Chaos, Coffee, and ADHD: My Struggle to Focus Before an Interview

A Morning Full of Action(s)

Today is one of those days where I find myself in a situation that demands all my focus. I'm on a job search and have an interview coming up, so I woke up this morning, made myself a coffee, and sat down to prepare. I’m very structured when it comes to learning, so first, I began by writing down everything that might be useful to know for the interview.

Five minutes into the task, someone knocks on my door. It’s the mailman. He usually just drops off the mail, but today, he decided to knock. He knocked, dropped the mail, and left without even saying hello. There was nothing important in the mail, so I got back to my studies. Ten minutes later, my phone rings: telemarketing. I tell them to remove me from their list, set my phone on Do Not Disturb, and continue. Twenty minutes in, there’s another knock at my door. A power-wash professional asks if I need my driveway cleaned. I don’t know what it is about this day. It's Tuesday, and I haven’t had this many door knocks or unattended phone calls in the last three months, but it seems like tomorrow's interview is a magnet for everything and everyone to get in touch with me.

I’m writing this in the afternoon, and a glance at my phone reveals five missed calls, ten emails, and I don’t even want to mention the fly hovering around me, landing on my paper as I jot down interview notes. It feels like the universe is testing my focus, and I’m miserably failing.

Back to the Interview Prep

I know my job inside and out, but I often forget certain situations I might be asked about and how I handled them. On top of that, there's my constant companion, ADHD. I’m usually totally nervous until one minute before the call, but once I’m in the interview, I transform into a calm being, one with the universe and surrounded by happy thoughts.

That is, until I get asked an unexpected question, and POW ADHD takes the spotlight, and I experience what I call a “knowledge blackout.” In this situation, all I can do is try to articulate myself, often stuttering. My facial expression changes into something akin to a child just told that there’s no chocolate ice cream for dessert and all the Kinder products have been eaten.

Sometimes, I even start stuttering and ask the interviewer to repeat the question. The response goes in one ear and out the other, without my brain processing it. I hear the words, but the moment they're spoken, I forget them. I’m left empty. My brain has hiccups and stops working, much like when a hard drive has read errors, just without the “rrrrrrtututut rrrrtututut” sound. To be honest, it would be quite hilarious if my brain made that noise. It would at least clue the interviewer in that I’m having a file read error, and it's not just a frozen internet connection.

In the past, the best way for me to prepare for an interview was to not prepare at all and just go in as I am, because then I can’t mix things up. Unfortunately, I can’t do that right now because I’ve been out of work for a while and have forgotten a lot.

So now, I try to remember as much as I can from past work situations by writing them down. Some are good, and some are bad. I imagine what questions I would ask if I were the interviewer for this role, using the job description and requirements as a guide.

For example, if a requirement is “excellent communication skills,” I think of situations where I had to inform co-workers about a new feature or a bug. In short, it’s a little time travel into my job history. I write these scenarios down and review them before the interview.

My ADHD and Asperger's

I don’t want to give the impression that ADHD is my excuse for everything that goes wrong, but it definitely has an impact. I’m not sure if the blackouts I described are due to ADHD or if everyone experiences these “empty brain” moments. What I do know is that, since learning I have Asperger's, I’ve come to understand that my perception of people is flawed because I struggle to read their facial expressions. I tend to overthink and get nervous when I believe someone looks skeptical of me or if I feel they don’t like me.

My Solutions and Habits

When I find myself in a blackout situation, I try to calm down, tell the interviewer I need a moment, count silently to five, and then continue.

Most of the time, it’s simply because I’m nervous, and I can usually turn the situation around pretty quickly. In cases where I can’t, I remind myself that it’s probably for the best. I don’t want to work for people who can’t understand that nobody is perfect and that we’re all just imperfect human beings.

My overall recipe for good interviews is to know my history, hold myself in high self-esteem, and remember that even if I get rejected, it’s not the end of the world. The universe always presents us with challenges to help us grow. We just need to stay persistent and patient.

Source of Picture AI generated