My First Career:

The Pivotal Role Career Coaching and Counseling Can Play to Help Young Women with ADHD Make A Successful First Career Choice
by Robin Roman Wright

Introduction
Creative thinking, the ability to laser focus on an area of interest and the ability to persist despite setbacks are characteristics that increasingly will be in demand in the global economy of the 21st century. These same attributes are seen in many women with AD/HD. While they often struggle to consistently attend to routine tasks, be on time, and meet deadlines, it is heartening to note that some of the capabilities women with AD/HD have, due to the way their AD/HD minds work, are marketable. A well-trained career coach or counselor can play a pivotal role in helping them navigate the career assessment, exploration, research and decision-making processes. Young women with AD/HD have a much better chance of finding a “good-fit” first job if they receive AD/HD-friendly career coaching or counseling. In our increasingly competitive environment each young woman with AD/HD will need to tailor-make her first career opportunity so that she can lead with her strengths and minimize the impact of her AD/HD symptoms.

AD/HD Definition/ Treatment and Ongoing Management
Definition of AD/HD
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) is a common neurobiological condition affecting five to eight per cent of school age children, with symptoms persisting into adulthood in as many as 60 per cent of cases. It is characterized by developmentally inappropriate levels of inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity.

The Disorder Named AD/HD (www.help4adhd.org, p. 1)
While career coaches and counselors will not be diagnosing clients, it can be helpful to know the behaviors clinicians look for when conducting a comprehensive evaluation to determine whether a person has AD/HD. There is one overall category and three subtypes.[1]

ADHD predominantly inattentive type: (ADHD-I)

  • Fails to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes.
  • Has difficulty sustaining attention.
  • Does not appear to listen.
  • Struggles to follow through on instructions.
  • Has difficulty with organization.
  • Avoids or dislikes tasks requiring sustained mental effort.
  • Loses things.
  • Is easily distracted.
  • Is forgetful in daily activities.

ADHD predominantly hyperactive-impulsive type (ADHD-HI)

  • Fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in chair. Has difficulty remaining seated.
  • Runs about or climbs excessively.
  • Difficulty engaging in activities quietly.
  • Acts as if driven by a motor.
  • Talks excessively.
  • Blurts out answers before questions have been completed.
  • Difficulty waiting or taking turns.
  • Interrupts or intrudes upon others.
  • AD/HD combined type: (AD/HD-C)
  • Individual meets both sets of inattention and hyperactive/impulsive criteria.

The Disorder Named AD/HD (www.help4adhd.org, p. 2 )
If an individual displays 6 or more of the 9 behaviors listed on the Inattentive scale and meets other criteria, then they might be diagnosed with AD/HD predominately inattentive type. If an individual meets 6 of the 9 behaviors listed on the hyperactive/impulsive scale and meets other criteria, then they might be diagnosed with AD/HD predominantly hyperactive-impulsive type. If an individual displays 6 or more of the 9 behaviors listed on both scales then they might be diagnosed with AD/ HD combined type.[1]

AD/HD is often associated with hyperactivity and impulsiveness. Therefore, historically more boys were diagnosed with AD/HD than girls. According to Dr. Quinn, a developmental pediatrician and clinical assistant professor of Pediatrics at Georgetown University Medical Centers as well as a noted expert on AD/HD in women, women tend to be less hyperactive and more inattentive. She goes on to say that women are more likely to internalize their symptoms, saying things like: I’m stupid or I can’t do anything right. Women are likely to be embarrassed by their symptoms, get depressed and/ or get anxious. AD/HD Inattentive Type in girls can manifest itself as, daydreaming, difficulty processing information or following directions, being distracted, spacey or in her own world. Dr. Quinn mentions that women most often report the following symptoms: inattention, organization problems, emotional reactivity and the inability to get things done because of distractibility and difficulty focusing. (Quinn, pp. 6 – 9)

Recent research shows that AD/HD:

  • Derives from the chemistry of the brain; neurochemical systems are altered in people with AD/HD
  • The prefrontal cortex of the brain is under-activated
  • Several genes have been associated with AD/HD. “The neurobiologic basis for ADHD is thought to be the result of problem’s with the brain’s chemical neurotransmitters, particularly dopamine and norepinephrine.” (Quinn, p. 2)

The takeaway for career practitioners is that AD/HD is a neurobiological condition. Therefore, more willpower, more caring about getting the work done, will not eradicate the behaviors. Young women with AD/HD need to take a comprehensive approach in order to effectively manage it. This often includes medication, therapy, coaching and/or other complementary therapies.

