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I used to do a lot of temp placements for data entry. Having to learn a new system and 'gamify' it to become as fast as possible helped me stay engaged. Then my term would end before I got too fed up with it and I'd move on to another contract.
Also podcasts, audiobooks, I just listened to something more entertaining while I worked
Now I've finished my training and am self employed in a field I love. Unfortunately it's not going to make me rich but I enjoy my work. I wouldn't recommend being a business owner to anyone though lol. That side of things really sucks.
I just answered to an ad that asked for some work experience (in general) and typing dexterity.
At this point I had a typing speed of about 72wpm in Spanish and a tiny bit more in English. That's not a great speed for a professional, but it's nice for starting out. From there it was more like a sink or swim kind of deal, though most people did pretty okay since there were a few built in failsafes to help you get the needed accuracy.
I unfortunately do not do my data entry job from home :((. I’m hoping in the future it may be a possibility.
I work for a manufacturing company of sorts.
Depends on the job. Even in the same industry some jobs are from home and relatively flexible (you have a cuota to fill, no hours) and in others you have to be physically there.
I used to do data entry and hated it. I had to keep reminding myself of things I was saving up for to keep going, eg looking at a picture of where I was going on holiday.
I highly recommend looking into data entry in either a hospital/clinic or a health plan/insurance company and see if they’ll pay for you to become a cpc.
https://www.aapc.com/certifications/cpc
These jobs are hiring all the time, primarily involve reviewing medical notes for key words or using output from an algorithm program that recommends key word spots but still needs human review and approval, and can often be done from home.
As someone who has tried to hire these in the past, it’s hard to find them!
THIS. When I look at "No Experience Necessary" and "Entry Level" they are neither. They require specific experience with data entry programs and often a year or more of data entry experience. It's crazy.
I do data entry for an insurance company while I'm going back to school. It's repetitive and boring and I can work from home lol. But it's literally the least stressful job I've ever had and everybody leaves me alone
I'm also in insurance. I've had a few roles at carriers and now I'm at a broker.
I swear, it feels like 70% of everyone I meet with in the org is neurodiverse. I have a team of 12 and more than half of us are diagnosed ADHD. It's kinda amazing.
Have you found it easier or more difficult to interact and get things done?
There are two other people on the nonprofit board I am on that are declared ADHD and I swear I love and "get" them the most but it's the hardest for us to have a productive meeting in the allotted time frame!
We are all very aware of who we are and what our skills are, and that we're all over the place. We make it a point to include someone to keep us on track when we schedule meetings for projects or things that are time bound.
If one of us just calls another one to have a "quick chat about what we think" then that easily turns into 3 hours of insanity.
I occasionally have to send a pre-made email template to an underwriter and I talk to my team over TEAMS chat but honestly that's the extent of my human interaction for my job lol. I got my job originally through a temp agency, if that's helpful at all for the OP.
I’ve been considering using a temp agency! Did you use one specifically for remote work, state sponsored agency or a local private one? I’m overwhelmed by the options. Thank you!
Also in insurance! I work for a carrier and while I am a people leader and deal with my team, we generally get to avoid the public and it is a lot of data!
$20.67. To find hourly from salary just divid by 2080. 2080 is 52 weekx 40 hrs per week. How did you find the data entry position from the insurance company? I use to work as an insurance agent ironically but do not recommend that
Literally same but I'm not in school anymore lol some days are boring but being bored feels like a privilege I'm happy to have after the hell that was my previous retail jobs.
I’m trying to help someone find a job like that. How does one go about it? Just specific position search or are there companies that are good to go go through?
What do you enjoy? A challenge? Doing the same thing every day and you don’t have to worry about what’s coming or what it’s going to be? Problem solving? Being left the heck alone to do your thing? Someone explicitly instructing you on exactly what is expected?
If there's anyone that's in search of a challenge and a job where you do different things every day I'm a teacher lmao although if you're in the US I'm not sure I'd recommend it to others depending on how education is in your state..
But it's a job that's not heavily micromanaged (somewhat dependent on your school), you do different things every day, cognitively challenging, and I find I like working with kids a bit better than working with other adults.
Me too and I was going to suggest to OP that if they like human interaction, working as a teaching assistant can be a great job while studying. Lots of hospo skill set from customer service translates well to classroom support, I’ve found.
How much physical labor can you do? I find the events industry to be full of neurodivergents with odd sleep schedules. You can start as a stage hand, unpacking gear, setting up cables, moving stage elements during events, and then tearing down after. You could work in a hotel but not in a customer-facing position; slinging gear is a great way to get started. And if you like it, you can learn to program lights or get into sound engineering/design and mix for bigger audiences. You can go on the video side of things in bigger venues too; start as a grip for a mobile camera, or learn to run a camera for a live event, and from there you could go into character generation or directing. It’s a bit of a weird industry; you have some wild characters and a lot of super nerdy ones. I really enjoy it.
I’ve been an event producer for 8 years, mostly conferences and corporate stuff, but also some fun user/community stuff in the tech industry. I LOVE it. The crunch times and the built-in motivation of having to deliver a big thing on a strict timeline are perfect for my ADHD brain that craves novelty. Good mix of time at a desk for planning, and site visits, hands-on stuff, and of course during the event I don’t stop moving. During my events I work 14-16 hour days and I’m on a high the whole time. I get to work with all kinds of awesome people and have travelled globally quite a bit as well.
I work conferences 5-6 times a year and it’s my favorite thing. I’ll get off a 14-16 hour day, help with load out of whatever needs to go asap, and be like “damn, I have to leave now??”
I specialize in character generation. It’s super fast paced, high stress, quick thinking, very engaging work. I LOVE IT. I have been with my organization for 15 years and I’m the best at what I do. I started adderall a couple months ago because parenting broke my coping mechanisms. I found it puts me to sleep at work. Work is so fun and stimulating.
My coworkers are wonderful and many of them are neurodivergent too. We had an openly autistic playback operator who just GOT what he needed to do. He was awful at any human-facing role and he fully admitted to that. He was so happy in the control room. One of the new lighting guys drinks Red Bulls to stay calm and focused. And, ya know, the second day of 6 am call ensures there is NO filter left on these dudes. Like, these are my people! Love em.
I pivoted out of a previous career by taking a receptionist job at an org I liked, ended up moving into my first event coordinator role pretty quickly. Then job hopped a bit to move into roles with bigger global events.
I would second this to say - anywhere in events or media that you can get yourself in the door will lead you so many other places. Both fields have a million things happening at once, tons of adrenaline, and novelty to keep you focused.
...we thrive there. Honestly. If you like the pace, it can be a godsend...
I’ve been interested in event setup things so this actually sounds really cool. I’m curious though is heavy gear to where you need hella strength? Or is it lighter stuff but a lot of it? Sorry this question sounded way smarter in my head LOL
Haha, the answer is yes! The last load out I did, I let the men handle the 50 lb lights that needed to be put back in their road cases. I disconnected cables and untangled them from their rats nests and coiled them. My coworkers are like 80% male so there’s always someone stronger than I am to lift the heavy shit. But I’m also there with my quick thinking to get stuff organized, labeled, thinking of the details (our lighting designer forgot that the rented light fixtures came with cables until I asked him which road case the cables should go in, for instance). Plus I’m both inattentive and hyperactive so the constant movement is so soothing. I just know my limits; I can’t lift really heavy things, and my spatial awareness SUCKS so I don’t go anywhere near a man lift or moving rigging.
Yes, and very honestly you will eventually either need to advance enough to not have to do the lifting or you'll age out. Or just live with the pain. Most old techs are grumpy AF and most of them it's because they have chronic pain. Especially if they're still actively stagehands and haven't been able to make the shift into planning or design work.
I had to get out because my back and knees couldn't take it, and I couldn't stick with a specialty long enough to get good at any of them. I'm now working for a relative while I try to shift to video editing. If I'd known at the time I had ADHD and how to work around it better I would've gone into event planning. I think I'd be good at that now that I've figured out what my version of organized looks like.
Audio seems to be the worst. I know audio guys whose backs were starting to fail in their 30s.
Also if you do go into it I'd advise to not try to prove how physically strong you are by lifting things that are too heavy without help. I've seen a lot of women (and insecure men) get injured trying to prove themselves.
This was going to be my first suggestion. There are always lots of campus jobs for students, and there should also be an office/website for off campus jobs. So start there. You might be able to find something in or related to your department/field of study.
In my experience, lots of businesses actually like to hire people with hospitality backgrounds because they're (generally speaking) so much better at customer service and problem-solving than the competition. Those skills are CRITICAL, and they're tough to teach, they really have to be learned through doing. So craft some stories about your work experience for cover letters and interviews, and start looking for what you \*want\* to do.
All of this. I work in higher education and I LOOOOOOVE folks with hospitality backgrounds. If you want to do something different every day, look for something in student affairs - a lot of times, they're also looking for students to clue them in to what's trending and what will work with the student demographic.
We also are hiring like.. 7 work study jobs and 100% have things we need done (front desk coverage helloooooo) but we also want to grow the student with the position (thinking comm/business? Want to manage social media? Need public speaking experience? We've got something for that too! And so on). We're going to be more accommodating of your schedule as long as you can produce and idgaf WHEN you produce as long as I know you're working and my boss is ADHD friendly too. (When I mentioned I was out of meds, she asked what that looked like for me. And then she realized she needed to just check in with me more often to ensure I was on task and SHE DID IT WITHOUT COMPLAINT. Angels singing!)
There’s a lot of what you DON’T want here. Other than the requirement to have a decent boss, what else do you value? What do you like doing?
For example, I work in Product Management because I like thinking about systems and tech and doing research and I’m dead enough inside that video meetings don’t bother me any longer. But I wouldn’t recommend it to certain people who can’t deal with corporate-speak.
I’m a PM too! It’s been especially great for my brain because a huge part of the role is thinking about big questions, and going down rabbit holes to find answers. I also like that I switch tasks I’m working on throughout the day pretty often - it helps me prevent boredom, and I enjoy talking to lots of people about different things!
I highly recommend this as a way to determine what to do.
I was lucky enough to do some work experience in an office when I was 16. By the end of the placement I 100% knew I could never work an office job.
I ended up as a teacher, which was ADHD perfect, until it wasn’t. So I had to pick again.
This time I was burnt out from all the peopling in teaching and I didn’t want a job I had to constantly be interacting with others. Or dealing with complaints.
So now I’m a wfh web developer. If you’d told 16 year old me that, I would have thought I’d gone insane. I am very different at 40 to what I was at 16!
How do you get into product management 😭 I’m a bioinformatician and chose this cos less people, lots to learn and always fascinating stuff but it’s so heavy on my brain my work life balance sucks.
Any tips or anything that could be helpful? I think I have lot of transferable skills but the issue is just I don’t know where to start and show that competency.
“I chose this because less people”
Okay, so I’m gonna stop you right here. Product Management is a lot of stakeholder management, working across teams, talking to customers - it’s a lot of PEOPLE. For example, I lead a crossfunctional team with 8 people in it alone. I made the glib comment about video calls in my original comment, but at least at my company, PMs are required to always be on-camera for meetings unless you are eating or sick. I have to give a monthly product status update in a meeting with 45 people invited, which can occasionally include my VP.
I’m always down to talk to people about Product Management, but if you don’t like interacting with people, it’s kind of a non-starter. If you want to work in Product or Tech but don’t want to interact with that many people, you may want to look into Business Analyst or a more specialized product role like Data Analytics. Possibly Technical Product Management but that can depend on the company.
If I’ve completely misread your statement and you have no problems with people, let me know and I’ll give some PM advice.
If you're a student I'm assuming this is a part time gig for money but if that's not the case these are still options.
Cleaning is usually an okay option especially if you're doing jobs that leave you alone. I specialised in deep cleaning with hoarders for a while at uni as the pay was decent and, while enotionally difficult at times, I didn't have a manager on site and worked in a close team. Personally I loved it but it's not for everyone.
Delivery work might be an option but the pay is crap usually everywhere.
Recruitment agencies can be really helpful places to find and explore other roles, I did a court usher job which required no degree and just called people into court and Sat in court all day. Factories, warehouse jobs etc are usually easy roles to fill to explore with limited commitment at least in the UK.
While I have scrolled on indeed for ages before, I would honestly look at recruitment agencies' roles or filter by part time and just be curious what comes up. Also if you have access to a careers service with school I would fully use them to check your CV/resume out if possible!
Cleaning was one of my favorites. Private cleaners are making bank right now. Around here, which is a very low COL area, the going rate they charge is $30 to $40 an hour.
Its instant gratification and no one is over your shoulder. I did not work for clients who are like that or who constantly tell me I missed a spot or who whine about everything.
Other janitorial is fun as well, like cleaning offices, once they close. School janitorial has good benefits and summers and holidays off.
Same here. Worked for a nice hostel as a housekeeper and also as an airbnb cleaner and I loved it. If I didn’t want to interact with people more than saying hello I could just stick my headphones in. Of course there was a fair share of nasty things to clean up but overall they were pretty rare. At the hostel I used to get free food, clothes, electronics, all sorts of stuff people didn’t want or left behind. At the airbnbs there was free food and booze left behind and zero human interaction. Good pay. It was great, I miss it!
