The Best Jobs for People with ADHD (for all 3 Types)

About Spectroomz - We Help Neurodivergents folks Get Qualified To More Work From Home Jobs. 

By: Vanessa Blanchard

People with ADHD sometimes struggle to maintain employment.  Symptoms of ADHD can cause issues with productivity, time management, and socialization, making it difficult to manage our workloads.  We might miss deadlines, interrupt our peers a lot, or lose momentum in the middle of a project.  But ADHD is more than just disruptive to others.  It comes with a whole host of strengths that can be channeled into satisfying careers.  The best jobs for people with ADHD are jobs that support our needs while harnessing our strengths.

Hi!  My name is Vanessa and I’m neurodivergent.  I work with Spectroomz to bring awareness to ND folks and potential employers about neurodivergent brains.  For years, I have studied and written about different types of neurodivergence, including autism, ADHD, and PTSD (among others).  Much of the information I share in these articles involves lessons I’ve learned from dealing with my own set of developmental and neurological conditions.  In my experience, finding a career that fits well with the ADHD brain can be challenging, which can take a huge toll on a person’s confidence.  The goal with this article (and all that I write with Spectroomz) is to help people make more informed choices about their career paths.

Determining the best career for your ADHD brain depends on your type of ADHD as well (it’s also true for the worst careers for ADHD).  That’s why last year, Spectroomz made a quiz called, 18 Best Jobs for People with ADHD.  We wanted to help people answer questions about their preferred working habits and then give them ideas to jumpstart their career exploration.  Thousands of people have taken the quiz, so we thought we’d expand on these ideas with an article that explains a bit more why some jobs work better for us than others.

What is ADHD?

ADHD is often described as some combination of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.  However, at its core, ADHD is an issue of dysregulation and something called executive dysfunction.  Essentially, what this means is that the ADHD brains develop in a way that impairs our ability to do things like organize, plan, sustain motivation, and initiate or switch between tasks.  Inattention is only part of the issue.  The real issue comes with the regulation of our attention.  This includes both being distractible/inattentive and struggles with shifting our attention away from a hyper-focused state.  

Hyperfocus is not talked about as much in literature about ADHD, but our quiz showed that it is an extremely important state for ADHD folks to achieve.  73.6% of the thousands of respondents said that hyperfocus was very important to them in their daily lives.  Only 8% said that hyperfocus wasn’t important to them.

By the way, we started a collaborative playlist of focus music for ADHD.  You can add your songs here (the link is valid for 7 days, so if you can’t add your songs, just ask me for access here. I try to update the link every wee). 

Along with the commonly known symptoms, ADHD symptoms can also include emotional dysregulation, hyperverbality,  time blindness, and impaired working memory.  People with ADHD have an increased rate of co-occurring autism and some learning disabilities, such as dyslexia and dyscalculia.

Currently, there are three types of ADHD: 

• Inattentive - Difficulty regulating focus without hyperactivity

• Hyperactive - Hyperactivity without attention regulation problems

• Combination - Includes both hyperactivity and attention regulation problems

Most people are combo types.  Our quiz showed that 57% of respondents were in this combination category.  27.9% rated themselves as mostly inattentive.  The purely hyperactive group has the fewest members (15.4%).  

Because executive dysfunction impacts multiple areas of the brain, there’s a range of symptoms that can occur between individuals with the same ADHD diagnosis.  The range of possible symptoms means that there’s a range of accommodations and career types that will benefit ADHD folks.  Likewise, there are many commonalities between the different types that also dictate what might make a job a good fit for someone with ADHD.

So with this understanding of ADHD in mind, let’s look at some of the best job options out there for people with ADHD.  We’ll look first at general suggestions and then break it down by type to suggest even more options.

Great Jobs for People with ADHD

In general, the best options are jobs that use ADHD’s natural tendencies towards flexible, innovative thinking, creativity, and problem solving.  This seems to be true regardless of the type of ADHD.  In fact, 21% of our quiz respondents said that creative work was “most important” to them.  87.7% rated creative work as at least somewhat important to them.

Other important commonalities were for work to be project-based, with a combination of novelty and routine.  In our survey, 29% of respondents needed more routine work than novel work in their daily lives.  This might seem counterintuitive because people with ADHD are known to avoid “boredom.”  However, routine work allows for easy access to hyperfocus states and nearly 74% of our respondents rated themselves as having very high hyperfocus needs.  Needing a hyper focused state means they need time to focus deeply without interruption.

