Organizing the ADHD Job Search: Focus on What You Want

I made myself pretty miserable over the last several weeks by applying for literally every job I could.  This included a lot of jobs I didn’t really want, for companies and organizations I really don’t care about.  I did this because I wanted to have money coming in, and in the past it’s been pretty easy for me to pick up retail gigs in a hurry, so I was applying for these along with jobs that were more aligned with what I actually want to do.

Well, this is one of the Worst Economies Ever, and no job is easy to pick up in a hurry.  My vast retail experience doesn’t matter to the stores I’ve applied for — if I apply for a job as a stock clerk in, say, a health food store, I’ll be outdone by the applicant who has vast retail experience in the health food business.  Or who has vast experience managing a health food store.  Or who has vast experience running a health food company.  Things are tough out there.

The only upside to this is that it’s finally forcing me to focus.  If nothing else, I won’t get stuck in another retail position because I’ve stopped applying for those positions.  I’m finally doing what I should have done a long time ago: I’m carefully considering what I want from a job.

A few days ago I wrote about the job interview I had earlier this week.  I’m really excited about the possibility of working at this company.  I’ll be really sad if I don’t get the job.  But one thing that I can take away from the whole thing is that I find this company so exciting — and there’s a reason for that.  If I can narrow in on what those reasons are, I’ll be in a better position to research companies and jobs where I’ll actually be happy.

So far, the best and most succinct job search advice I’ve seen has been on the Bay Area Video Coalition’s website.  BAVC does a lot of training in multi-media stuff, but their advice works for anyone, and they do a great job of breaking it down so it makes sense.