I am excited to introduce you to Roya Kravetz of ADHD Success Coaching who is one of the 2015 ADHD Awareness Book Project contributors. Roya will be sharing more tips and stories in the October release of Wacky Ways to Succeed with ADHD.

Time after time the career coaching clients I work with tell me the same story: they have been choosing the wrong jobs or positions all their lives. These are all bright, talented, creative individuals, but they dread going to work every day and eventually end up either resigning or getting fired! Some have been diagnosed with ADHD a long time ago and some were just diagnosed recently. However, almost all of them have this one thing in common: they don’t know enough about their personality, work habits, strengths, weaknesses, or their values, to pick out a job or career that suits their talents and interests.

In many cases, my clients have read a job description and impulsively applied for the job based on one or two words they found interesting. Because they are intelligent and highly qualified, they are usually offered the position. However, what they are not aware of are the real job tasks and responsibilities that, in many cases, include enormous amounts of paper work, organization skills, and deadlines!

Why does this matter? Well, because all of those things require strong Executive Function skills, which ADDers often struggle with. As a result, once the honeymoon period in the new job is over, they start getting bored and overwhelmed, and realize they are doing things that don’t interest them. They procrastinate on their assignments and can end up in a very bad position.

On the flip side, this often leaves supervisors extremely confused since they can see how bright and creative the employee is as he struggles to be productive in the new role. Therefore, supervisors may come to the conclusion that the employee is just lazy and only wants to do the things that he enjoys! For the ADDers, this might look just like what they went through with their teachers and professors in high school and college.

I have seen this situation happen over and over again, therefore I have some advice for the individuals with ADHD who are looking for a career or job:

1. Make sure you work with a professional in order to find out more about your personality, strengths, values and work habits.
2. Do an informational Interview with a person in HR or if you know somebody in the firm even better. Write down all the questions you have about the job description and make sure you go over them during the interview.
3. Make sure that the answers you received coincide with the job you are being interviewed for. Do not hesitate to ask the person who is interviewing you the same question or questions if you have any doubts. Make sure that you are very clear about your job description and in many cases whom you would have to report to.
4. Last but not least make sure that the job that is being offered consists of you working at least 80% if not more with your strengths and maximum 20% of the time with your weaknesses. Of course you will need tools to work around your weaknesses and acquire the art of delegation later on.

Roya Kravetz is a Board Certified and ICF credentialed life coach who specializes in ADHD coaching. Roya has a multidisciplinary, multicultural, and strength based approach. You can learn more about Roya and her coaching practice at www.adhdsuccesscoaching.com.