Frustrated from the side lines!
tell him to quit that job and help him discover other lines of work that he may be adept at. paying your dues at a job that has no direct relevance to type of work that someone will one day perform is like caging an animal that yearns to be free. people with adhd do not like to play games by the rules unless they can understand and rationalize those rules and see some benefit in their design. you may not think that he is qualified for anything else, but i guarantee that there is some other task that he can perform well. allow your son to have some dignity! american society does not look kindly towards those people who do not “fit the mold”. sometimes a brief moment of inspiration is worth much more than years of dependability.
Any job really. But you need to be in a position that has no constraints so management or even director level or above.
Or anything that requires strategy level, creativity.
Boring repetition based jobs will not end well for either party.
adhder
I’m glad you realize that ADHD will affect your career and using your natural skills effectively is a wise decision.
I have been in the workforce for over 10 years now with just my high school diploma. I had every opportunity to take post secondary but decided it wasn’t for me at the time. From personal experience I can say that working in a tedious job will smother your creative energies.
I am now an aspiring entrepreneur with a file cabinet packed with ideas. I am considering going back to school for business admin and marketing. Entrepreneurship is my passion and it utilizes my creative energies perfectly.
2 recommendations: First, enroll in a career exploration program. The one I’m attending is government funded and involves extensive personality testing to narrow the choices down. Second, get an ADD coach. There are even ADD coaches that specialize in entrepreneurship which I would recommend even if you don’t think you’re interested in business.
Between these two services, you will have a rock solid idea about what you want to do. Even if you want to get into business, the career exploration will help you set up a backup career.
I’m also going to be taking a job search program that helps you to develop your soft skills (which ADDers have many) and learn how to market them. It also helps you to access the “hidden job market” which is where 85% of jobs are found.
Also:
Purchase and read ‘Getting Things Done’. I have read many books on organization and productivity and this book changed my life where as others just added confusion.
I should also mention that I have been off medication for 9 years and don’t intend to go back on. I find it stifles my creativity which is my greatest asset in life…
How do you find the career exploration program, government funded personality testing, ADD coach, and job search program that Mike suggests?
I hope Mike will see your comment and let us know more about the program he found helpful. One other option you can explore is your state Vocational Rehabilitation Agency to see how they can help.
Here is the link with contact info for each state agency:
http://www.jan.wvu.edu/cgi-win/TypeQuery.exe?902
Here is another link that may be helpful:
Finding a Job that is Right for You
http://www.jan.wvu.edu/Job/Step2.htm
If you aren’t able to find what you need at the Vocational Rehabilitation or the Job Accommodation Network links, they may be able to connect you to another program that can help.
Good luck! I hope we hear from Mike, too. The program he is referring to may be more of what you are looking for. You can also post your question in our ADD/ADHD Forum to see what people there have to offer. Here is the link to our forum.
http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?nav=messages&webtag=ab-add
Hey evryone,im 19 and never new i had adhd until like a week ago,i have come 2 notice that i dont know what i love 2 do,i love doing something then just loose interest and it makes my life so much more difficult.i live around people who lie,what shud i do
Hey Mr06,
You might also want to post your question in our ADD/ADHD forum. Here is the link if you are interested.
http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?nav=messages&webtag=ab-add&lgnF=y
If you don’t want to post, you can still browse through and read what others share.
Since I am ADHD, I couldn’t read all the comments before leaving my own. But I am glad to know that I am NOT alone!!!
I particular like the comment about career related to troubleshooting. I work in print industry. I find that my ADHD issues have improved ever since I started. There are lots of troubleshooting involved and I have to think outside the box on a daily basis.
Biggest problem I’ve been experiencing is that I tend to work on too many jobs at the same time. And I also make tons of newbie mistakes!! Despite that, my skills are at the top of the food chain.
I’ve been on 5mg of ritalin for 3 months while waiting for my offical ADHD report.
Only with 5mg of ritalin. I become a totally different person. Instead of making at least 2 mistakes every week, I made 1 in 3 months.
Today is my day 1 on 18mg of Concerta. I wonder where this is going to take me. But I have a feeling that some major change will happen in my life.
I can finally control my focus and stay focus.
I have just been diagnosed with ADHD and have started on both Seroxat and Ritalin.
I have skim through some replies (Sorry about skimming, no patience to read them all >.
Mike you are the man.. I have been off my meds for about 4 years now, and am currently a sophmore in college. Ya ill admit.. my effeciency was through the roof using adderall. But yak now what? that’s not what i want to be on for the rest of my life. My soul.. would be eaten. You loose your creativity, you loose who “you” really are. Its hard enough to find your self whe nyou have ADHD and cant even complete one single thought, constantly ping ponging off one idea to the next. I tripped shrooms for the first time.. IT WAS LIKE A NORMAL DAY FOR ME! haha. Taking medicaitons will only turn you into some robot or machine, I dont think it makes me focus on ANY of the characteristics I actually love about myself, only the evil money/ success driven ones. College isnt that hard. You gotta think about what you want to do for the rest of your life. Are you just a kid in college right now who takes speed everyday to strive for good grades, ina career you never imagined ourself doing, but now seems possible becuase your on the right “meds”? MY friend was too, he graduated, only after ealizing he doesnt want to take those pills for the rest of his life and is only efficent if he does. THe drugs made him strive for a career he didnt truley want to do. You gotta realize, your whol life people are going to be calling you differnt, maybe even stupid because you cant learn as easily as regular people, or hold a conversation as long. But what those people dont realize is is that you are not only thinking about what there saying, your thinking about that squirrel playin with the acorn on the tree behind him, that delicious breakfast your mom or girlfriend made you that morning, how to invent something completely amazing that this world has never seen, and how to stop this boring, regular, average, following SOB to stop talking and preventing you from what you really want to do.. WHATEVER it is..You see us ADHD’s all share one thing, WE ARE NOT NORMAL, WE HATE NORMAL, WE PRETEND TO ENJOY NORMAL, WE SECRETLY HATE NORMAL..
In a lecture: Series: M.I.N.D. Institute Lecture Series on Neurodevelopmental Disorders [11/2008] [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 14660] Dr Russell A. Barkley, Ph.D indicates ADHD is emerging as a clearly genetic situation and that the individual gemetic configuration of an individual will determine the BEST medicine as not all medicines will work and some medicines will be so wrong as to make the individuals life worse.
The lecture is available online at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3d1SwUXMc0