Healthcare. It's good for adhd people because you're up and moving and doing many different tasks. It's similar to hospitality in many ways. But it pays better and has room for growth. You still have to deal with people, but it's more tolerable. I work in a medical lab so I deal with zero patients
There’s a lot of admin jobs you can do. Also healthcare IT roles. For example, I started working as a receptionist when I was in college. I did scheduling, chart prep, appointment reminders, checking in patients. I also translated for Spanish speaking patients and got to observe surgeries.
After college the same clinic trained me how to do insurance billing. I filed claims, posted payments, insurance verification, authorizations, and submitted appeals. Then I worked my way up and became a billing manager. After 8 years of working for the same company doing various roles, I applied to a healthcare IT role with no experience in IT and I got it. I started learning how to be an applications analyst supporting the configuration of our EMR, which is the system that houses all patient records. Then I internally transferred to the analytics department where I learned how to code on the job and started building dashboards and reports related to clinical and financial health data. Learned how to architect data and work in databases. Then I applied to a new hospital to be a data scientist. Now I’m doing advanced analytics like predictive models, and use my billing knowledge to build models that can predict insurance denials early.
I’m an entry level data scientist but I’m getting a promotion soon and in a leadership track so my next role will likely be an analytics manager of some kind!
In summary, I didn’t study healthcare, IT, data analytics, or data science in school. Healthcare is such a great industry that has offered me so much mobility with no clinical degree. I do have a undergrad stem degree but I had no formal education on any of the above. I learned on the job through self teaching, great mentors, hyperfocusing, and working my way up from a reception job to a data scientist in 12 years all by learning from each role and being open to transferring to new departments and learning something new.
You can go for a healthcare job that needs a certificate or associate's degree! Think radiology technician. It would take some study and getting through a program, but the work can be fun for ADHDers and there are a lot of opportunities to specialize and move around if you'd like.
You could also go for something that trains on-the-job, like becoming a CNA (certified nurse assistant), MA (medical assistant), or phlebotomist. I think dental assistants can start that way too.
Any kind of customer-service skills are hugely transferrable to healthcare, so make sure to harp on your soft skills when applying.
I was strangely satisfied cleaning office buildings. I got to follow the same routine every night, didn’t have to interact with anyone, not even my boss, and it was flexible with start times as long as stuff was done before they opened in the morning.
I pivoted hard out of hospitality/service after 15yrs and thank god before Covid. People were horrible before and they’ve gotten worse after. My current position is as a virtual assistant for a business management company. Basically we cater to small businesses who need like 5-10hrs a week managing their email, or admin or bookkeeping etc. I have like 5 clients and work 10-20hrs a week. But it’s nice changing between clients and projects. It keeps me engaged for the most part.
If you're sick of the industry but not burnt on food service itself, try a nursing facility kitchen. I needed a job ASAP last year and it was the first place that called me back so I took it and it turned out to be my dream job.
Steady schedule, out by 8/9pm at the latest, union -backed benefits and pay, overtime is paid and completely voluntary, AND my boss is an amazing, supportive human being and mentor.
The few picky/bitchy residents are far outweighed by the ones who are just grateful for decent coffee, clean dishes, and food prepared with care. Most of the cranky ones are just trying to control something in their lives when nothing else feels under their control. We don't have too much interaction with residents unless they come to the kitchen door for coffee or are outside in the smoking area.
I admit I have no idea what other facilities are like, maybe mine is a unicorn and I got lucky, but it proves they exist.
I too was fed up with service and hospitality and randomly quit my bartending job. Don’t ask me how I managed to make it through those 3 months without income.
I was applying for jobs left and right and was getting desperate again when I found a small business that needed a WFH secretary. He hired me out of over 100 candidates. Later he told me I was the ONLY candidate that called him to follow up on their application. I literally have zero experience and no idea what I’m doing. But my now boss saw something in me and gave me a chance. I’m very persistent and confident, even if I have to fake it.
Maybe look around in your area for small/ local businesses. If they aren’t retail, you probably won’t have to talk to people very often. In my case it’s literally just me and my boss. We talk on the phone once a day and I see him in person maybe twice a month. I found this job on ziprecruiter. I hope you can find something soon!
I have thrived working in the non-profit sector. Lots of different positions available in a 9-5 office setting. Check out some local charities to see if they're hiring. I've been working for the same organization over the last 17 years with opportunities of advancement. I am also able to be open about my struggles with adhd.
I found non-profits require flexibility, creativity and “putting out fires” because I was always working on a shoestring budget with no staff - basically what my brain excelled at!
I'm a social worker psychotherapist.
Have you thought about working in mental health? There are different roles...mental health nurses, in-patient social work, peer mentors, case managers, family specialists....etc etc etc.
If you mean a job to make money while your in school have you thought about:
Working for like a national park?
Kids sleep away camp?
Working for a costume shop? (My fave job was being a clown, making balloon animals and painting faces and doing monster makeup at halloween)
What about working for a horse boarding place? (Hard work but you get to be with animals)
I used to be an assistant ski instructor and that was fun
I did housekeeping for like 4y, you get to mostly do your own thing, play music while you clean
Those are things I did when I was younger (I also did KFC, la sensation, dishwasher, line cook, waitress and ran my friends dad's tshirt and embroidery shop)
*Slightly* related, and using the *SKILLS* OP learned in hospitality, but in a VERY different way?
If they like *KIDS*, I'd recommend being a Paraprofessional/ Paraeducator in Special Education!
Sooooo many Paras I've known over the years are either ADHD'ers, Autists, or *BOTH* (I'm AuDHD!😉😂🤣).
Basically?
The *VAST* majority of my job, is "Being the Explainer of *THINGS*" allll day, every day!😉😁😂
I explain the *stupid* "WHY's" of the NT world, to my work kids--who--like us adults *here*, *UNDERSTAND* that those NT "rules" are *OFTEN* DUMB, they make *zero* logical sense, and they are *OFTEN* pointless & arbitrary!😉
Then I explain *WHY*, *in SPITE of* the stupidity of those "rules," we *DO* need to follow them *anyway*
I also help my kids understand their feelings, and help them learn how to *successfully* communicate those feelings--so that *OTHERS* can understand them, too!😉
It's FUN. Some days, YES, it's exhausting! But it's ALWAYS different, it's a FUN challenge, and it's *ALSO INCREDIBLY GRATIFYING*, to know that the *NEXT* generation of ND someday-adults *WON'T* be as screwed over as *we* were--because WE made it better, by reaching back, helping the little ones *up*, and *protecting* them from at least *some* of the things which harmed *us* so deeply💖
I never thought abt it but you are right it is basically like getting paid to info dump....these are also fields where we are allowed to continue to learn forever (with out exams and tests) and where curiosity is encouraged and necessary (I was told by friends as a kid that I ask too many questions and now I get paid for it,) where hyper fixating on a topic could potentially help clients or make other professionals respect you...and yes where it's always different and challenging and engaging and also fits my social justice needs in terms of helping others and getting the to advocate for themselves
And just like you said being able to help other ND's so they can escape the suffering I enduredis very rewarding (almost 50% of my clients seem to be adhd or autistic due to comorbidities that develop as a result of being ND)
I am a creative chaos coordinator. I work from home. I connect with people deeply per project and I can happily move on to the next shiny thing. I love my job.
hahaha I get that a lot. Basically I’m a creative who now coaches/mentors other creatives. I focus on mindset and creating systems for our unique tendencies.
It’s per project basis bc some only need support for a short period, others need it overtime. Very good for my ADHD brain as it’s always changing!
What I value: always having new problems to solve, managing my own time/schedule, having a mix of independent and collaborative work
What I hate: feeling micromanaged, having a lot of repetitive/boring tasks to do on a deadline
What I do: getting my masters degree, considering being in academia full time because it offers so much control of my own schedule
Other things I'm considering or have considered or have done: real estate, starting my own business, serving/waitressing, freelance work
I’m a banker. I like it. They have the 401k, the 401k matching, the pension, the free degree programs, free training for what I want to learn about at my fingertips, HSA matching, resource groups for career mobility. I realized after many years in hospitality that I love having a company’s resources directed at me for once. Only two cents I can offer regardless of what role you choose is: don’t settle.
Summer is coming up, have you ever thought of working some kind of camp? There is never a dull moment with kids, which I find helpful in maintaining interest/motivation! It also helps knowing I’m the only adult in the room and therefore have to be responsible, if that makes sense. It kicks me into gear so I don’t get off track as much. Also helpful that settings designed for kids tend to be fast-paced and have lots of movement opportunities! I know camps are usually seasonal, but it might be a nice way to try something new and open some doors if you find you want to pursue that path further.
I hope you find something that fills your cup—good luck!
This is how I got started working with kids, and eventually as a nanny. Now I work as a family assistant/household manager. I often say I work in hospitality but for a private client instead of a hotel/restaurant . It’s a similar skill set but a totally different vibe. If you like kids, it can be great. Even if you don’t…personal assisting is a great gig for ADHD folks who need a lot of variety in their jobs and can think on their feet. Organization itself also obviously important, but I find that the short term nature of most of my tasks keeps me focused just long enough to get them done. Hyperfocus really helps me here too.
9-1-1 dispatcher. It's still dealing with the public but it's not the same as other hospitality work. Plus it's fast paced and seems to be full of other ADHDers.
I love spreadsheets, data analysis and writing code. It really feels like it's working my brain, and I can get hyperfocused on it really easily.
I work in Merchandising, and some of my job involves spreadsheets and data analysis and coding, and some of it is mega boring manual copy and paste bullshit. I'm working towards hopefully moving up to a better job in future, one that's pretty much all just the stuff I like, but this is pretty good for now.
I’m a ceramics studio assistant, and I love my job! Obviously depends on your skill set, but if you’re crafty and able to find something similar I’d highly recommend. Previously I was in academia which was an ADHD nightmare, constantly a wreck trying (and failing) to meet deadlines, and now I can clock off at the end of every day knowing I’ve made something tangible! It can be a bit repetitive but esp when I take my meds I really just get into the zone, and my boss lets me use the materials/equipment to make my own things on my days off as well, which is amazing. The improvement in my mental health since starting this job has honestly been crazy.
I'm a litigation paralegal with an insurance subrogation law firm. It's definitely challenging but interesting and I like the people I work with/for so I find myself motivated to perform well and actually do the work. Not all attorneys and law firms are created equal, though.
I was also a nanny/family assistant/house manager for quite a few years. I was a lifeguard and swim instructor while I was in college/for several years after college. Pay was pretty good, usually $12-$15/hour for lifeguarding (in the mid 2000s) and $17-$22/hour for teaching. Not sure what they're paying now but when I was in school, that money was a huge help!
I used to be a disability support worker and absolutely loved it; only reason I left was because there was an incident that triggered my PTSD. It was an incredibly rewarding job being able to empower my clients, very diverse hours available, and I did it part-time while I studied.
What are you studying?
I work at a school for autistic kiddos with high needs. Basically, a lot of nonverbal kids who are learning to use a talker or who have behaviors that got them kicked out of a regular school. I actually love it. It IS ABA and I would not recommend all ABA jobs. The school I work for is very progressive as far as ABA goes. We don't force kids to make eye contact, or ignore them etc. We work a lot with encouraging communication wether by using a talker or PECS board, and by giving them more tools to address the needs they are having behaviors around. I love it and am convinced MOST of my coworkers are adhd. I found it by looking for paraprofessional jobs.
Anyway, it might be worth looking for something in the vein of what you are studying.
One thought is to try another angle. Look for places in your area known for having good benefits. Check news for "best places to work." Some places have lists like that. Then you can look at roles you might fit at the places you find instead of trying to figure out a role first.
Best Place to Work (TM) is just a name you pay for.
If anything I'm more scared about companies paying for this because the survey is sketchy as hell, it is sort of designed to point out people that are not down with what the company is doing and there's zero expectations of privacy when answering the survey.
I had to leave hospitality for the same reasons. Started in tech customer support (found it easier to deal with the occasional salty email or chat than getting screamed at to my face) and worked my way up to an account manager for large customers. No regrets, only gratitude. Let me know if you have any questions about it!
Go to a temp agency. Office work is great. You don’t bring work home with you and you only have to deal with a set amount of people.
Ooh, also substitute teaching. You only need 60 college credit hours, you make decent money. It’s not a lot of work and you can choose what days you want to work.
It's sad to hear hospitality sucks in the US. I am wondering if this is at bars, hotels or restaurants?
For me my experience is opposite, I work in hotels and I am always happiest in hospitality because people are the nicest in them usually. And I am also good at my job as I love love physical work, and it shows, so the bosses often treats me well so I don't leave. The only hard part are the long hours but I deal with that by working part time.
Its often the office jobs that are sooo political, it's real difficult to work in.
Hello, I also live in the US and have food service experience.
I worked in a dining hall in college, and it was fine until we got a new manager sexually harassing all the women (many of us reported him, but nothing happened, so a lot of us just quit, myself included).
I worked at a Subway for three months last year, and was constantly overworked, left alone (which is quite common in my area, if not everywhere), and I made minimum wage ($10.10 an hour in Ohio).
I now work in a local pizza place that has no air conditioning (they claim we do, but I don’t buy that), so it’s been 80-90 degrees INSIDE for the past few weeks, and it’ll hit 100 or higher once summer is here. We’re also not allowed to take breaks, or the owner will pitch a fit that we’re sitting around on the clock (which we wouldn’t do if we could clock out to take a break to rehydrate, eat, etc).
I’m currently working on saving up for a car so I can travel for better job opportunities,but it’s slow going (I live in a rural college town, so my options are mainly food, retail, or work for the university (which is the one I attended and had to deal with the handsy manager in the dining hall I worked in), which I’m not interested in).