Executive Functioning and AD/HD
Thomas E. Brown, Ph.D., Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine and Associate Director of the Yale Clinic for Attention and Related Disorders, says that both men and women with AD/HD have impairments in their executive functions. (Brown, p. 40)

Richard Guare and Peg Dawson describe executive functions this way: Executive functions refer to a set of cognitive processes that allow us to meet challenges in our environment and accomplish goals, by deciding what activities we will attend to and choose to do (Hart and Jacobs, 1993.) Executive skills allow us to resist temptations in favor of longer term goals. Through the use of these skills we can plan and organize activities, direct our attention, and persist to complete a task. Executive skills enable us to manage our emotions and monitor our thoughts in order to work more efficiently and effectively. Simply stated, these skills enable us to regulate our behavior. The Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter, August 2004.

People with weak executive function skills have a difficult time corralling disparate ideas and moving from step -to -step in a lengthy process that might take a long time to complete. These are the very skills that one needs in order to navigate through the career assessment, exploration, research and decision-making processes. Therefore the coaching process, when working with young women with AD/HD, needs to offer encouragement, provide structure, include accountability, yield some benchmark results at key intervals, and still allow for self-reflection and self-determination.

Hidden Difference/ Undiagnosed Clients
Since AD/HD is often a hidden difference, you might not know if someone has AD/HD unless you expressly ask. If you don’t already, consider inquiring in the initial interview about a person’s medical, mental health and/or other condition that might have a bearing on her career plans or that have been identified in school.

Keep in mind that even if such inquiries are made, many young women with AD/HD will not have been diagnosed. Oftentimes, bright, quiet girls, go undiagnosed because they had especially supportive parents who helped them manage their time and stay on top of assignments, or they attended a particularly structured school. In college, these students may begin to experience difficulty balancing a full course load, with extra-curricular activities and part-time work. Dr. Patricia Quinn suggests that there are some clues that career practitioners can look for which might suggest that a person has AD/HD. These clues are:

  • The student has changed her major frequently
  • The student has had numerous incompletes
  • The student has dropped a number of courses.

When you see this in a student’s history, you might want to adapt your career coaching approach in the ways mentioned below in order to better help the student in the career planning process. Upon probing further you might also decide to refer the student in order to obtain an assessment and/or treatment.

Talents/ Often Exceptional Qualities/ Capabilities
On the other side of the coin, people with AD/HD often are able to be creative, think outside the box, and/or have an ability to laser focus on topics or problems that interest them. In their groundbreaking book Delivered from Distraction, Dr. Edward Hallowell and Dr. John Ratey state: “…ADD, is a misleading name for an intriguing kind of mind. ADD is a name for a collection of symptoms, some positive, some negative. For many people, ADD is not a disorder but a trait, a way of being in the world. When it impairs their lives, then it becomes a disorder. But once they learn to manage its disorderly aspects, they can take full advantage of the many talents and gifts embedded in this sparkling kind of mind. Having ADD is like having a turbocharged race-car brain and bicycle brakes. The other part that the DSM-IV and other catalogs of pathology leave out is the zesty side of ADD. People with ADD many times have special gifts, even if they are hidden. The most common include originality, creativity, charisma, energy, liveliness, an unusual sense of humor, areas of intellectual brilliance, and spunk.”
(Hallowell and Ratey, P. 4)

