ADHD and How I Found the Best Job

One question I have seen repeatedly on ADHD forums and communities is about jobs. “What careers have people found they enjoy?”, “What job can I do that compliments the ADHD brain?” or the classic, “What job won’t bore me?”

We’ve all got different interests, so I can’t guarantee anything. But, I want to spend some time talking about how my profession feels just about perfect for my brain.

So what am I? Apart from being an ADHD’er, I am a Human Centered Designer. It’s a niche, but there is a large amount of overlap (of what I enjoy) in other careers like User Experience consultants, User Experience researchers and Service Design.

So, to make this as general and as valuable as possible, I will highlight things I enjoy that arise in the roles mentioned above.

A generalised description of these roles would be: being proposed with a problem; doing research; getting to know the target audience, and then designing a solution tailored to real peoples’ needs. This process ensures maximum engagement and saves money later down the line.

Strengths of ADHD

Empathy and curiosity

We did our time being humbled by a neurotypical education system; we know what it’s like to be disadvantaged from the get-go. I think these experiences lead us to become very empathetic people or learn to pick up on everyone’s mood in a room. We do this to accommodate and make sure everyone is comfortable – because we spend so long being uncomfortable.

In the roles I mention, you need to be empathetic and have the curiosity and drive to make things better for everyone. Think about equity with Māori people and correcting the colonisation of Aotearoa. Or, accessibility, for those using services and systems that don’t accommodate screen readers or keyboard-only users – or the physical version, having no wheelchair access to a building. These are the wrongs in the world that can be corrected with empathy at the root of your research and a human centered approach when building a solution.

Hyperfocus

You know it well; you heard something, and now your three deep hours into research papers and forums absorbing everything you can. The roles I mention rely heavily on behavioural research and learning about new fields and the trends within them. I don’t know about you, but that’s the dream for me. To research, learn and then apply it to building a solution that will support people and, in some cases, change lives.

Visual

We are visual and creative people. We learn better and communicate easier when we can provide pictures and diagrams to back us up. In the roles mentioned, we rely heavily on design blueprints, wireframes, user journeys, and prototypes. It’s second nature to us to and visuals, but this is a skill that makes it so much easier to create these deliverables in a way anyone can consume and enjoy. These skills and deliverables enable you to demonstrate creative and seamless solutions to solve the proposed problem.

People person

We chat, boy, do we chat. But all that yarning has built a bank of small talk that we can use to make others comfortable. Those are the skills you need for user testing. User testing involves getting out there with our new concept; we test it with real users. User Testing consists of making people comfortable and guiding them through a process while evaluating their feedback to reiterate the design, ensuring the most accessible intuitive solution possible.

The skillset that brings strength to this role is being a people person, a mediator, communicator – you can dive deep into the root of an issue and come back out with a creative solution that will support the people you have spent time getting to know.

But, I know to do my job well, I have to be completely on form – which means being super organised. You can learn more about that in my previous post here.

Chloe Gunn