<hr style="color: rgb(209, 209, 225);" size="1"> <!-- / icon and title --> <!-- message --> Heres the deal. I lost my last job because of my lack of foucs and couldnt listen when people told me things. I was an auditor. I also would miss things right in from of me because I was so bored with the job. But my biggest problem is that I can't listen when people are training me. SO someone will tell me to do something and I still wont know what or how to do it. I was thinking of bringing a portable recorder with me and just recording what people tell me.

I pretty much have just add inattentative. But my lack of sleep also made it worse. Now I am trying to get more sleep and drink coffee for attentiveness in the morning. But everything else is fine but this inability to listen is screwing me up. So is this a good solution. And what causes most add'ers to loose their jobs?
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Oh boy I can relate! I am sorry this happened to you. I appear real slow in the new job department, because of my innattentiveness. I have learned to take notes and write down everything. They call me the sticky lady. I know about myself that I will remember the first thing in a string of commands, but not the rest. I always have paper and pen in hand. During training of anything new, I have to take notes, do one thing at a time, ask a lot of questions, and repeat the instructions back to make sure they were understood, and THEY know I understand. Trainers actually appreciate that. It takes a patient trainer though. ;-) When applying for jobs, you might look at who you will be working with, and interview them so-to-speak, to make sure you have a good personality match for you. I have worked where things were quickly explained with the wave of a hand they were gone. I was left going, "huh?" Not good.


If you are an auditor, and you can take charge and be in control of the process, that would be in your favor, and you should use that to your advantage.


I applaud you for taking steps to know your weakness in the workplace and to combat it. Best wishes!

what caused me to lose jobs - restaurants - inability to multitask / handle large amounts of information at a time, and basically breaking down at the 6hr mark for some reason. i was usually ok with 6hr shifts but not 8. then "real" jobs - inability to learn systems (computer). large piles of unfinished work on my desk. being slightly inflexible and handling change poorly. inability to "cross-train". lots of careless mistakes. poor stress tolerance. that sort of thing.

1 thing that "helped" me was always always always taking notes. even if i threw them in the trash afterwards, just having that in front of me made me listen more to what was being said.

I don't particularly do well with "training" -- i.e. being directly told what to do, without a grasp of the "larger picture". It's a good thing that I have the intuition to fill in the blanks in my mind, though I never perform a task exactly as it was intended (or at least, in the way it was intended). Because of my strength with the global view of operations, my main tactic is to attempt to get the other person to explain the task in such a way... though this doesn't always work. I have to make relationships with what I already know. Sometimes using this tactic frustrates the other person, though. But then again, it really depends on the person on the listening end as to the particular strategy to be employed, here.

I am also the inattentive and I have not been able to hold down a job ever since the day I left high school for similiar reasons that have been mention. I could not cope with any job that required multi-tasking, and like you, 1kid2dogs, my inattentiveness often made me seem real slow.

I also find I can't cope with too many long 8 hour days, and that's probably another reason why I can't hold down a job. Does anyone have this problem too?

There is socialization that occurs on the job and this is where we stick out like sore thumbs. ADHDers figuratively step on their coworkers toes during some social interactions....minor indiscretions..but it adds up over time. If you are good at what you do, they may overlook some things. We just don't fit in as well as norms...it has a lot to do with impulsive behaviour and living more in the moment. Ever notice that an ADHDer is never at the center of larger social groupings?

I don't particularly do well with "training" -- i.e. being directly told what to do, without a grasp of the "larger picture". It's a good thing that I have the intuition to fill in the blanks in my mind, though I never perform a task exactly as it was intended (or at least, in the way it was intended). Because of my strength with the global view of operations, my main tactic is to attempt to get the other person to explain the task in such a way... though this doesn't always work. I have to make relationships with what I already know. Sometimes using this tactic frustrates the other person, though. But then again, it really depends on the person on the listening end as to the particular strategy to be employed, here.
Exactly the same for me

I have never been fired from or quit a job. But I have been a permanent break from college, and had to leave. I was just barely able to deal with the problems associated with ADD without meds at my smaller college with less competition. But when I transferred to a larger university, it was way too much, and the work load was only one minor problem. I would go do classes but only to be tortured by them because I didn’t know what was going on, and even the subjects that I was very interested in. Everyday was about taking enough notes so, when I felt better tomorrow I could study them. But the next day was always the same, and I would be back in class with 300 other students taking the same mindless notes for the next class, most of the time having no idea what they were. I remember this advanced chem. Lab I was in, and it lasted 5 hours and it was once a week, the pain I felt there was like nothing I have every felt before. But I never missed a lab! <o></o><o></o>

I might get fired. I make ALOT of stupid little mistakes, but I am good at what I do overall.