Young Women with AD/HD, Cultural Messages and Self-Esteem
Whether they have AD/HD or not, women are influenced by what may appear to be antiquated cultural messages. However, these are still at play in our society today. In her book, Women with Attention Deficit Disorder Embrace Your Difference and Transform Your Life, psychotherapist Sari Solden, MS LMFT, lists them as:

General Cultural Messages to All Women

  • Be nice
  • Be accommodating rather than asking for accommodations
  • Help others rather than ask for help
  • Don’t say no to requests from people in need
  • Always lend a helping hand

Other cultural prohibitions or warnings women have come to believe:

  • If you ask for too much, someone will get angry or think you are trying to get away with something.
  • Don’t try to get out of work by asking for special favors.
  • If you say no, you’ll hurt someone’s feelings.
  • You should never hurt someone’s feelings.
  • If you set limits on your time and projects, people will think you just can’t cut it.
  • Don’t complain; keep your problems to yourself.
  • Don’t act like you’re better than anyone else. (Solden, p. 75.)

She then identifies a variety of deeply ingrained messages that are difficult for women to ignore and often get in the way of their willingness to ask for help:

  • Willpower and hard work will get you through anything
  • Put up a brave front
  • Cleanliness is next to godliness
  • Don’t start something you’re not willing to finish
  • This is the way it’s always been done
  • There’s a right way and a wrong way to do things.

Solden concludes:
Women grow up constantly exposed to messages about what’s right or acceptable behavior. When they fail to meet these standards, women often move into a closet, hiding themselves from other people. This results in great difficulty in ever getting help. If she feels it is shameful to be disorganized, so shameful that she would not let someone see the kind of disarray in which she lives, naturally, she would keep people away from her. This is a perfect setup for depression and depletion and has a negative effect on relationships and achievement, leaving women feeling isolated, alone, and disconnected. (Solden, p. 81.)

This has implications for career coaches/counselors whether they work in a university career center or individually. Clients will want to please the career practitioner and therefore might not disclose the degree of confusion they are having at various stages in the process. Keeping track of all of the paperwork and data involved could seem overwhelming. Likewise, they might not express the difficulty they are having initiating tasks or following through on action plans. Clients might drop out of the coaching process because they can’t meet the coach’s expectations and feel a sense of shame about it.

Strengthening a Woman’s Belief in Herself and Her Capabilities
Helping a young woman with AD/HD identify her strengths—the skills, talents, qualities and specialties she has to offer the marketplace—early in the career coaching process can mitigate that sense of shame. In Delivered from Distraction, Dr. Hallowell and Dr. Ratey state The best way to change a life of frustration into a life of mastery is by developing talents and strengths not just shoring up weaknesses. (Hallowell and Ratey, p. 13)

Sari Solden recommends that women with AD/HD identify how their brains work, understand themselves, and accept their differences. Sari asserts that, “it was a saving grace for me not to be able to conform.” Women with AD/HD can succeed in all sorts of industries and in a myriad of occupations. The women profiled in Dr. Hallowell and Catherine Corman’s book, Positively ADD: Real Success Stories to Inspire Your Dreams found ways to succeed despite their differences and either landed in or sought out supportive environments which capitalized on their strengths. Hallowell and Corman profiled people with AD/HD who have successful lives and careers, including five women. The fields that the women excel at include marketing, education, photography and business. The authors define success as “having met their major goals in life so far.” While some of the people profiled are famous, others are not.

Global Economy/ New Skills and Capacities
Today’s economy is evolving and changing. It is less possible to predict which occupations will be in demand three to five years in the future than it was 10 – 20 years ago. It is even more difficult to predict which occupations may become obsolete, or outsourced to workers overseas. In her article The Yo Yo Model for Your Future Career: You’re On Your Own, career development expert and futurist Helen Harkness, says: …career success today is quite different from what we were taught in the past. It is not stability and specialization in one field, but flexibility with expertise, creativity and the ability to cross borders and boundaries, solve problems, meet challenges and work independently, as well as with others. …These new jobs are usually not the typical type that one would look for, but jobs that fit their (the clients’) needs for solving a pressing problem experienced by themselves and which they are uniquely qualified to solve. To uncover these problems, I continuously ask my clients four critical questions,