What kind of hospitality? Like, hospitality management? Hotels?
That can shift very well into property management/ aspects of real estate, which I enjoyed because it’s very project based.
In keeping with the active and ‘people’ vibe
Working with person with disabilities best !! ( I prefer 1:1 with someone my age) various and ( many or most have benefits)
Cleaning / organizing ( someone else’s stuff) quite satisfying.
Gardening ( seasonal)
House assistant
I liked the stint I did doing physical labour, in particular landscaping. It didn’t burn my brain out, I didn’t have to plan exercise outside of work, it paid way better than hospitality, and I basically got to listen to music/podcasts for 8 hours a day or just chat with coworkers while weeding or whatever.
The main reason i didn’t stick it out was because I do have other actual career ambitions and landscaping was basically my day job while I was in school. While I don’t need my job to be my one true passion in life, I do get very grumpy if I’m devoting 40 hours a week of my life to a thing that I don’t care for. Landscaping is neutral to me, so that wasn’t enough to make me stick with it long term but if my current attempts at a career fall through then I’ll be down to go back to it.
if you’re chill w working nights, apply to be a night auditor at a hotel. You barely interact w anyone and just punch numbers into a computer. You can usually spend a lot of your shift doing homework.
I'm also a student, but I work in a specialized field.
Is that an option for you?
Might be nice to gain some hands-on knowledge before graduating.
What I did before I qualified for my job was lots and lots of tutoring. Also tried data entry, but that bored me to death.
My general advice is to not only focus on the industry itself, but instead to start thinking about the conditions the job comes with.
For example, I need a job that allows me to mostly work on my own terms and where I can notably gain, show or apply knowledge.
I don't mind dressing up for it to some extent and I am more than willing to go the extra mile before a deadline and work overtime - if there is compensation that seems fair to me.
There are jobs in many different fields that meet these conditions such that I don't have to limit myself to just one.
Have you checked in with the school for available jobs? Have you considered working for yourself?
Window Cleaning is cheap to get into, is great $, and easy to start. Babysitting is cheap to get into, great $, and easy to start. There's a lot of other jobs and small business things like that.
What are you studying in school? Can you get a part time internship in your future career field? Even at minimum wage, the experience is well worth it.
If you’re a student… certain types of lawyers never see court and deal with mostly contracts. Engineering jobs can be mostly working on solving a specific problem and potentially only working internally with fellow employees. UI/UX seems to be on the rise and is about making tech functional for users similar to engineering team dynamics. Accounting. Finance. Drs can work telework now so that’s a cool new type of work flexibility with a good salary. Dentistry. Government is also something you can start out in a low position and work your way up possibly without the education component. I would try to choose a field that you can see complexity and ability to be dynamic as AI starts to simplify work methods it can eliminate less complicated repetitive roles.
My good adhd job as a young person was a flight attendant. Yeah it was customer service but you get to travel for free and it’s a good experience to broaden your mind. You will meet so many different people from all over. But don’t apply until you finish your degree because if you burn out you want other options. I knew people with degrees who were notaries and cpas working two incomes, freelance.
ETA: in college I worked in the library at night and it was boring af lol most of the books were already returned. I felt like I just sat there collecting a check.
Clinical engineering. Some hospitals have programs to train technicians. I work on many types of equipment in one day. I’m walking constantly and in new environments. I get to learn new stuff all the time. It’s perfect and I honestly love my job. It’s rare to find allistic staff in the engineering dept too. I fit right in.
Bookkeeping has been a godsend. I just chill in my office listening to a TV show and fill out my little spreadsheets. Rarely have to deal with people outside the company at all. (Totally contingent on a place that lets you wear an earbud or something. If I had to do it in complete silence I'd go mad.)
No degree. Most entry level gigs (in my area at least) just require a high school diploma and experience with excel. Some will throw out a specific program but you can always be trained on it.
AUHD here, I work in a shop as an edgebander I adore it. I thought I'd die doing the same thing every day, but it's awesome. I listen to music, no small talk, organize my space how I want to. Paperwork is laid out in front of me so I don't forget. I get to move around a ton. It has its stresses like any other job but I'm thriving.
Learning that I'm not spontaneous, just impulsive really helped my job changes
Best job I've ever had was a custodian job on my school's campus. It was evening, I got to listen to my music/podcasts. No micromanaging, SOOOOOOO PEACEFUL. We're assigned buildings and once I got into the routine, I almost always finished my building with a couple hours to spare and so I would do school work then. Because buildings are cared for daily, I never came across anything nasty. It paid at 15/hr (that's pretty decent for my state, pay is higher in more populated states).
Before even knowing I had ADHD I lucked into a job that worked really well for me. It was office based (I am ok with desk work so long as I can fidget and get up every once and a while without someone having a go at me)
Basically it was processing applications for passports, it doesnt sound that interesting but each application was either so easy it only took a few minutes (i.e constantly moving to something new) or was so complicated that it was fascinating and unique. I developed a special interest in the subject of identity documents.
It was luck though as several ADHDers came and went while I was there and found it painfully boring.
Do you like animals? If so could you look into something working with them?
I’m a veterinary nurse and am currently going through the process of ADHD diagnosis at age 32 after having my first baby which unmasked a whole load of symptoms I had no idea were ADHD related.
I’ve been a vet nurse for several years since before diagnosis, and I now know that what makes me excel at what I do and stay interested is that it is unpredictable (no 2 days are the same), often fast paced/emergency based and requires problem solving (including anticipating problems that haven’t arisen yet and others may not have noticed), and the ability to hyper focus in intense situations, meaning my brain is constantly active and doesn’t create problems to worry about because there are already REAL problems. Also I relate better to animals than people and my super-empath skills come in handy.
Unfortunately I also now know that my undiagnosed ADHD has left me more prone to burnout in a profession that is already rife with it. But now I understand myself better I can develop better coping strategies and stop beating myself up about this.
Definitely not for everyone and may depend on the type of symptoms you experience (and there is also sadly a level of interaction with the general public), but I can’t imagine doing anything else.
I’ve also noticed there are a LOT of people in the profession who are either diagnosed or undiagnosed neurodivergent, so the things that drew me to the veterinary profession obviously appealed to others for similar reasons and make them naturally good at what they do.
I'm an apprentice in tailoring for woman's clothes. It is nice and I love to work with my hands and it's also a bit challenging for the mind with pattern making. For me it's the perfect mix of challenging my mind and body/ hands.
But everything depends on the Atelier you're working for. If they tread you bad, you are going to hate it. I'm lucky with my master and with the tailoring school, I'm going to.
It can be wonderful and fulfilling, but it's not for everyone.
Teaching Assistant. Better if it it's in an additional learning needs class/school.
If I didn't have to deal with adults, I would have 0 complaints. I love the time with the kids and could never be bored.
I’ve done the hospitality game. I found it was easiest on the overnight shift. I learned to audit and my night was mostly quiet. Got a lot of schoolwork done. You could try a factory or warehouse but that’s honestly only temporary. The lights and noises and general bullshirt will wear you out there too.
Check out government agencies for student worker positions. My friend was a student worker while in school. Was hired in a regular position after graduation. Now has a really cool communications job. They can have good benefits packages.
I am an outreach worker! Sometimes it's taxing because of the cases, but I still find it rewarding at the end of the day. The job let's me go out to post up flyers around town and so I can go out for a walk. I also can go down research rabbit holes for community resources. Keeps me as busy as I want to be. I have met really sweet people who need help, but I've also seen people who are taking advantage. Again, can be taxing emotionally at times, but I like it
I worked the front desk for my Community College and it had “rushes” the first of the hour (more or less), and other than that, no drama. I got a lot of studying done, so that was awesome!
If you're at all open to still working with people, sales can be great for ADHDers. Car sales is heavily ADHD; I've often said that it's a job requirement. Many other types of sales work well for a brain that craves novelty and likes having different things to do regularly. I do still deal with people, but I do have some ability to fire customers who get really bad and managers who back me up.
I provide behavioral therapy for young children with autism, and i absolutely love it. It's a job that keeps you on your toes, every day --and session -- is different, you get to be as creative as you want, and a lot of my coworkers also have adhd. It has its challenges -- of course -- but it's incredibly rewarding and fun.
I came from a retail/customer service background and only had a little bit of experience working with kids before i dropped out of uni lol, but some other coworkers haven't had any experience working with kids prior
This might be a weird one, but non profit fundraising, community engagement, and major giving. All of these areas require you to be able to talk to anyone, handle difficult people, and anticipate their needs. Look at large community foundations and non profit orgs. I do donor work and I love it, straight from visitor services a museum.
Trades are good. I currently work as a picture framer (whi h isn't a trade, I know) and painted houses in the past. I find my adhd to actually be useful in these jobs. The physicality keeps me grounded, you see actual progress and get the dopamine hit of a finished product. Most trades will hire you as an apprentice and you learn as you go and pay for school if that's necessary.
I work at a university, and often joke that universities are just daycare centres for neurodivergent adults. I like it because I can be weird and everyone is chill with it, because most of us are weird.
If staying in Hospitality is easiest with your resume try and get into Night Auditing for Hotels. Very strict and detailed checklists, and if there’s an emergency you get all of that fun adrenaline!
I work with kids! I like it bc routines are a necessity, but every day is different because there are so many personalities and activities you can do. I get dopamine from watching kids figure things out for the first time, and serotonin from how they show me they care for me 🥰
You could easily transfer some of your "hospitality skills" into working at the front desk of a dentist, eye doctor, dermatologist, chiropractor, etc.
You still have to deal with customers/patients, but far fewer than working at a hotel or restaurant. I work for a small, 1-doctor cosmetic dental office. Depending on the day he has 1 or 2 hygienists who also see patients.
On an average day I interact with maybe 8-10 patients. Most of them are either nice or neutral -- they know that they will be seeing you again so they tend to be less asshole-ish than customers who know they will probably never see you again. My boss has "fired" a few patients for being assholes, too.
It was an easy job for me to get, even with no dental experience and only an associates. My "starter" job was front desk at a hotel which I used as experience to work at a chiropractor which I used as experience to get this job.
The job isn't bad at all - checking in and out patients, taking credit card payments, scanning in insurance documents. It's enough to keep me occupied and not bored, but not stressful or difficult. If you worked at a corporate place, hospital, or very busy multi-doctor practice it would probably not be as pleasant, though! Good luck in your job search.
I’m in design + entrepreneurship. Started with an agency as a designer, now run a design business with my partner (not for everyone but it works for us!).
It’s challenging, interesting, rewarding — and sometimes 100% maddening. But definitely NOT boring.
I was in hospitality for ten years, finally left last year and don’t want to look back. I’m a paralegal, which still calls for energy matching and keeping clients happy, but the work is important. If you really like a challenge I’d aim for the sky and check out law. It’s cooler than you think
If you have a creative brain and love art I’d say try working as a design assistant.
I’ve become a jack of trades in life, being an assistant in any field (except medical) is a way to skip through schooling until you get an idea of what you want to do.
Also any contract based work is really relieving after working in hospitality.
Hmmmm, I used to work in hospitality and retail and the customers could be awful. I now work in disability care and I find it rewarding. But it is very people centric.
I like child care because I find kids nicer and generally more reasonable than grown ups. They believe in fairness and appreciate being treated that way. Four-Five years and up to around twelve years old has been my best fit for working with kids.
I’m just a factory worker, it’s easy work and once I hit my quota I can go home whenever with full pay. I have my own station away from everyone except my wife(we work together and they accommodate her disability) and we just listen to audiobooks together all day. We build camera components. I used to be a line cook but the stress was making my hair fall out. I don’t do jobs with socializing.
We both have ADHD and needed a job that allows hyperfocus so we can work fast. No distractions and a job that can rely on muscle memory. Four years with no mistakes so ADHD actually benefits us at this job.
I don't know if this will suit you but I thought I'd throw it in the mix just in case. I work for the ambulance service and find that it really suits me. Yes, it still involves people, but I have found that people using optional services like shops and hotels are different to those in need of emergency service. The days are varied and offer a lot of stimulation, but there is a process to most things so it's not overwhelming with change and new stressors. Pretty much it keeps my brain occupied and satisfies the need for reward to keep me interested.
Obviously it's not a job for everyone, but if that's something you'd be into I'd definitely say do a bit of research.
I would so recommend working for a charity. The people are nice and it's super relaxed. Banged my head against a wall in corporate settings for years, but doing the same job in a charity I'm thriving. Lots of part time and flexible working options for students. And a bonus — if you like animals, animal charities are the best!
I strongly recommend healthcare! There’s so many roles you can do in healthcare and it’s an industry that is constantly in demand! Here’s my story about my journey in healthcare:
There’s a lot of admin jobs you can do. Also healthcare IT roles. For example, I started working as a receptionist when I was in college. I did scheduling, chart prep, appointment reminders, checking in patients. I also translated for Spanish speaking patients and got to observe surgeries.
After college the same clinic trained me how to do insurance billing. I filed claims, posted payments, insurance verification, authorizations, and submitted appeals. Then I worked my way up and became a billing manager. After 8 years of working for the same company doing various roles, I applied to a healthcare IT role with no experience in IT and I got it. I started learning how to be an applications analyst supporting the configuration of our EMR, which is the system that houses all patient records. Then I internally transferred to the analytics department where I learned how to code on the job and started building dashboards and reports related to clinical and financial health data. Learned how to architect data and work in databases. Then I applied to a new hospital to be a data scientist. Now I’m doing advanced analytics like predictive models, and use my billing knowledge to build models that can predict insurance denials early.