Now let’s look at a couple of general suggestions for ADHD-friendly jobs.  Then, we’ll break things down and give suggestions based on the ADHD type.

In General:

In general, jobs that are friendly to ADHD brains work well because they involve a lot of problem solving, creativity, and tend to include both novel and routine tasks.  Here are some general suggestions of good jobs for people with ADHD.

• Business owner

• Sales & Marketing

• Graphic design

• Web development

• Programming

• Social media management

• Event planning

• Public relations

Because ADHD involves dysregulation, symptoms can often change based on a number of factors.  For example, a deadline can either overcome a motivation block or cause one.  This changes within a person depending on their mental state, their relationship with the project or people involved, their brand of perfectionism, etc.

Our quiz showed a tendency for people to need flexible arrangements for things like deadlines and work environments.  Many ADHD folks also tend to need at least some way to externalize their motivation, through things like deadlines, mentors, competition, or body doubles.  Alternately, having the option to work alone can help people with ADHD achieve and maintain hyperfocus, overcome perfectionism, fidget freely, and minimize distractions.

You’ll notice variations among these themes as we discuss the specific types, but most of these general needs will exist in some form.

Best Jobs by ADHD Type:

Inattentive Type

People with this type of ADHD tend to be more introverted and are more likely to work alone.  They have high hyperfocus needs and often require more control over their environments to keep distractions at bay.  A lot of inattentive type ADHD folks will gravitate towards freelancing or other entrepreneurial ventures.  

The best career options for this type of ADHD are jobs that combine repetitive work with project based work and moderate to low physical activity.  These jobs require a lot of verbal skills and the ability to multitask, which can complement the ADHD brain.  Here are a few examples of good jobs for inattentive ADHD:

• Writing

• Editing

• Research

• Transcription

• Data analysis

• Artist

• Programming

These jobs involve work that would require a lot of hyperfocus.  Elements like deadlines, external motivators (such as a collaborative team), and routine work can help keep attention regulated, but they also allow for a lot of autonomous work.  Many introverted ADHD folk will enjoy the freedom to work alone for most of their tasks while using the occasional social presence of a team to keep them on task.

Combination Type

People with the combination type of ADHD tend to be less introverted than the predominantly inattentive type.  The need for a balance of novelty and routine is still present with this group, but they’ll often prefer to work a bit more with people.  

Work that allows for quick-thinking and problem solving  and incorporates some physical activity needs are best for people with this type of ADHD.  Plus, there is more room for novelty (and maybe some chaos) in work like this, with less emphasis on repetitive work.  Here are a few examples of good jobs for combination type ADHD:

• Content Creator

• Writer

• IT and/or Customer Support

• Teaching

• Construction

• Landscaping

• Marketing & Sales

These careers are much more likely to be collaborative and team-based.  Many people with combo type ADHD will find these jobs are best because the team helps support the ADHD brain’s executive dysfunction.  Projects are harder to fall by the wayside if there’s a team juggling the duties.

Hyperactive Type

People with the hyperactive type of ADHD are often quite extroverted.  They prefer work that is physically demanding and requires socializing.  Executive dysfunction shows up in an inability to “turn off” meaning that this type of ADHD brain is always “on the go.”  So people with this type of ADHD will prefer fast paced, ever changing jobs that require quick problem solving.  Here are a few examples of great careers for hyperactive ADHD:

• Personal trainer

• Real estate

• Firefighter/EMT

• Nursing

• Kitchen/food service

• Security guard

• Event Planner

• Photographer

People with this type of ADHD tend to achieve a sort of hyperfocus during “emergencies” rather than during times of stillness or isolation.  Because of this, they can struggle with routine tasks, such as paperwork.

The Best Jobs Meet Your Individual Needs

The best way to find a good job for people with ADHD is to understand the individual’s symptoms and support needs.  Knowing your type of ADHD can help, but ultimately, you’ll need to find a job that supports all the ways that ADHD can be both tricky and a huge asset.  It might sound tough at first, but people with ADHD have always existed.  There’s definitely a job option out there that is compatible with your ADHD brain.  Best of luck to you!

Now it’s your turn to tell us in the comments 👇 what is the best job you have ever had as an ADHD

About me

I’m a writer, artist, and advocate who loves living in Maine among the trees and oceanside villages.  I’m also autistic, ADHD, and PTSD.  My education, both academic and personal, has centered around mental health and neurodevelopmental disabilities, as well as discrimination and the socioeconomic consequences of living disabled in America.