  • What is a need now and in the future?
  • Do you have the skills to solve this problem now or can you get them?
  • Would you value and get meaning from solving this problem?
  • Can you make a living at it?” (Harkness, p. 16)

As mentioned earlier, Dr. Hallowell and Dr. Ratey highlight the zesty side of AD/HD in their book and mention that often people with AD/HD have the ability to be creative, original, lively and charismatic. In addition, Raiza Janus, a psychologist and author, mentions that women with AD/HD who “have the tendency to hyperfocus, can succeed in fields in which persistence and becoming locked into a topic are rewarded.” (Janus, p. 3)

I infer that the following six traits should be included in the list of in-demand skills and abilities that young women will need in order to successfully transition into the world of work in the second decade of the 21st century. Furthermore, people with AD/HD often display many of these traits.

  • Creative thinking
  • The ability to recognize problems/needs and envision solving /meeting at least one of them
  • The ability to learn new skills and bodies of knowledge
  • An understanding of personal motivators, strengths and shortcomings
  • The ability to empathize
  • An ability to identify/learn about prospective employers and their markets.

Many times, people with AD/HD have creative minds; they can think outside the box. Frequently, young women with AD/HD see connections between ideas, processes, and subject matters that others do not so readily identify. People with AD/HD have the capacity to be curious about a vast variety of topics, to think in original ways, and to come up with solutions to problems facing government, industry, and society. If they can refine and harness that capacity it can be an asset in whatever field of endeavor they pursue. While traditional school settings can pose obstacles to some women with AD/HD, my clients often enjoy learning. Once a young woman has earned an initial degree or certification, there are many good options to continue learning through seminars, professional association conferences, books, and online videos, communities and courses.

When it comes to the changing job market, a young woman’s creative and original thinking skills can help her see beyond the status quo and envision new possibilities. This capacity should help her imagine possible ways to match her picture of an ideal job to emerging occupations or customized niches within existing occupations. As with the general population, there is a subset of young women with AD/HD who have strong interpersonal skills including sparkling personalities, charisma, and empathy. Due to these innate traits, other people can be drawn to these young women who, if given the opportunity and training, can develop into excellent team members and leaders. Bestselling author Daniel Pink maintains that empathy is an in-demand skill. He defines empathy as “the ability to stand in someone else’s shoes, feel with their heart, see with their eyes; it is hard to outsource and hard to automate. That’s what makes it valuable.” (Pink, http://cultureofempathy.com/ References/Experts/Daniel-Pink.htm) Some young women with AD/HD develop empathy for others as they struggle to make it in a world that is not AD/HD-friendly.

Understanding personal strengths and shortcomings and having a working knowledge of the needs of employers are critical components of a successful transition from the world of school to the world of work. Career coaching/counseling can provide a vehicle for young women with AD/HD to develop these capacities. I will outline some of the process of doing so in the following section.

Implications/ Recommendations for the Career Coach/Career Counselor
Given the tendency to have difficulty initiating, be disorganized, and procrastinate, young women with AD/HD need their career coaches/ counselors to offer a structured and tailored approach. Identifying and underscoring strengths is very important. Sari Solden recommends that the career coach “delight in the client’s differences.” Some recommendations for customizing your career coaching for young women with AD/ HD are presented below:

Career Assessment and Exploration
Thoroughly and carefully examine strengths and weaknesses. The life stories exercise in What Color Is Your Parachute? For Teens, is a wonderful way to uncover strengths. Help the client articulate interests and passions. Tools like a scrapbook of accomplishments, and the life stories and naming your interests exercises in What Color Is Your Parachute? For Teens, can help a young woman articulate her interests. Likewise, assessment instruments such as the Self-Directed-Search (SDS) by John Holland, PhD help a young person better understand her personality style (according to Holland’s RIASEC theory) and corresponding occupational possibilities. Helping young women with AD/HD articulate what they are passionate about is key to their making a successful career choice. As noted above, Helen Harkness asks her clients if they would value and get meaning from solving a particular work-related problem. If a client with AD/HD is working on a problem that fascinates her then she is much more likely to focus, persevere, and follow through in order to make a significant contribution.