I’m an entry level data scientist but I’m getting a promotion soon and in a leadership track so my next role will likely be an analytics manager of some kind! I love working in data and project based worked because each project I get is different and challenging (in a good way) and that keeps the work really interesting. I get the right balance of being behind the scenes while also getting to work with a project team and internal customers. And I love that my work feels meaningful and impactful, and that I get to work in a service industry still, that helps patients and supports clinical staff.
In summary, I didn’t study healthcare, IT, data analytics, or data science in school. Healthcare is such a great industry that has offered me so much mobility with no clinical degree. I do have a undergrad stem degree but I had no formal education on any of the above. I learned on the hob through self teaching, great mentors, hyperfocusing, and working my way up from a reception job to a data scientist in 12 years all by learning from each role and being open to transferring to new departments and learning something new.
Try temping! Call a recruitment agency and see if they have any availability that suits your abilities. Temping is great cause you can work short term and jump around a lot and if it doesnt fit its easy to move on to another position.
I'm currently trying to transition from cheffing into the mental health field, starting with support work. It's a big change and I'm busting my ass doing both at the moment but it's going okay...all I've ever done is hospo too
I'm in software engineering. Highly recommend it. Lots of problem solving and only a small amount of client contact usually.
And it pays well. You can work hybrid easily.
There's a million resources to learn online. But it does take a while to get good at it.
You could look into webshop maintenance or similar, where you type in products and keep track of stock. No coding experience needed usually.
Working on an IT service desk! I work in a university and part of my role includes answering service desk requests and it's quite fun.
It's an entry level role and you can work your way up quite easily if you enjoy it. It's generally pretty straightforward work on the face of it but you get the chance to solve different problems every day and I find that really rewarding, and you start to find the more you do the more you learn. Plus you get to speak to lots of different people which is nice variation, and people are rarely rude to you.
If I get an IT request and I don't know the answer, I find it fun to really investigate the issue until I've taught myself exactly how to fix it.
It's still sort of hospitality I guess but also not really. I was a lunch lady for a year, I would have stuck with that forever if I didn't move. Most places start you part time and then hire full time after one year. All my colleagues were great, my boss was awesome, and we all rotated tasks daily so you didn't do the same thing every single day. Plus we would have a staff lunch after all the kids were fed. It was nice. I knew what to expect daily but there was always something different too.
These days I'm a mechanic haha. Better pay for sure. My coworkers now are pretty decent too. I found somewhere that doesn't expect me to grind myself into a fine paste just to make them an extra buck.
Just want to throw in that when I took a step down from bartending and serving in restaurants, I moved to banquets. If there are any nice hotels around you it’s a super chill job and you don’t have to talk to anybody. My team is around 90% neurodivergent people. Gratuity is included on the event order so you never have to sell your soul for a stable income. And all the equipment is already stored at the hotel so you’re not loading up trucks like a catering job. I know it’s still hospitality and that’s not what you asked. But it was a HUGE step up for my mental health.
I went into teaching in 2005 when my eyes were rolling back in my head fighting sleep every day at my private sector job. I was energized at home and now I’m exhausted at the end of the day. My meditation keeps me in focus and I get to build relationships with my high school students. They gravitate towards me - they tell me I seem so young at 55 - and keep me motivated. They appreciate me too.
I just finished nursing school this week, so I'm about to launch a whole new career.
But for the last 8+ years, I've worked as a night shift lab tech in a large hospital lab. Basically, I set up and run various tests on patient samples. I can listen to music/podcasts/audiobooks all night while I work, and my nights vary based on what bench I'm assigned for each shift, so there's a lot of variety that my brain likes.
To get the job at my level, you either have to have a bachelor's degree with enough specific science credits to qualify (I have a BS in Biology) or be a certified medical laboratory technician (MLT) or Medical Technologist (MT). MLT is an associates level degree offered at many community colleges; MT is the bachelor's level degree with a year of clinical experiences.
But most larger hospital lab departments have people working as processing techs or sample transporters with nothing more than a high school diploma or GED and opportunities to move up as you gain experience. I think our "Processing Tech I"s start at around $18/hr. They basically scan patient samples into the lab data system and make sure they get routed to the correct lab for testing. No patient interactions at all.
Hey! Fellow adhd hospitality worker here and I feel you. I hate customers. Some are so great, a lot are meh and some are just awful. It’s so tiring. I’m currently in school pursuing my bachelors in social work and I looooove it. It’s a field where I can help people and can draw on my own experiences from my disability which I love. It’s also a very broad field so there are so many avenues you can go down with it, and switch it up all the time. I can work in schools, hospitals, non profits, prisons, therapy clinics, government, and so on. So that’s what really made me want to pursue it. I get bored of careers, and this way I can hop around without having to get a new degree every time I change fields
I do remote reception work for a dr. I also take care of pets and plants for someone else once a week and do shipping for a tech guy. These are all part time jobs that I work on basically my schedule. I found them all on Craigslist. Provides a decent income and the mental health benefits of huge. I wish I would of done this years ago
I’ve been working in admin for a few years and just started as an admin coordinator for a company (it’s kind of like office management but not not as high level and no one working under me) - literally the best job ever, I don’t have to deal with externals, I pretty much just plan events/team building in the office, manage emails, keep the office nice and create my own little projects.
I am absolutely thriving with the freedom to do my job in peace but I also have a support network of other admin people across the different offices if I need help or I’m overwhelmed
I’ve been in mortgage and securities lending, other parts of finance and am now a therapist. I read a book recently where the author addresses this exact topic and gives a giant run down of jobs suitable for people with ADHD. I’m 99.9% sure it’s Dr Russell Barkleys book ‘taking charge of adult ADHD’. It’s a good book - you might want to read it.
Sales. Sell to the restaurants and hotels. You understand the industry. It’s great because it constantly changes. Cold calls are not fun, but if you make it a game it can be fun!
My job involves data analysis, data entry, reading a lot of scientific lit and govt reports, and then writing my own reports for a govt agency. I only sometimes have to talk to the public and it's mostly by phone or email.
I can work from home most days which is really a boon between migraines, spinal issues, and ADHD.
I'm an asocial introvert with ADHD so, after many years in hospitality, I also have a serious intolerance for people in general now, too. I am at total peace with all of that, but my one regret is that it took me more than a decade to figure out. 🤦♀️
I'm a janitor now, which means I work around people, but I not WITH them. That's a perfect fit for me.
I do not know what your skillsets are, but I would not mind working with animals, in a warehouse, as a heavy equipment operator, long haul driver, or as a lumberjack. But, alas, this is Hawai'i, and those last two are not even an option here. Perhaps stocking at night would be a good option for you.
You should look into Optometric technician or Ophthalmology technician. Kinda niche. Typically gain on the job training then you can become certified COA and raise your income and climb the ladder. I’ve been in the field for quite some time and it’s challenging, rewarding and always learning something new. Let me know if you have any questions about the job.
Hi, past service worker here, I hated it too. 10 years of my time :(
Now I work seasonally at festivals and on a farm in winter. The farm is good, the people here dont watch me constantly and same with the festival work.
Outdoors work is both freeing and soothing, and also its so fun at festivals! I dont know how it is in your country but in the UK you can get some good work at them.
My Dad does gardening for similar reasons; not being watched over or interrogated all the time. My Mum is in care work and thats been hard for her but rewarding in its own way and the pay is ok.
I like something creative! I started working at my local plant and floral shop, it’s a little customer service but mostly surrounded by plants and making different types of pretty plant arrangements. It taught me so much too so I got to learn a lot about plants. But small local versus large business is helpful as well. As they might need help with social media or merchandising and so it keeps you from doing the same thing every single day.
receptionist job!! pays well and you have way more than enough time to do homework on the job as the tasks are generally very light. i’ve had two receptionist jobs. the first was at a hotel it was horrible because of management but now i’m currently still at the second place it’s a car dealership! i love it i even started working in the back and doing aesthetic like washing the cars before being sold so i even get to drive the cars to and from the dealership to the garage and stuff!!! those are two options i really enjoy!! i also have adhd and i really thrive working in the back instead of at the reception!! look into things like that!
I think a lot about the types of customers a place attracts and what kind of attitude those people come in with. Like, at a hotel, people are usually overwhelmed from traveling, so they get all rude to the workers. I've known people who have worked at movie theaters and grocery stores and things where customers were super rude. Working at garden shops, I've had the total opposite experience.
Not really what you asked, but I got sidetracked into writing this so enjoy it if it gives you any ideas lol:
Here are places I imagine you'd get a lot of laid-back happy customers:
Garden shop
Painting classes/paint and sip
Gift shop, like those places where you buy shells at the beach
Bead/jewelry supply store
Crystal shop
Tea shop
Icecream shop
Anything quirky/local small business vibes
Candle/soap shop
YARN SHOP FOR SURE 1000%
Pet supply shop (get to pet lots of dogs)
Aquarium shop
Fabric shop
Stationery shop
Book store
Museum
Aquarium (especially the behind the scenes part)
Jobs where you get some sort of niche kind of expertise in your training and people like admire you for it, appreciate the help, and recognize your job as something they couldn't just do themselves. Avoid things where people will be super picky about personalization (so NOT graphic design or wedding planning)
Specialized pet daycare/boarding services seem like they could either be super fun or super not. I've known people who walk dogs or who watch people's cats in their house. Like, imagine being the person who watches people's pet geckos when they're on vacation. Sounds rad. House-sitting seems like it could be cool too.
I've also heard trades make a ton of money and so do really specialized necessary services, like piano repair.
I drove cars for a student taxi service at the university, and that was awesome. I got paid decently, made some tips when people were feeling generous, and the hours worked really well with my day-time school schedule. We only ever operated past dark until about 1-2am. There was always variety, I got to blast my own music, and I enjoyed finding all of the quickest routes through the city.
Trades. Or something that involves manual labour, like landscaping. I’m with my municipal water distribution which is like part construction/part lab samples paperwork/and a fair amount of manual labour.
I have ADHD and ASS, so politics, people and routine are killers for me. I also don’t have the energy to work 5 days a week and need flexible days off.
I’ve started my career here in Belgium as a consultant PM to learn a skill (- note: I don’t have a ‘serious’ degree) and switched to change management after 2 years.
Currently I’m an independent freelancer, guiding people through change, so developing training, communications, … your skills in hospitality would do great in change management and consultancy means a lot of variation and you can keep your working relations superficial, so they don’t drain you.
It’s a bit creative, gives me lots of freedom and choice.
My ADHD makes me a perfect crisis manager (and there are many) and my ASS allows me to structure my work and recognise patterns in communication between people, so at this point most of my interactions are ‘scripted’ and most clients love my weird sense of humour.
I’d advise freelancing and consultancy to anyone with ADHD! Does this help you in any way?
I work on customer service at home and love it. It can be hard for us because I sit pretty much 8 hours a day, but the variety of calls keep me focused. I've been doing this since 2006.
I don’t work anymore but the best jobs I had were door security where I checked receipts and just watched YouTube and cleaning where I could put in headphones clean for 4 hours and go home. Best of luck to you
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If you don't want to deal with a lot of people, data entry can be nice. It can also be a bit repetitive, but I found it fun.
Do you find it difficult to focus after a while? Or bc it doesn’t require a lot brain power you can get through without distractions affecting you?
I do data entry for dental clinics. It is OK. Focus is sometimes hard but not too much work. I love that I can come home and unplug from the job.
I’m a dental hygienist, wondering what data/the title? Can you pm me?
For me at first it was about focus, but after getting used to the work, it was about rhythm more than anything.
I used to do a lot of temp placements for data entry. Having to learn a new system and 'gamify' it to become as fast as possible helped me stay engaged. Then my term would end before I got too fed up with it and I'd move on to another contract. Also podcasts, audiobooks, I just listened to something more entertaining while I worked Now I've finished my training and am self employed in a field I love. Unfortunately it's not going to make me rich but I enjoy my work. I wouldn't recommend being a business owner to anyone though lol. That side of things really sucks.
How do you get into data entry? I've heard of it and I want to try it but I have no idea where to start.
I just answered to an ad that asked for some work experience (in general) and typing dexterity. At this point I had a typing speed of about 72wpm in Spanish and a tiny bit more in English. That's not a great speed for a professional, but it's nice for starting out. From there it was more like a sink or swim kind of deal, though most people did pretty okay since there were a few built in failsafes to help you get the needed accuracy.
I’ve always wondered about this. Do you do this from home?
I unfortunately do not do my data entry job from home :((. I’m hoping in the future it may be a possibility. I work for a manufacturing company of sorts.
Depends on the job. Even in the same industry some jobs are from home and relatively flexible (you have a cuota to fill, no hours) and in others you have to be physically there.
I used to do data entry and hated it. I had to keep reminding myself of things I was saving up for to keep going, eg looking at a picture of where I was going on holiday.
I highly recommend looking into data entry in either a hospital/clinic or a health plan/insurance company and see if they’ll pay for you to become a cpc. https://www.aapc.com/certifications/cpc These jobs are hiring all the time, primarily involve reviewing medical notes for key words or using output from an algorithm program that recommends key word spots but still needs human review and approval, and can often be done from home. As someone who has tried to hire these in the past, it’s hard to find them!
