Sunday, January 31, 2010

The AD/HD Resume. Part I

Easily distracted, rarely finishes tasks, often late for appointments, chronic procrastination, often fails to follow instructions, is often forgetful in daily tasks, constantly seeking external or internal stimuli, often loses things necessary for tasks and activities...

These are some common AD/HD symptoms (mostly associated with inattentive subtype, so it only covers half of the combined type spectrum - I am combined). It reads like an anti-resume, doesn't it? Kind of an employment binary-opposite. Having AD/HD does make it look a lot like you're wired for unemployment.

Repetitive tasks that require focus and a lot of mental energy are downright impossible. For me, its easy to learn how to do something new if I want to learn it. Sometimes it takes me a little longer, sometimes it takes me no time at all. But either way, I can learn it and do it really well. Once. Maybe twice. Three times I can't do. A whole day is going to be hard. A week is going to be difficult. A month is going to be improbable. A year, impossible.

So there goes hospitality as a viable career option. Also most retail jobs. The two entry level job types which are considered a necessary precursor to real employment. I've done both many times, and I've never been able to do it without screwing up to epic proportions.

So how about manual labor or a trade? A lot of these types of jobs do burn off  excess energy, and sometimes  the skill level they demand can be quite stimulating. But at the end of the day, all the nails need to be hammered. And thats dull. The boss could introduce and provide training for using a nailgun effectively. But once mastered, or if not interested, the AD/HDer is just going to adapt the nail gun into something that will interest them. A bored combined AD/HDer and a nail gun is not a good idea.

Sometimes we can do really repetitive things - but only for so long. And usually only if we're medicated. And even with medication, its often still a little frustrating. If we're forced to do it, we will eventually crack. These kinds of repetitive things tend to only work as hobbies. Things like martial arts, dancing, painting, and perhaps blogging.

Continued here.

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