It is quite important to help young women with AD/HD make sense of the long list of options included in something like the SDS Report. Working with them to identify a subset of five to six occupational titles to research further is helpful.

  • Probe what gets in the way of her being successful and effective.
  • What makes it hard for her to get through a day? Read a book to its conclusion? etc.
  • Help the client understand her interpersonal style and relational skills/ difficulties.
  • Help the client consider some of the other factors that matter to her in an ideal job, such as work environment, ideal community, salary/level of responsibility, and goals/ values.
  • Put the seven factors that matter to her in an ideal job on one piece of paper; the Parachute Diagram in What Color Is Your Parachute? For Teens is a useful tool for this.
  • Help her winnow down the 5-6 job titles identified above to three job titles that look like they are a good-fit match given all of the above.
  • Teach the client savvy self-advocacy skills.

Career Exploration and Research
Once the client has narrowed the list of job titles to three, ask her to research the employment market for those jobs. Helping a young woman with AD/HD write out a project plan for conducting three to six informational interviews per prospective job title and helping her schedule the various tasks involved in making this happen on her calendar will be immensely helpful to her success at this juncture. I have found many of my young adult clients have only a vague idea of the daily tasks involved in various jobs and therefore have unrealistic expectations or illusions about the “fit” between a desired job and the realities of the work. Informational interviews, job shadowing, and short-term internships can help a young woman gain a more realistic view of the job titles that she is investigating. Accountability sessions are a great tool for reviewing progress made and barriers encountered; they also encourage young women with AD/HD to stay the course and follow through. Data collection sheets and decision-making strategies are important. One decision-making strategy that I share with clients is the Force Field Analysis model by Kurt Lewin. While first developed as a group process intervention, this model is easily described and is quite effective at helping individuals articulate the pros and cons of the various options they are considering. (Justice and Jamieson, p. 198)

Career Decision-making
Remind clients that this is only the first decision in what will most likely be a constantly evolving career path. Your objective is to help the young woman choose the “best fit” first job or career move. I regularly remind clients that in the fast-moving “job-free” world of the 21st century, they are deciding on a starting point. They will need to learn and grow, develop vibrant professional networks and continually survey the environment in order to maintain their marketability, make worthwhile contributions, and fulfill their own interests. This will help women with AD/HD, who keep seeing new possibilities, limit themselves and take a step in a particular direction.

The Job Search
The next step is to conduct the job search in order to land a job in her chosen career field. Helping the client actually conduct the job search is beyond the scope of this article; however the emphasis on providing encouragement, structure, and tools for data collection and decision-making is similar to what has been described here.

Summary
In our increasingly competitive environment each young woman with AD/HD will need to tailor-make her first career opportunity so that she can lead with her strengths and minimize the impact of her AD/HD symptoms. Often a woman with AD/HD is creative, has the ability to laser focus on an area of interest, and can persist despite setbacks. While a young woman with AD/HD may have these skills and other talents, she is likely to have a difficult time with the career exploration, research, and decision-making processes. Therefore, a young woman with AD/ HD has a much better chance of finding a “good-fit” career path if she receives AD/HD-friendly career coaching/counseling. AD/HD-friendly career coaching/counseling takes into account an understanding of AD/ HD as well as executive-function (EF) deficits and seeks to modify standard career development practices to highlight client strengths, mitigate potential pitfalls, and help the client to successfully complete the career planning process. While career coaches/counselors are not responsible for diagnosing or directly treating AD/HD, a basic knowledge of the condition and how it can impact a person’s planning process, daily functioning, and eventual success at work will help you help your clients achieve better outcomes.

References

Brown, Thomas E., Ph.D. (2006) Executive Functions and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Implications of two conflicting views, International Journal of Disability, Development and Education 53, No. 1, March 2006, pp. 35–46.