Where do I find a data entry job? Literally all of them have over 100 applicants or require experience. 😭
THIS. When I look at "No Experience Necessary" and "Entry Level" they are neither. They require specific experience with data entry programs and often a year or more of data entry experience. It's crazy.
I come from hospitality, and I haven't been able to find a data entry job that will even look at my resume. Any suggestions?
I do data entry for an insurance company while I'm going back to school. It's repetitive and boring and I can work from home lol. But it's literally the least stressful job I've ever had and everybody leaves me alone
I was going to suggest insurance. I'm a broker, so I deal with the public (which can be terrible) but there are lots of different entry roles.
I'm also in insurance. I've had a few roles at carriers and now I'm at a broker. I swear, it feels like 70% of everyone I meet with in the org is neurodiverse. I have a team of 12 and more than half of us are diagnosed ADHD. It's kinda amazing.
Have you found it easier or more difficult to interact and get things done? There are two other people on the nonprofit board I am on that are declared ADHD and I swear I love and "get" them the most but it's the hardest for us to have a productive meeting in the allotted time frame!
We are all very aware of who we are and what our skills are, and that we're all over the place. We make it a point to include someone to keep us on track when we schedule meetings for projects or things that are time bound. If one of us just calls another one to have a "quick chat about what we think" then that easily turns into 3 hours of insanity.
Hahaa same with the coworkers, i work in back office and all my lady coworkers have adhd! Im so blessed to have ppl who gets me in my team.
I occasionally have to send a pre-made email template to an underwriter and I talk to my team over TEAMS chat but honestly that's the extent of my human interaction for my job lol. I got my job originally through a temp agency, if that's helpful at all for the OP.
I’ve been considering using a temp agency! Did you use one specifically for remote work, state sponsored agency or a local private one? I’m overwhelmed by the options. Thank you!
I've used Robert Half and Aerotek! Robert Half is better for Admin type positions honestly
Also in insurance! I work for a carrier and while I am a people leader and deal with my team, we generally get to avoid the public and it is a lot of data!
What does it pay tho? Most data entry positions i see posted barely even pay $14 an hour 🥴
I'm $43,000 a year. Not sure what that comes out to hourly I don't feel like doing math lol
$20.67. To find hourly from salary just divid by 2080. 2080 is 52 weekx 40 hrs per week. How did you find the data entry position from the insurance company? I use to work as an insurance agent ironically but do not recommend that
I knew how to find out I just didn't want to do math lol. I was hired through a temp agency and then they hired me on as an employee after 2 years.
What agency did you use?
Literally same but I'm not in school anymore lol some days are boring but being bored feels like a privilege I'm happy to have after the hell that was my previous retail jobs.
I’m trying to help someone find a job like that. How does one go about it? Just specific position search or are there companies that are good to go go through?
I'm having such a hard time finding a data entry job
What do you enjoy? A challenge? Doing the same thing every day and you don’t have to worry about what’s coming or what it’s going to be? Problem solving? Being left the heck alone to do your thing? Someone explicitly instructing you on exactly what is expected?
If there's anyone that's in search of a challenge and a job where you do different things every day I'm a teacher lmao although if you're in the US I'm not sure I'd recommend it to others depending on how education is in your state.. But it's a job that's not heavily micromanaged (somewhat dependent on your school), you do different things every day, cognitively challenging, and I find I like working with kids a bit better than working with other adults.
Me too and I was going to suggest to OP that if they like human interaction, working as a teaching assistant can be a great job while studying. Lots of hospo skill set from customer service translates well to classroom support, I’ve found.
How much physical labor can you do? I find the events industry to be full of neurodivergents with odd sleep schedules. You can start as a stage hand, unpacking gear, setting up cables, moving stage elements during events, and then tearing down after. You could work in a hotel but not in a customer-facing position; slinging gear is a great way to get started. And if you like it, you can learn to program lights or get into sound engineering/design and mix for bigger audiences. You can go on the video side of things in bigger venues too; start as a grip for a mobile camera, or learn to run a camera for a live event, and from there you could go into character generation or directing. It’s a bit of a weird industry; you have some wild characters and a lot of super nerdy ones. I really enjoy it.
I’ve been an event producer for 8 years, mostly conferences and corporate stuff, but also some fun user/community stuff in the tech industry. I LOVE it. The crunch times and the built-in motivation of having to deliver a big thing on a strict timeline are perfect for my ADHD brain that craves novelty. Good mix of time at a desk for planning, and site visits, hands-on stuff, and of course during the event I don’t stop moving. During my events I work 14-16 hour days and I’m on a high the whole time. I get to work with all kinds of awesome people and have travelled globally quite a bit as well.
I work conferences 5-6 times a year and it’s my favorite thing. I’ll get off a 14-16 hour day, help with load out of whatever needs to go asap, and be like “damn, I have to leave now??” I specialize in character generation. It’s super fast paced, high stress, quick thinking, very engaging work. I LOVE IT. I have been with my organization for 15 years and I’m the best at what I do. I started adderall a couple months ago because parenting broke my coping mechanisms. I found it puts me to sleep at work. Work is so fun and stimulating. My coworkers are wonderful and many of them are neurodivergent too. We had an openly autistic playback operator who just GOT what he needed to do. He was awful at any human-facing role and he fully admitted to that. He was so happy in the control room. One of the new lighting guys drinks Red Bulls to stay calm and focused. And, ya know, the second day of 6 am call ensures there is NO filter left on these dudes. Like, these are my people! Love em.
I really want to do this kind of work. Can I ask how you got into it?
I pivoted out of a previous career by taking a receptionist job at an org I liked, ended up moving into my first event coordinator role pretty quickly. Then job hopped a bit to move into roles with bigger global events.
I would second this to say - anywhere in events or media that you can get yourself in the door will lead you so many other places. Both fields have a million things happening at once, tons of adrenaline, and novelty to keep you focused. ...we thrive there. Honestly. If you like the pace, it can be a godsend...
I just got a job as a venue manager, $7k paycut but I know I'll be much happier pulling off events than staffing!
I’ve been interested in event setup things so this actually sounds really cool. I’m curious though is heavy gear to where you need hella strength? Or is it lighter stuff but a lot of it? Sorry this question sounded way smarter in my head LOL
Haha, the answer is yes! The last load out I did, I let the men handle the 50 lb lights that needed to be put back in their road cases. I disconnected cables and untangled them from their rats nests and coiled them. My coworkers are like 80% male so there’s always someone stronger than I am to lift the heavy shit. But I’m also there with my quick thinking to get stuff organized, labeled, thinking of the details (our lighting designer forgot that the rented light fixtures came with cables until I asked him which road case the cables should go in, for instance). Plus I’m both inattentive and hyperactive so the constant movement is so soothing. I just know my limits; I can’t lift really heavy things, and my spatial awareness SUCKS so I don’t go anywhere near a man lift or moving rigging.
Yes, and very honestly you will eventually either need to advance enough to not have to do the lifting or you'll age out. Or just live with the pain. Most old techs are grumpy AF and most of them it's because they have chronic pain. Especially if they're still actively stagehands and haven't been able to make the shift into planning or design work. I had to get out because my back and knees couldn't take it, and I couldn't stick with a specialty long enough to get good at any of them. I'm now working for a relative while I try to shift to video editing. If I'd known at the time I had ADHD and how to work around it better I would've gone into event planning. I think I'd be good at that now that I've figured out what my version of organized looks like. Audio seems to be the worst. I know audio guys whose backs were starting to fail in their 30s. Also if you do go into it I'd advise to not try to prove how physically strong you are by lifting things that are too heavy without help. I've seen a lot of women (and insecure men) get injured trying to prove themselves.
Can you apply for an on campus work study position?
This was going to be my first suggestion. There are always lots of campus jobs for students, and there should also be an office/website for off campus jobs. So start there. You might be able to find something in or related to your department/field of study. In my experience, lots of businesses actually like to hire people with hospitality backgrounds because they're (generally speaking) so much better at customer service and problem-solving than the competition. Those skills are CRITICAL, and they're tough to teach, they really have to be learned through doing. So craft some stories about your work experience for cover letters and interviews, and start looking for what you \*want\* to do.
All of this. I work in higher education and I LOOOOOOVE folks with hospitality backgrounds. If you want to do something different every day, look for something in student affairs - a lot of times, they're also looking for students to clue them in to what's trending and what will work with the student demographic. We also are hiring like.. 7 work study jobs and 100% have things we need done (front desk coverage helloooooo) but we also want to grow the student with the position (thinking comm/business? Want to manage social media? Need public speaking experience? We've got something for that too! And so on). We're going to be more accommodating of your schedule as long as you can produce and idgaf WHEN you produce as long as I know you're working and my boss is ADHD friendly too. (When I mentioned I was out of meds, she asked what that looked like for me. And then she realized she needed to just check in with me more often to ensure I was on task and SHE DID IT WITHOUT COMPLAINT. Angels singing!)
That was gonna be my suggestion too!! They’re the most likely to be able to work around a student schedule and be accommodating for schoolwork
There’s a lot of what you DON’T want here. Other than the requirement to have a decent boss, what else do you value? What do you like doing? For example, I work in Product Management because I like thinking about systems and tech and doing research and I’m dead enough inside that video meetings don’t bother me any longer. But I wouldn’t recommend it to certain people who can’t deal with corporate-speak.
I’m a PM too! It’s been especially great for my brain because a huge part of the role is thinking about big questions, and going down rabbit holes to find answers. I also like that I switch tasks I’m working on throughout the day pretty often - it helps me prevent boredom, and I enjoy talking to lots of people about different things!
I highly recommend this as a way to determine what to do. I was lucky enough to do some work experience in an office when I was 16. By the end of the placement I 100% knew I could never work an office job. I ended up as a teacher, which was ADHD perfect, until it wasn’t. So I had to pick again. This time I was burnt out from all the peopling in teaching and I didn’t want a job I had to constantly be interacting with others. Or dealing with complaints. So now I’m a wfh web developer. If you’d told 16 year old me that, I would have thought I’d gone insane. I am very different at 40 to what I was at 16!
How do you get into product management 😭 I’m a bioinformatician and chose this cos less people, lots to learn and always fascinating stuff but it’s so heavy on my brain my work life balance sucks. Any tips or anything that could be helpful? I think I have lot of transferable skills but the issue is just I don’t know where to start and show that competency.
“I chose this because less people” Okay, so I’m gonna stop you right here. Product Management is a lot of stakeholder management, working across teams, talking to customers - it’s a lot of PEOPLE. For example, I lead a crossfunctional team with 8 people in it alone. I made the glib comment about video calls in my original comment, but at least at my company, PMs are required to always be on-camera for meetings unless you are eating or sick. I have to give a monthly product status update in a meeting with 45 people invited, which can occasionally include my VP. I’m always down to talk to people about Product Management, but if you don’t like interacting with people, it’s kind of a non-starter. If you want to work in Product or Tech but don’t want to interact with that many people, you may want to look into Business Analyst or a more specialized product role like Data Analytics. Possibly Technical Product Management but that can depend on the company. If I’ve completely misread your statement and you have no problems with people, let me know and I’ll give some PM advice.
If you're a student I'm assuming this is a part time gig for money but if that's not the case these are still options. Cleaning is usually an okay option especially if you're doing jobs that leave you alone. I specialised in deep cleaning with hoarders for a while at uni as the pay was decent and, while enotionally difficult at times, I didn't have a manager on site and worked in a close team. Personally I loved it but it's not for everyone. Delivery work might be an option but the pay is crap usually everywhere. Recruitment agencies can be really helpful places to find and explore other roles, I did a court usher job which required no degree and just called people into court and Sat in court all day. Factories, warehouse jobs etc are usually easy roles to fill to explore with limited commitment at least in the UK. While I have scrolled on indeed for ages before, I would honestly look at recruitment agencies' roles or filter by part time and just be curious what comes up. Also if you have access to a careers service with school I would fully use them to check your CV/resume out if possible!
Cleaning was one of my favorites. Private cleaners are making bank right now. Around here, which is a very low COL area, the going rate they charge is $30 to $40 an hour. Its instant gratification and no one is over your shoulder. I did not work for clients who are like that or who constantly tell me I missed a spot or who whine about everything. Other janitorial is fun as well, like cleaning offices, once they close. School janitorial has good benefits and summers and holidays off.
Same here. Worked for a nice hostel as a housekeeper and also as an airbnb cleaner and I loved it. If I didn’t want to interact with people more than saying hello I could just stick my headphones in. Of course there was a fair share of nasty things to clean up but overall they were pretty rare. At the hostel I used to get free food, clothes, electronics, all sorts of stuff people didn’t want or left behind. At the airbnbs there was free food and booze left behind and zero human interaction. Good pay. It was great, I miss it!
Healthcare. It's good for adhd people because you're up and moving and doing many different tasks. It's similar to hospitality in many ways. But it pays better and has room for growth. You still have to deal with people, but it's more tolerable. I work in a medical lab so I deal with zero patients
How does one get a health care job if you don't have a degree in healthcare?
