What’s the Best Job for a Person with ADHD?
Approximately 4.4% of adults have ADHD. That’s a whopping 8 million adults. Adults with untreated ADHD may struggle with disorganization, restlessness, and difficulty focusing — all of which can impact on-the-job performance. ADHD also brings with it a variety of strengths, such as unparalleled creativity and ability to thrive in high-paced environments.
When it comes to choosing a career (or changing career paths), it’s important to focus on the strengths of ADHD so that you can thrive in your professional career.
So, what makes a good career for an adult with ADHD? To find out, we talked to Dr. Brian Briscoe.
The Best Job for Adults with ADHD
The truth is that there isn’t just “one best job” for adults with ADHD. There are a number of jobs that persons with ADHD tend to thrive in. If you’re looking to enter into a new career, keep Dr. Briscoe’s words at the forefront of your mind: “What matters about the job is the nature of the work. Persons with ADHD tend to do well in jobs that are highly stimulating, structured, and fast paced. Jobs that take advantage of giftings in creativity may be particularly advantageous for persons with ADHD. As a general rule, people tend to do best in a job that they feel highly passionate about.”
“I’m Up for a Promotion. I Am Worried That I Won’t Have the Ability to Compete With Others (Without ADHD). What Can Help Me Succeed?”
Disorganization and poor time management are two big symptoms of ADHD. How can a motivated adult with ADHD thrive in a successful career? Can medication level the playing field? Dr. Briscoe weighs in — and the answer isn’t solely medication.
“Medication can help. However, medication alone is not the answer. In my experience, medication gets people struggling with ADHD to about 50-60% of their optimal level of function. To get to 100% optimal level of function most people require coaching for ADHD or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.”
How medication helps
Dr. Briscoe explains the benefits of ADHD medication for adults, “My patients have told me that starting medication is like putting on a new pair of glasses. They say, ‘I cannot believe the new way that I ’see’ the world — everything is so clear…I can focus and see things so much more clearly.’ The medication increases one’s ability to focus, sustain attention, and organize one’s thoughts.”
However, pills do not make skills.
“Medication will enhance your capability to to stay better organized, manage your time better, and complete projects. But the medication will not DO these things for you. And the medication will not TEACH you how to do these things,” he continues. “Now that the medication has given you a newfound ABILITY to do things you could never do before, its time to learn HOW to do these things.”
What does that mean?
“What works for your mom, dad, or spouse (who don’t have ADHD) to stay organized and manage time will not work for you. If they tell you to try what works for them tell them to ‘buzz off’. The fact is that the organizational and time management strategies utilized and taught by people without ADHD simply do not work for people with ADHD brains — medicated or unmedicated,” Dr. Briscoe explains.
The trick is find the strategies that work for people with ADHD. In order to get organized, stay organized, and manage your time you are going to have to learn to apply strategies and tactics that work for people with ADHD. An ADHD coach, or CBT therapist with knowledge and expertise in ADHD can help you learn these strategies and tactics. Think of this person as a personal coach much in the same way that you would hire a personal trainer to help you develop better fitness and/or improve your overall health.”
“Creativity and Desire for Fast-Pace Work Environments Are Common Among Individuals With ADHD. Will Medication Take Away My Creativity?”
There are a lot of myths regarding ADHD medication. One of those myths is that medication will zap your creative juices. (You can read about more ADHD myths in our myth series.)
So if you’re asking if medication will take away your creativity, Dr. Briscoe has the answer: “Absolutely not. It will, however, help you to channel your creativity into productive endeavors. Person’s living with ADHD are often incredibly creative. This can often be an area of tremendous gifting. The problem is that other aspects of ADHD — organization, time management, difficulty completing projects — can often get in the way of one’s ability to express and demonstrate these gifts of creativity to the rest of the world — including co-workers, the boss, or the Board of Directors.
Medication helps one to organize one’s creative ideas into a cohert manner — allowing those ideas to be pulled together and encorporated into a prototype, presented before others to consider as part of a individual or company strategic plan, and/or directly implimented to solve a perplexing problem for a customer.”
Signs Your ADHD Treatment Plan Isn’t Working
Treating ADHD fully enables you to thrive both in your personal relationships and in your professional capacity as well. Untreated and even undertreated ADHD can impact your work performance.
“Individuals with suboptimally (i.e. poorly) treated ADHD tend to continue to experience significant difficulties with time management, organization, and difficulty completing tasks and projects. Attention during conversations with co-workers, supervisors, and customers may wander/drift more often than not,” Dr. Briscoe reminds us.
If you’re struggling at work, you don’t have to battle ADHD alone. We’re here to help.
Tips for Changing Careers
Whether you’re changing careers because of the pandemic, or you’re just beginning your career search, keep these tips in mind:
Look before you jump.
Dr. Briscoe says, “People with ADHD are prone to hop from one job to the next on decisions that are based more on impulse rather than carefully thought through strategic decisions that take into account long term career objectives and implications/consequences of the decision on everyone around them. This can sometimes damage a resume and/or relationships with the spouse and children in ways that were never intended.
If this has happened to you, its not something to beat yourself up about. It is very common for people who struggle with ADHD to have a history of jumping from one job to another. Many people I’ve treated with ADHD have held over 25 jobs in their lifetime.”
The good news is that life doesn’t have to be this way. Persons with ADHD can find a job that they enjoy. A job that you feel passionate about and stick with for a ‘long time’ – even if an eternity in your world would be 5 years.
Don’t ignore the signs of ADHD.
If ADHD is keeping you from your potential, we can help you get the care you need. If you’d like to learn more about us or set up a confidential discussion with one of our professionals, you can complete this form for a virtual appointment . Alternatively, call our Louisville, Kentucky office at (502) 907-5908.
About Dr. Briscoe
Dr. Brian Briscoe is a board-certified psychiatrist and the medical director of adult programs at Next Step 4 ADHD. Dr. Briscoe was voted a “Top Doctor” by Louisville Magazine. You can make an appointment with Dr. Briscoe here .
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Great advice, As you said there is a lot of jobs for people with ADHD, and that’s is right the thing you need to find out which type of work you enjoy
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the content!