Bridges, William (1998), Where Have All the Jobs Gone?

Christen, Carol and Bolles, Richard N. (2010) What Color Is Your Parachute? for Teens. Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press.

Gardner, Howard. (2006) Five Minds for the Future. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Guare, Richard Ph.D., and Peg Dawson Ed.D. (2004) “Executive Skills in Children and Teens – Parents, Teachers and Clinicians Can Help.” The Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter. 20 (8) (August 2004): 5-7.

Hallowell, Edward M., M.D. and Corman, Catherine A. (2006) Positively ADD: Real Success Stories to Inspire Your Dreams. New York: Walker Publishing Company.

Hallowell, Edward M., M.D. and Ratey, John J., M.D. (2005). Delivered from Distraction. New York: Ballantine Books.

Harkness, Helen. (2008). The Yo Yo Model for Your Future Career: You’re On Your Own. Career Planning and Adult Development Journal 24 (2), Summer 2008, 10 – 21. ISSN 0736-1920,

Holland, John L Ph.D., SDS Self-Directed SEARCH Form R, You and Your Career, Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc., FL, 1977, 1985, 1991, 1994.

Pink, Daniel, Empathy, Facial Expressions, http://cultureofempathy. com/References/Experts/Daniel-Pink.htm, Accessed, October 18, 2012.

Frontline, “Defining and Diagnosing ADHD,” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/ pages/frontline/shows/medicating/adhd/, 1995- 2012, (Accessed October 1, 2012.)

Janus, Raizi, Dr., Fellman, Wilma and Marsala, Maria. Advanced Focus Series, Finding the Right Career with ADD, p. 3) http://www.addvance. com/bookstore/focus.html#right_career, (Accessed September 19, 2012.)

Justice, Thomas and Jamieson, David, Ph.D. (2006) The Facilitator’s Fieldbook. New York: AMACOM.

Quinn, Patricia O., M.D. (2010). 100 Questions & Answers About Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) In Women and Girls. Sudbury, MA.: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Solden, Sari. (2005). Women with Attention Deficit Disorder Embrace Your Difference and Transform Your Life. Nevada City California: Underwood Books.

The Disorder Named AD/HD, www.help4adhd.org, February 2008, (Accessed October 1, 2012.)

About the author
Robin Roman Wright is an AD/HD & Career Coach. She provides coaching privately and through the Hallowell Center in Massachusetts. She has been in business for over 10 years, providing coaching, training and consulting services. She conducted management development workshops on leadership, diversity, time management, basic supervisory skills and on-the-job training when she worked in the financial services industry. She also led a business-school partnership for nine years. One component of this partnership with a Boston, Massachusetts, middle school involved designing and launching a model school-to-career program. A few years later, she had the opportunity to be the Director of Multicultural Services for an independent day school. She has presented workshops at the American Society for Training and Development’s National Conference and Exposition, the CHADD Annual International Conference (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder), The International Career Development Conference, the first annual Massachusetts School-to-Work Conference and the fourth annual National Leadership Forum on School-to-Work Transition. She earned the master’s degree at the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration, and is a Board Certified Coach with specialties in Executive/ Leadership Coaching and Career Coaching from the Center for Credentialing and Education. She is a member of the International Coaching Federation and a Professional Member of ACO (ADHD Coaches Organization). She is also a member of the National Association of Social Workers and the Career Counselors Consortium Northeast. In addition, she is a member of the National Association of Colleges and Employers and the American Society for Training and Development, connecting her to employer issues. She draws on her background in counseling and human development as she helps clients identify their skills, talents and gifts. She can be laser focused; she helps clients set goals, move forward and stay on track. She received one of the Boston Private Industry Council’s Achiever Awards in 1994.

Contact her as follows:
Robin Roman Wright, BCC, Career & AD/HD Coach
21 Central Street, Andover, MA 01810 USA.
(978) 447-1496
[email protected]

Published in Career Planning and Adult Development Journal 28 (4), Winter 2012-2013, 96 – 107. ISSN 0736-1920,  Used by permission.