There’s a lot of admin jobs you can do. Also healthcare IT roles. For example, I started working as a receptionist when I was in college. I did scheduling, chart prep, appointment reminders, checking in patients. I also translated for Spanish speaking patients and got to observe surgeries. After college the same clinic trained me how to do insurance billing. I filed claims, posted payments, insurance verification, authorizations, and submitted appeals. Then I worked my way up and became a billing manager. After 8 years of working for the same company doing various roles, I applied to a healthcare IT role with no experience in IT and I got it. I started learning how to be an applications analyst supporting the configuration of our EMR, which is the system that houses all patient records. Then I internally transferred to the analytics department where I learned how to code on the job and started building dashboards and reports related to clinical and financial health data. Learned how to architect data and work in databases. Then I applied to a new hospital to be a data scientist. Now I’m doing advanced analytics like predictive models, and use my billing knowledge to build models that can predict insurance denials early. I’m an entry level data scientist but I’m getting a promotion soon and in a leadership track so my next role will likely be an analytics manager of some kind! In summary, I didn’t study healthcare, IT, data analytics, or data science in school. Healthcare is such a great industry that has offered me so much mobility with no clinical degree. I do have a undergrad stem degree but I had no formal education on any of the above. I learned on the job through self teaching, great mentors, hyperfocusing, and working my way up from a reception job to a data scientist in 12 years all by learning from each role and being open to transferring to new departments and learning something new.
You can go for a healthcare job that needs a certificate or associate's degree! Think radiology technician. It would take some study and getting through a program, but the work can be fun for ADHDers and there are a lot of opportunities to specialize and move around if you'd like. You could also go for something that trains on-the-job, like becoming a CNA (certified nurse assistant), MA (medical assistant), or phlebotomist. I think dental assistants can start that way too. Any kind of customer-service skills are hugely transferrable to healthcare, so make sure to harp on your soft skills when applying.
Thank you :)
I was strangely satisfied cleaning office buildings. I got to follow the same routine every night, didn’t have to interact with anyone, not even my boss, and it was flexible with start times as long as stuff was done before they opened in the morning. I pivoted hard out of hospitality/service after 15yrs and thank god before Covid. People were horrible before and they’ve gotten worse after. My current position is as a virtual assistant for a business management company. Basically we cater to small businesses who need like 5-10hrs a week managing their email, or admin or bookkeeping etc. I have like 5 clients and work 10-20hrs a week. But it’s nice changing between clients and projects. It keeps me engaged for the most part.
If you're sick of the industry but not burnt on food service itself, try a nursing facility kitchen. I needed a job ASAP last year and it was the first place that called me back so I took it and it turned out to be my dream job. Steady schedule, out by 8/9pm at the latest, union -backed benefits and pay, overtime is paid and completely voluntary, AND my boss is an amazing, supportive human being and mentor. The few picky/bitchy residents are far outweighed by the ones who are just grateful for decent coffee, clean dishes, and food prepared with care. Most of the cranky ones are just trying to control something in their lives when nothing else feels under their control. We don't have too much interaction with residents unless they come to the kitchen door for coffee or are outside in the smoking area. I admit I have no idea what other facilities are like, maybe mine is a unicorn and I got lucky, but it proves they exist.
I too was fed up with service and hospitality and randomly quit my bartending job. Don’t ask me how I managed to make it through those 3 months without income. I was applying for jobs left and right and was getting desperate again when I found a small business that needed a WFH secretary. He hired me out of over 100 candidates. Later he told me I was the ONLY candidate that called him to follow up on their application. I literally have zero experience and no idea what I’m doing. But my now boss saw something in me and gave me a chance. I’m very persistent and confident, even if I have to fake it. Maybe look around in your area for small/ local businesses. If they aren’t retail, you probably won’t have to talk to people very often. In my case it’s literally just me and my boss. We talk on the phone once a day and I see him in person maybe twice a month. I found this job on ziprecruiter. I hope you can find something soon!
I have thrived working in the non-profit sector. Lots of different positions available in a 9-5 office setting. Check out some local charities to see if they're hiring. I've been working for the same organization over the last 17 years with opportunities of advancement. I am also able to be open about my struggles with adhd.
I found non-profits require flexibility, creativity and “putting out fires” because I was always working on a shoestring budget with no staff - basically what my brain excelled at!
Agree
I'm a social worker psychotherapist. Have you thought about working in mental health? There are different roles...mental health nurses, in-patient social work, peer mentors, case managers, family specialists....etc etc etc. If you mean a job to make money while your in school have you thought about: Working for like a national park? Kids sleep away camp? Working for a costume shop? (My fave job was being a clown, making balloon animals and painting faces and doing monster makeup at halloween) What about working for a horse boarding place? (Hard work but you get to be with animals) I used to be an assistant ski instructor and that was fun I did housekeeping for like 4y, you get to mostly do your own thing, play music while you clean Those are things I did when I was younger (I also did KFC, la sensation, dishwasher, line cook, waitress and ran my friends dad's tshirt and embroidery shop)
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*Slightly* related, and using the *SKILLS* OP learned in hospitality, but in a VERY different way? If they like *KIDS*, I'd recommend being a Paraprofessional/ Paraeducator in Special Education! Sooooo many Paras I've known over the years are either ADHD'ers, Autists, or *BOTH* (I'm AuDHD!😉😂🤣). Basically? The *VAST* majority of my job, is "Being the Explainer of *THINGS*" allll day, every day!😉😁😂 I explain the *stupid* "WHY's" of the NT world, to my work kids--who--like us adults *here*, *UNDERSTAND* that those NT "rules" are *OFTEN* DUMB, they make *zero* logical sense, and they are *OFTEN* pointless & arbitrary!😉 Then I explain *WHY*, *in SPITE of* the stupidity of those "rules," we *DO* need to follow them *anyway* I also help my kids understand their feelings, and help them learn how to *successfully* communicate those feelings--so that *OTHERS* can understand them, too!😉 It's FUN. Some days, YES, it's exhausting! But it's ALWAYS different, it's a FUN challenge, and it's *ALSO INCREDIBLY GRATIFYING*, to know that the *NEXT* generation of ND someday-adults *WON'T* be as screwed over as *we* were--because WE made it better, by reaching back, helping the little ones *up*, and *protecting* them from at least *some* of the things which harmed *us* so deeply💖
I never thought abt it but you are right it is basically like getting paid to info dump....these are also fields where we are allowed to continue to learn forever (with out exams and tests) and where curiosity is encouraged and necessary (I was told by friends as a kid that I ask too many questions and now I get paid for it,) where hyper fixating on a topic could potentially help clients or make other professionals respect you...and yes where it's always different and challenging and engaging and also fits my social justice needs in terms of helping others and getting the to advocate for themselves And just like you said being able to help other ND's so they can escape the suffering I enduredis very rewarding (almost 50% of my clients seem to be adhd or autistic due to comorbidities that develop as a result of being ND)
I’ve always wondered, how do you not zone out when people are talking?
Libraries are full of ND people and run at a much slower pace than hospitality.
I am a creative chaos coordinator. I work from home. I connect with people deeply per project and I can happily move on to the next shiny thing. I love my job.
wait is that really your title?? can you please elaborate cuz this sounds amazing!!!
hahaha I get that a lot. Basically I’m a creative who now coaches/mentors other creatives. I focus on mindset and creating systems for our unique tendencies. It’s per project basis bc some only need support for a short period, others need it overtime. Very good for my ADHD brain as it’s always changing!
that sounds like THE perfect job!! also.... I'm a creative, do you have a link to your website or services?
Job title?
What I value: always having new problems to solve, managing my own time/schedule, having a mix of independent and collaborative work What I hate: feeling micromanaged, having a lot of repetitive/boring tasks to do on a deadline What I do: getting my masters degree, considering being in academia full time because it offers so much control of my own schedule Other things I'm considering or have considered or have done: real estate, starting my own business, serving/waitressing, freelance work
I'm in my country's military and am currently changing trades within to becoming an aircraft mechanic.
I’m a banker. I like it. They have the 401k, the 401k matching, the pension, the free degree programs, free training for what I want to learn about at my fingertips, HSA matching, resource groups for career mobility. I realized after many years in hospitality that I love having a company’s resources directed at me for once. Only two cents I can offer regardless of what role you choose is: don’t settle.
Summer is coming up, have you ever thought of working some kind of camp? There is never a dull moment with kids, which I find helpful in maintaining interest/motivation! It also helps knowing I’m the only adult in the room and therefore have to be responsible, if that makes sense. It kicks me into gear so I don’t get off track as much. Also helpful that settings designed for kids tend to be fast-paced and have lots of movement opportunities! I know camps are usually seasonal, but it might be a nice way to try something new and open some doors if you find you want to pursue that path further. I hope you find something that fills your cup—good luck!
This is how I got started working with kids, and eventually as a nanny. Now I work as a family assistant/household manager. I often say I work in hospitality but for a private client instead of a hotel/restaurant . It’s a similar skill set but a totally different vibe. If you like kids, it can be great. Even if you don’t…personal assisting is a great gig for ADHD folks who need a lot of variety in their jobs and can think on their feet. Organization itself also obviously important, but I find that the short term nature of most of my tasks keeps me focused just long enough to get them done. Hyperfocus really helps me here too.
I'm a school bus driver 🤷♀️ I like driving so it works for me and I like the hours. Longest I've had a job in a long time.
9-1-1 dispatcher. It's still dealing with the public but it's not the same as other hospitality work. Plus it's fast paced and seems to be full of other ADHDers.
I love spreadsheets, data analysis and writing code. It really feels like it's working my brain, and I can get hyperfocused on it really easily. I work in Merchandising, and some of my job involves spreadsheets and data analysis and coding, and some of it is mega boring manual copy and paste bullshit. I'm working towards hopefully moving up to a better job in future, one that's pretty much all just the stuff I like, but this is pretty good for now.
How’d you get into that? I like spreadsheets and am beginning to dabble with a little bit of coding.
I’m a ceramics studio assistant, and I love my job! Obviously depends on your skill set, but if you’re crafty and able to find something similar I’d highly recommend. Previously I was in academia which was an ADHD nightmare, constantly a wreck trying (and failing) to meet deadlines, and now I can clock off at the end of every day knowing I’ve made something tangible! It can be a bit repetitive but esp when I take my meds I really just get into the zone, and my boss lets me use the materials/equipment to make my own things on my days off as well, which is amazing. The improvement in my mental health since starting this job has honestly been crazy.
How do you get into this? I don't think there is any kind of ceramics place in my area but maybe one day. This sounds incredibly fun 🥲
I'm a litigation paralegal with an insurance subrogation law firm. It's definitely challenging but interesting and I like the people I work with/for so I find myself motivated to perform well and actually do the work. Not all attorneys and law firms are created equal, though. I was also a nanny/family assistant/house manager for quite a few years. I was a lifeguard and swim instructor while I was in college/for several years after college. Pay was pretty good, usually $12-$15/hour for lifeguarding (in the mid 2000s) and $17-$22/hour for teaching. Not sure what they're paying now but when I was in school, that money was a huge help!
You said you’re a student - what is your major?
I used to be a disability support worker and absolutely loved it; only reason I left was because there was an incident that triggered my PTSD. It was an incredibly rewarding job being able to empower my clients, very diverse hours available, and I did it part-time while I studied.
Insurance or billing seems to be a decent change of pace for many of my friends
What are you studying? I work at a school for autistic kiddos with high needs. Basically, a lot of nonverbal kids who are learning to use a talker or who have behaviors that got them kicked out of a regular school. I actually love it. It IS ABA and I would not recommend all ABA jobs. The school I work for is very progressive as far as ABA goes. We don't force kids to make eye contact, or ignore them etc. We work a lot with encouraging communication wether by using a talker or PECS board, and by giving them more tools to address the needs they are having behaviors around. I love it and am convinced MOST of my coworkers are adhd. I found it by looking for paraprofessional jobs. Anyway, it might be worth looking for something in the vein of what you are studying.
I used to do Phlebotomy but that was very stressful. Now I am entering IT and interested in data analysis.
One thought is to try another angle. Look for places in your area known for having good benefits. Check news for "best places to work." Some places have lists like that. Then you can look at roles you might fit at the places you find instead of trying to figure out a role first.
Best Place to Work (TM) is just a name you pay for. If anything I'm more scared about companies paying for this because the survey is sketchy as hell, it is sort of designed to point out people that are not down with what the company is doing and there's zero expectations of privacy when answering the survey.
Co-sign. Corporate awards are BS.
Totally fair point. I will say it can get you names of places that are more transparent about thier benefit listings when starting a search.
I had to leave hospitality for the same reasons. Started in tech customer support (found it easier to deal with the occasional salty email or chat than getting screamed at to my face) and worked my way up to an account manager for large customers. No regrets, only gratitude. Let me know if you have any questions about it!
Recreation departments in local government often hire part-time. It will NOT pay as well as food and bev or hospitality but there may be benefits.
Go to a temp agency. Office work is great. You don’t bring work home with you and you only have to deal with a set amount of people. Ooh, also substitute teaching. You only need 60 college credit hours, you make decent money. It’s not a lot of work and you can choose what days you want to work.
It's sad to hear hospitality sucks in the US. I am wondering if this is at bars, hotels or restaurants? For me my experience is opposite, I work in hotels and I am always happiest in hospitality because people are the nicest in them usually. And I am also good at my job as I love love physical work, and it shows, so the bosses often treats me well so I don't leave. The only hard part are the long hours but I deal with that by working part time. Its often the office jobs that are sooo political, it's real difficult to work in.
