Preparing for your professional future can be a challenge. There’s a lot of pieces involved: exploring career options, preparing a resume, creating a LinkedIn, preparing for interviews, networking and so forth. Even for the neurotypical person, it can feel like a mountain to climb, however, for some people with ADHD, planning for your future career can seem insurmountable.
What is ADHD?
“ADHD is considered a chronic and debilitating disorder and is known to impact the individual in many aspects of their life including academic and professional achievements, interpersonal relationships, and daily functioning (Harpin, 2005).”
What symptoms can impact the career planning process?
Common symptoms like disorganization and problems prioritizing, poor time management skills, problems focusing on a task, trouble multitasking, poor planning, problems following through and completing tasks, and trouble coping with stress (Adult Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), 2023) can all make the career planning process difficult for those with ADHD. Many of these symptoms are related to issues with executive functioning, which can also contribute to low motivation and procrastination (“Executive Function Disorder & ADHD: Their Differences & How They Tie Together,” 2026).
What strategies can help me?
The good news is – there are strategies you can employ to help manage your ADHD in the career planning process! One of my favorite suggested strategies mentioned in “The Ultimate Guide to ADHD Coping Mechanisms: 19 Practical Strategies,” on ADD.org is breaking tasks into smaller steps.
For example, if you’re needing to create your resume, you could break it down like this:
- Day 1: Review sample resumes online to understand potential formats (15 minutes)
- Day 2: Choose a font style and add your name and contact information at the top of a blank Word/Google Doc (5 minutes)
- Day 3: Add your education section (5 minutes)
- Day 4: Research the types of skills employers seek relevant to your major (15 minutes)
- Day 5: Add your skills section (5 minutes)
- Day 6: Add your internship/work experience section (if you have more than one experience, you can break this into two days) (30 – 60 minutes each)
- Day 7: Add any additional sections (relevant academic projects, campus involvement, community service, etc.) (15 – 30 minutes each)
- Day 8: Review making final edits (15 minutes)
- Day 9: Schedule (on Handshake) and attend an appointment with a career advisor for review (30 minutes)
- Day 10: Make final revisions based on career advisor feedback (varies)
Just do one small task at a time, walk away, and come back the next day with a clear mind. With each item checked off, pat yourself on the back. Seriously! You’re one step closer to your goal.
What if each step ends up taking longer than expected?
There’s a chance this could happen, and it’s okay! For example: it’s likely that crafting your bullet points for each internship/work experience will take you the most time, so if you’re worried about getting all of them written in one day, break it down even further. It’s recommend to included 3 – 5 bullet points under each experience, so if you need to split writing your bullet points into two days, do it! Whatever is manageable for you.
You got this.
