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10 Job Hunting Tips for the Unfocused

The National Institute for Mental Health (NIHM) reports that more than 9 million US adults have difficulties focusing on the job. It also reports that while more than 4 percent of working adults are diagnosed with ADHD, vast numbers of undiagnosed adults struggle with being successful in the workplace. For all these people, choosing a fitting job, handling a job’s essential tasks and modifying work habits for maximum effectiveness are major challenges.

If you find yourself having trouble focusing on your job or career, here are 10 steps to job success:

1. Assess Your Strengths

It’s important to understand your skills and strengths when considering available job options. To do that, you need to identify your strengths and unique traits. These include: interests, aptitudes, accomplishments, personality type, work and leisure values, focus pattern, work habits and special challenges. In addition to books on the subject such as Finding a Career That Works For You, a career counselor can assist in this process. Once you put your unique puzzle together, you can begin to see which career fields and jobs best match your needs and skills.

2. Note Patterns

When considering your options, make note of fields and jobs that seem to draw well on your skills and traits. If a career idea appears on more than one list, this would indicate an even stronger match between your package and the work environment, and it should be pursued further. For example, if your interest assessment shows that you work best with a wide variety of people and your personality profile shows the same, then you are on your way to exploring the grouping of appropriate job titles. If there is a discrepancy in the pattern, it’s important to note it and adjust your exploration accordingly.

3. Read and Learn

Research the idea to know if you want to pursue the job further. Reading can be done online at such resources as the US government’s Occupational Outlook Handbook Web site and our Job & Industry Profiles. Here, you will clearly learn the essential tasks of a job, allowing you to measure the degree of match between those tasks and your ability to succeed at them.

4. Talk and Clarify

Talking with someone inside the field (often called an informational or working interview) is probably the most essential step for those who have difficulties focusing. By asking a series of targeted questions to someone inside the field, you can mentally try the job on for size, long before you actually make your career choice. This step clearly cuts down on decision-making mistakes and assures that you really know what a job involves and whether it is for you.