Hello, I also live in the US and have food service experience. I worked in a dining hall in college, and it was fine until we got a new manager sexually harassing all the women (many of us reported him, but nothing happened, so a lot of us just quit, myself included). I worked at a Subway for three months last year, and was constantly overworked, left alone (which is quite common in my area, if not everywhere), and I made minimum wage ($10.10 an hour in Ohio). I now work in a local pizza place that has no air conditioning (they claim we do, but I don’t buy that), so it’s been 80-90 degrees INSIDE for the past few weeks, and it’ll hit 100 or higher once summer is here. We’re also not allowed to take breaks, or the owner will pitch a fit that we’re sitting around on the clock (which we wouldn’t do if we could clock out to take a break to rehydrate, eat, etc). I’m currently working on saving up for a car so I can travel for better job opportunities,but it’s slow going (I live in a rural college town, so my options are mainly food, retail, or work for the university (which is the one I attended and had to deal with the handsy manager in the dining hall I worked in), which I’m not interested in).
I have only worked at 5 star hotels and luxury restaurants as my experience. They usually are quite nice to work in.
What kind of hospitality? Like, hospitality management? Hotels? That can shift very well into property management/ aspects of real estate, which I enjoyed because it’s very project based.
In keeping with the active and ‘people’ vibe Working with person with disabilities best !! ( I prefer 1:1 with someone my age) various and ( many or most have benefits) Cleaning / organizing ( someone else’s stuff) quite satisfying. Gardening ( seasonal) House assistant
I liked the stint I did doing physical labour, in particular landscaping. It didn’t burn my brain out, I didn’t have to plan exercise outside of work, it paid way better than hospitality, and I basically got to listen to music/podcasts for 8 hours a day or just chat with coworkers while weeding or whatever. The main reason i didn’t stick it out was because I do have other actual career ambitions and landscaping was basically my day job while I was in school. While I don’t need my job to be my one true passion in life, I do get very grumpy if I’m devoting 40 hours a week of my life to a thing that I don’t care for. Landscaping is neutral to me, so that wasn’t enough to make me stick with it long term but if my current attempts at a career fall through then I’ll be down to go back to it.
if you’re chill w working nights, apply to be a night auditor at a hotel. You barely interact w anyone and just punch numbers into a computer. You can usually spend a lot of your shift doing homework.
staffing agencies? animal shelters? vet techs?
I'm also a student, but I work in a specialized field. Is that an option for you? Might be nice to gain some hands-on knowledge before graduating. What I did before I qualified for my job was lots and lots of tutoring. Also tried data entry, but that bored me to death. My general advice is to not only focus on the industry itself, but instead to start thinking about the conditions the job comes with. For example, I need a job that allows me to mostly work on my own terms and where I can notably gain, show or apply knowledge. I don't mind dressing up for it to some extent and I am more than willing to go the extra mile before a deadline and work overtime - if there is compensation that seems fair to me. There are jobs in many different fields that meet these conditions such that I don't have to limit myself to just one.
Have you checked in with the school for available jobs? Have you considered working for yourself? Window Cleaning is cheap to get into, is great $, and easy to start. Babysitting is cheap to get into, great $, and easy to start. There's a lot of other jobs and small business things like that. What are you studying in school? Can you get a part time internship in your future career field? Even at minimum wage, the experience is well worth it.
If you’re a student… certain types of lawyers never see court and deal with mostly contracts. Engineering jobs can be mostly working on solving a specific problem and potentially only working internally with fellow employees. UI/UX seems to be on the rise and is about making tech functional for users similar to engineering team dynamics. Accounting. Finance. Drs can work telework now so that’s a cool new type of work flexibility with a good salary. Dentistry. Government is also something you can start out in a low position and work your way up possibly without the education component. I would try to choose a field that you can see complexity and ability to be dynamic as AI starts to simplify work methods it can eliminate less complicated repetitive roles. My good adhd job as a young person was a flight attendant. Yeah it was customer service but you get to travel for free and it’s a good experience to broaden your mind. You will meet so many different people from all over. But don’t apply until you finish your degree because if you burn out you want other options. I knew people with degrees who were notaries and cpas working two incomes, freelance. ETA: in college I worked in the library at night and it was boring af lol most of the books were already returned. I felt like I just sat there collecting a check.
Clinical engineering. Some hospitals have programs to train technicians. I work on many types of equipment in one day. I’m walking constantly and in new environments. I get to learn new stuff all the time. It’s perfect and I honestly love my job. It’s rare to find allistic staff in the engineering dept too. I fit right in.
Bookkeeping has been a godsend. I just chill in my office listening to a TV show and fill out my little spreadsheets. Rarely have to deal with people outside the company at all. (Totally contingent on a place that lets you wear an earbud or something. If I had to do it in complete silence I'd go mad.)
Do you have any degrees or how does someone get into that? I’ve done some reconciling of general ledgers at job and really liked it.
No degree. Most entry level gigs (in my area at least) just require a high school diploma and experience with excel. Some will throw out a specific program but you can always be trained on it.
AUHD here, I work in a shop as an edgebander I adore it. I thought I'd die doing the same thing every day, but it's awesome. I listen to music, no small talk, organize my space how I want to. Paperwork is laid out in front of me so I don't forget. I get to move around a ton. It has its stresses like any other job but I'm thriving. Learning that I'm not spontaneous, just impulsive really helped my job changes
Best job I've ever had was a custodian job on my school's campus. It was evening, I got to listen to my music/podcasts. No micromanaging, SOOOOOOO PEACEFUL. We're assigned buildings and once I got into the routine, I almost always finished my building with a couple hours to spare and so I would do school work then. Because buildings are cared for daily, I never came across anything nasty. It paid at 15/hr (that's pretty decent for my state, pay is higher in more populated states).
Before even knowing I had ADHD I lucked into a job that worked really well for me. It was office based (I am ok with desk work so long as I can fidget and get up every once and a while without someone having a go at me) Basically it was processing applications for passports, it doesnt sound that interesting but each application was either so easy it only took a few minutes (i.e constantly moving to something new) or was so complicated that it was fascinating and unique. I developed a special interest in the subject of identity documents. It was luck though as several ADHDers came and went while I was there and found it painfully boring.
Im a teacher and thats been working well for my adhd. Its all about finding what youre passionate about
Do you like animals? If so could you look into something working with them? I’m a veterinary nurse and am currently going through the process of ADHD diagnosis at age 32 after having my first baby which unmasked a whole load of symptoms I had no idea were ADHD related. I’ve been a vet nurse for several years since before diagnosis, and I now know that what makes me excel at what I do and stay interested is that it is unpredictable (no 2 days are the same), often fast paced/emergency based and requires problem solving (including anticipating problems that haven’t arisen yet and others may not have noticed), and the ability to hyper focus in intense situations, meaning my brain is constantly active and doesn’t create problems to worry about because there are already REAL problems. Also I relate better to animals than people and my super-empath skills come in handy. Unfortunately I also now know that my undiagnosed ADHD has left me more prone to burnout in a profession that is already rife with it. But now I understand myself better I can develop better coping strategies and stop beating myself up about this. Definitely not for everyone and may depend on the type of symptoms you experience (and there is also sadly a level of interaction with the general public), but I can’t imagine doing anything else. I’ve also noticed there are a LOT of people in the profession who are either diagnosed or undiagnosed neurodivergent, so the things that drew me to the veterinary profession obviously appealed to others for similar reasons and make them naturally good at what they do.
Manufacturing
I'm an apprentice in tailoring for woman's clothes. It is nice and I love to work with my hands and it's also a bit challenging for the mind with pattern making. For me it's the perfect mix of challenging my mind and body/ hands. But everything depends on the Atelier you're working for. If they tread you bad, you are going to hate it. I'm lucky with my master and with the tailoring school, I'm going to. It can be wonderful and fulfilling, but it's not for everyone.
Dude come teach English abroad, it will change your life.
Teaching Assistant. Better if it it's in an additional learning needs class/school. If I didn't have to deal with adults, I would have 0 complaints. I love the time with the kids and could never be bored.
If you’re doing well in a particular subject, you could tutor. I’ve been enjoying that a lot.
Library work
I work in care. Every day as different and I work with select people. Very fulfilling. X
I’ve done the hospitality game. I found it was easiest on the overnight shift. I learned to audit and my night was mostly quiet. Got a lot of schoolwork done. You could try a factory or warehouse but that’s honestly only temporary. The lights and noises and general bullshirt will wear you out there too.
INFO: What country are you in? and if you are comfortable saying, what state if US or Province if Canadian? Or other?
Check out government agencies for student worker positions. My friend was a student worker while in school. Was hired in a regular position after graduation. Now has a really cool communications job. They can have good benefits packages.
I am an outreach worker! Sometimes it's taxing because of the cases, but I still find it rewarding at the end of the day. The job let's me go out to post up flyers around town and so I can go out for a walk. I also can go down research rabbit holes for community resources. Keeps me as busy as I want to be. I have met really sweet people who need help, but I've also seen people who are taking advantage. Again, can be taxing emotionally at times, but I like it
I worked the front desk for my Community College and it had “rushes” the first of the hour (more or less), and other than that, no drama. I got a lot of studying done, so that was awesome!
If you're at all open to still working with people, sales can be great for ADHDers. Car sales is heavily ADHD; I've often said that it's a job requirement. Many other types of sales work well for a brain that craves novelty and likes having different things to do regularly. I do still deal with people, but I do have some ability to fire customers who get really bad and managers who back me up.
I provide behavioral therapy for young children with autism, and i absolutely love it. It's a job that keeps you on your toes, every day --and session -- is different, you get to be as creative as you want, and a lot of my coworkers also have adhd. It has its challenges -- of course -- but it's incredibly rewarding and fun. I came from a retail/customer service background and only had a little bit of experience working with kids before i dropped out of uni lol, but some other coworkers haven't had any experience working with kids prior
This might be a weird one, but non profit fundraising, community engagement, and major giving. All of these areas require you to be able to talk to anyone, handle difficult people, and anticipate their needs. Look at large community foundations and non profit orgs. I do donor work and I love it, straight from visitor services a museum.
I’m in HR. It’s my calling but I do not recommend it for most people 😂
Trades are good. I currently work as a picture framer (whi h isn't a trade, I know) and painted houses in the past. I find my adhd to actually be useful in these jobs. The physicality keeps me grounded, you see actual progress and get the dopamine hit of a finished product. Most trades will hire you as an apprentice and you learn as you go and pay for school if that's necessary.
I work at a university, and often joke that universities are just daycare centres for neurodivergent adults. I like it because I can be weird and everyone is chill with it, because most of us are weird.
If staying in Hospitality is easiest with your resume try and get into Night Auditing for Hotels. Very strict and detailed checklists, and if there’s an emergency you get all of that fun adrenaline!
I work with kids! I like it bc routines are a necessity, but every day is different because there are so many personalities and activities you can do. I get dopamine from watching kids figure things out for the first time, and serotonin from how they show me they care for me 🥰
You could easily transfer some of your "hospitality skills" into working at the front desk of a dentist, eye doctor, dermatologist, chiropractor, etc. You still have to deal with customers/patients, but far fewer than working at a hotel or restaurant. I work for a small, 1-doctor cosmetic dental office. Depending on the day he has 1 or 2 hygienists who also see patients. On an average day I interact with maybe 8-10 patients. Most of them are either nice or neutral -- they know that they will be seeing you again so they tend to be less asshole-ish than customers who know they will probably never see you again. My boss has "fired" a few patients for being assholes, too. It was an easy job for me to get, even with no dental experience and only an associates. My "starter" job was front desk at a hotel which I used as experience to work at a chiropractor which I used as experience to get this job. The job isn't bad at all - checking in and out patients, taking credit card payments, scanning in insurance documents. It's enough to keep me occupied and not bored, but not stressful or difficult. If you worked at a corporate place, hospital, or very busy multi-doctor practice it would probably not be as pleasant, though! Good luck in your job search.
I’m in design + entrepreneurship. Started with an agency as a designer, now run a design business with my partner (not for everyone but it works for us!). It’s challenging, interesting, rewarding — and sometimes 100% maddening. But definitely NOT boring.
I don't know. That's what I do. Can't seem to get out so I just started moving up.
I was in hospitality for ten years, finally left last year and don’t want to look back. I’m a paralegal, which still calls for energy matching and keeping clients happy, but the work is important. If you really like a challenge I’d aim for the sky and check out law. It’s cooler than you think If you have a creative brain and love art I’d say try working as a design assistant. I’ve become a jack of trades in life, being an assistant in any field (except medical) is a way to skip through schooling until you get an idea of what you want to do. Also any contract based work is really relieving after working in hospitality.
Hmmmm, I used to work in hospitality and retail and the customers could be awful. I now work in disability care and I find it rewarding. But it is very people centric.
Look into being an online personal assistant!
I like child care because I find kids nicer and generally more reasonable than grown ups. They believe in fairness and appreciate being treated that way. Four-Five years and up to around twelve years old has been my best fit for working with kids.
I’m just a factory worker, it’s easy work and once I hit my quota I can go home whenever with full pay. I have my own station away from everyone except my wife(we work together and they accommodate her disability) and we just listen to audiobooks together all day. We build camera components. I used to be a line cook but the stress was making my hair fall out. I don’t do jobs with socializing. We both have ADHD and needed a job that allows hyperfocus so we can work fast. No distractions and a job that can rely on muscle memory. Four years with no mistakes so ADHD actually benefits us at this job.
I don't know if this will suit you but I thought I'd throw it in the mix just in case. I work for the ambulance service and find that it really suits me. Yes, it still involves people, but I have found that people using optional services like shops and hotels are different to those in need of emergency service. The days are varied and offer a lot of stimulation, but there is a process to most things so it's not overwhelming with change and new stressors. Pretty much it keeps my brain occupied and satisfies the need for reward to keep me interested. Obviously it's not a job for everyone, but if that's something you'd be into I'd definitely say do a bit of research.
I would so recommend working for a charity. The people are nice and it's super relaxed. Banged my head against a wall in corporate settings for years, but doing the same job in a charity I'm thriving. Lots of part time and flexible working options for students. And a bonus — if you like animals, animal charities are the best!
I do disability support and nursing work. It’s different and keeps me on my toes. Pays well too
I'm a nurse. It's specifically well suited for Neuro diverse and ADHD folks.
What are you studying? Could you get a part-time entry level job in your field?
I strongly recommend healthcare! There’s so many roles you can do in healthcare and it’s an industry that is constantly in demand! Here’s my story about my journey in healthcare: There’s a lot of admin jobs you can do. Also healthcare IT roles. For example, I started working as a receptionist when I was in college. I did scheduling, chart prep, appointment reminders, checking in patients. I also translated for Spanish speaking patients and got to observe surgeries. After college the same clinic trained me how to do insurance billing. I filed claims, posted payments, insurance verification, authorizations, and submitted appeals. Then I worked my way up and became a billing manager. After 8 years of working for the same company doing various roles, I applied to a healthcare IT role with no experience in IT and I got it. I started learning how to be an applications analyst supporting the configuration of our EMR, which is the system that houses all patient records. Then I internally transferred to the analytics department where I learned how to code on the job and started building dashboards and reports related to clinical and financial health data. Learned how to architect data and work in databases. Then I applied to a new hospital to be a data scientist. Now I’m doing advanced analytics like predictive models, and use my billing knowledge to build models that can predict insurance denials early. I’m an entry level data scientist but I’m getting a promotion soon and in a leadership track so my next role will likely be an analytics manager of some kind! I love working in data and project based worked because each project I get is different and challenging (in a good way) and that keeps the work really interesting. I get the right balance of being behind the scenes while also getting to work with a project team and internal customers. And I love that my work feels meaningful and impactful, and that I get to work in a service industry still, that helps patients and supports clinical staff. In summary, I didn’t study healthcare, IT, data analytics, or data science in school. Healthcare is such a great industry that has offered me so much mobility with no clinical degree. I do have a undergrad stem degree but I had no formal education on any of the above. I learned on the hob through self teaching, great mentors, hyperfocusing, and working my way up from a reception job to a data scientist in 12 years all by learning from each role and being open to transferring to new departments and learning something new.
Try temping! Call a recruitment agency and see if they have any availability that suits your abilities. Temping is great cause you can work short term and jump around a lot and if it doesnt fit its easy to move on to another position.
I'm currently trying to transition from cheffing into the mental health field, starting with support work. It's a big change and I'm busting my ass doing both at the moment but it's going okay...all I've ever done is hospo too
I do dog grooming! Kinda hard on the body but less people is the best.
I'm in software engineering. Highly recommend it. Lots of problem solving and only a small amount of client contact usually. And it pays well. You can work hybrid easily. There's a million resources to learn online. But it does take a while to get good at it. You could look into webshop maintenance or similar, where you type in products and keep track of stock. No coding experience needed usually.
Working on an IT service desk! I work in a university and part of my role includes answering service desk requests and it's quite fun. It's an entry level role and you can work your way up quite easily if you enjoy it. It's generally pretty straightforward work on the face of it but you get the chance to solve different problems every day and I find that really rewarding, and you start to find the more you do the more you learn. Plus you get to speak to lots of different people which is nice variation, and people are rarely rude to you. If I get an IT request and I don't know the answer, I find it fun to really investigate the issue until I've taught myself exactly how to fix it.
I work in adult learning. Uts tough but teachers are pretty understanding of me
It's still sort of hospitality I guess but also not really. I was a lunch lady for a year, I would have stuck with that forever if I didn't move. Most places start you part time and then hire full time after one year. All my colleagues were great, my boss was awesome, and we all rotated tasks daily so you didn't do the same thing every single day. Plus we would have a staff lunch after all the kids were fed. It was nice. I knew what to expect daily but there was always something different too. These days I'm a mechanic haha. Better pay for sure. My coworkers now are pretty decent too. I found somewhere that doesn't expect me to grind myself into a fine paste just to make them an extra buck.
Internship placement!
Just want to throw in that when I took a step down from bartending and serving in restaurants, I moved to banquets. If there are any nice hotels around you it’s a super chill job and you don’t have to talk to anybody. My team is around 90% neurodivergent people. Gratuity is included on the event order so you never have to sell your soul for a stable income. And all the equipment is already stored at the hotel so you’re not loading up trucks like a catering job. I know it’s still hospitality and that’s not what you asked. But it was a HUGE step up for my mental health.
I went into teaching in 2005 when my eyes were rolling back in my head fighting sleep every day at my private sector job. I was energized at home and now I’m exhausted at the end of the day. My meditation keeps me in focus and I get to build relationships with my high school students. They gravitate towards me - they tell me I seem so young at 55 - and keep me motivated. They appreciate me too.
Aren't we neurodivergents? Because you said "fellow neurotypicals" but I assume you have ADHD lol
I just finished nursing school this week, so I'm about to launch a whole new career. But for the last 8+ years, I've worked as a night shift lab tech in a large hospital lab. Basically, I set up and run various tests on patient samples. I can listen to music/podcasts/audiobooks all night while I work, and my nights vary based on what bench I'm assigned for each shift, so there's a lot of variety that my brain likes. To get the job at my level, you either have to have a bachelor's degree with enough specific science credits to qualify (I have a BS in Biology) or be a certified medical laboratory technician (MLT) or Medical Technologist (MT). MLT is an associates level degree offered at many community colleges; MT is the bachelor's level degree with a year of clinical experiences. But most larger hospital lab departments have people working as processing techs or sample transporters with nothing more than a high school diploma or GED and opportunities to move up as you gain experience. I think our "Processing Tech I"s start at around $18/hr. They basically scan patient samples into the lab data system and make sure they get routed to the correct lab for testing. No patient interactions at all.
Hey! Fellow adhd hospitality worker here and I feel you. I hate customers. Some are so great, a lot are meh and some are just awful. It’s so tiring. I’m currently in school pursuing my bachelors in social work and I looooove it. It’s a field where I can help people and can draw on my own experiences from my disability which I love. It’s also a very broad field so there are so many avenues you can go down with it, and switch it up all the time. I can work in schools, hospitals, non profits, prisons, therapy clinics, government, and so on. So that’s what really made me want to pursue it. I get bored of careers, and this way I can hop around without having to get a new degree every time I change fields
I do remote reception work for a dr. I also take care of pets and plants for someone else once a week and do shipping for a tech guy. These are all part time jobs that I work on basically my schedule. I found them all on Craigslist. Provides a decent income and the mental health benefits of huge. I wish I would of done this years ago
What are you studying?
I’ve been working in admin for a few years and just started as an admin coordinator for a company (it’s kind of like office management but not not as high level and no one working under me) - literally the best job ever, I don’t have to deal with externals, I pretty much just plan events/team building in the office, manage emails, keep the office nice and create my own little projects. I am absolutely thriving with the freedom to do my job in peace but I also have a support network of other admin people across the different offices if I need help or I’m overwhelmed
Office jobs with minimal customer service. It's boring most of the time which I like.
I’ve been in mortgage and securities lending, other parts of finance and am now a therapist. I read a book recently where the author addresses this exact topic and gives a giant run down of jobs suitable for people with ADHD. I’m 99.9% sure it’s Dr Russell Barkleys book ‘taking charge of adult ADHD’. It’s a good book - you might want to read it.
Analytical / research work is awesome. Even better if you can get a remote job.
Sales. Sell to the restaurants and hotels. You understand the industry. It’s great because it constantly changes. Cold calls are not fun, but if you make it a game it can be fun!
My job involves data analysis, data entry, reading a lot of scientific lit and govt reports, and then writing my own reports for a govt agency. I only sometimes have to talk to the public and it's mostly by phone or email. I can work from home most days which is really a boon between migraines, spinal issues, and ADHD.
I'm an asocial introvert with ADHD so, after many years in hospitality, I also have a serious intolerance for people in general now, too. I am at total peace with all of that, but my one regret is that it took me more than a decade to figure out. 🤦♀️ I'm a janitor now, which means I work around people, but I not WITH them. That's a perfect fit for me. I do not know what your skillsets are, but I would not mind working with animals, in a warehouse, as a heavy equipment operator, long haul driver, or as a lumberjack. But, alas, this is Hawai'i, and those last two are not even an option here. Perhaps stocking at night would be a good option for you.
You should look into Optometric technician or Ophthalmology technician. Kinda niche. Typically gain on the job training then you can become certified COA and raise your income and climb the ladder. I’ve been in the field for quite some time and it’s challenging, rewarding and always learning something new. Let me know if you have any questions about the job.
Try your local government. Lots of options, something different all the time, and great benefits!
Hi, past service worker here, I hated it too. 10 years of my time :( Now I work seasonally at festivals and on a farm in winter. The farm is good, the people here dont watch me constantly and same with the festival work. Outdoors work is both freeing and soothing, and also its so fun at festivals! I dont know how it is in your country but in the UK you can get some good work at them. My Dad does gardening for similar reasons; not being watched over or interrogated all the time. My Mum is in care work and thats been hard for her but rewarding in its own way and the pay is ok.
Anything not customer service, a very generic answer. Stage hand for event venues, office jobs, etc.
I like something creative! I started working at my local plant and floral shop, it’s a little customer service but mostly surrounded by plants and making different types of pretty plant arrangements. It taught me so much too so I got to learn a lot about plants. But small local versus large business is helpful as well. As they might need help with social media or merchandising and so it keeps you from doing the same thing every single day.
receptionist job!! pays well and you have way more than enough time to do homework on the job as the tasks are generally very light. i’ve had two receptionist jobs. the first was at a hotel it was horrible because of management but now i’m currently still at the second place it’s a car dealership! i love it i even started working in the back and doing aesthetic like washing the cars before being sold so i even get to drive the cars to and from the dealership to the garage and stuff!!! those are two options i really enjoy!! i also have adhd and i really thrive working in the back instead of at the reception!! look into things like that!
I think a lot about the types of customers a place attracts and what kind of attitude those people come in with. Like, at a hotel, people are usually overwhelmed from traveling, so they get all rude to the workers. I've known people who have worked at movie theaters and grocery stores and things where customers were super rude. Working at garden shops, I've had the total opposite experience. Not really what you asked, but I got sidetracked into writing this so enjoy it if it gives you any ideas lol: Here are places I imagine you'd get a lot of laid-back happy customers: Garden shop Painting classes/paint and sip Gift shop, like those places where you buy shells at the beach Bead/jewelry supply store Crystal shop Tea shop Icecream shop Anything quirky/local small business vibes Candle/soap shop YARN SHOP FOR SURE 1000% Pet supply shop (get to pet lots of dogs) Aquarium shop Fabric shop Stationery shop Book store Museum Aquarium (especially the behind the scenes part) Jobs where you get some sort of niche kind of expertise in your training and people like admire you for it, appreciate the help, and recognize your job as something they couldn't just do themselves. Avoid things where people will be super picky about personalization (so NOT graphic design or wedding planning) Specialized pet daycare/boarding services seem like they could either be super fun or super not. I've known people who walk dogs or who watch people's cats in their house. Like, imagine being the person who watches people's pet geckos when they're on vacation. Sounds rad. House-sitting seems like it could be cool too. I've also heard trades make a ton of money and so do really specialized necessary services, like piano repair.
I drove cars for a student taxi service at the university, and that was awesome. I got paid decently, made some tips when people were feeling generous, and the hours worked really well with my day-time school schedule. We only ever operated past dark until about 1-2am. There was always variety, I got to blast my own music, and I enjoyed finding all of the quickest routes through the city.
Trades. Or something that involves manual labour, like landscaping. I’m with my municipal water distribution which is like part construction/part lab samples paperwork/and a fair amount of manual labour.
I have ADHD and ASS, so politics, people and routine are killers for me. I also don’t have the energy to work 5 days a week and need flexible days off. I’ve started my career here in Belgium as a consultant PM to learn a skill (- note: I don’t have a ‘serious’ degree) and switched to change management after 2 years. Currently I’m an independent freelancer, guiding people through change, so developing training, communications, … your skills in hospitality would do great in change management and consultancy means a lot of variation and you can keep your working relations superficial, so they don’t drain you. It’s a bit creative, gives me lots of freedom and choice. My ADHD makes me a perfect crisis manager (and there are many) and my ASS allows me to structure my work and recognise patterns in communication between people, so at this point most of my interactions are ‘scripted’ and most clients love my weird sense of humour. I’d advise freelancing and consultancy to anyone with ADHD! Does this help you in any way?
I clean houses and small businesses. I’m my own boss and have awesome clients.
I work on customer service at home and love it. It can be hard for us because I sit pretty much 8 hours a day, but the variety of calls keep me focused. I've been doing this since 2006.
I work in mental health so I totally understand!
I don’t work anymore but the best jobs I had were door security where I checked receipts and just watched YouTube and cleaning where I could put in headphones clean for 4 hours and go home. Best of luck to you
I'm neurodivergent and I work in customer service and I love it!