By Jeff Copper, MBA, PCC, PCAC, CPCC, ACG – November 17, 2025
As an ADHD and attention coach, I’m often approached by my clients with their concerns about job searching. Of course, I have my own lived experience with job hunting, but I wanted to learn some winning strategies to be able to answer their concerns more specifically. That’s why I reached out to career counselor Wilma Fellman for her perspective. So, today, we’re taking a look at the job interview process and identifying some of the mistakes commonly made and how to avoid them.
First, probably, the biggest mistake is not being prepared. Job applicants may assume that they’re going to “wing it,” and by winging it, they’re going to be totally honest. What they mean by being “honest” is that they’re going to tell everything and anything that pops into their head. But for those going into an interview, especially folks with ADHD, the best advice is to be prepared. That is, practice ahead of time. Anticipate what questions may be asked and have some clever ideas about the answers. In other words, give some thought in advance about what direction you would go in with those risky or complicated questions.
So, what else should you do to get prepared? One of the best ways is to have in your mind a list of questions you’ve considered and have reviewed well before the interview. Even if you’ve been interviewed before, it’s a great idea to refresh your mind on some of the things that are commonly asked.
For example, one of the best ways that people begin interviews is by asking the open-ended question, “Tell me a little bit about yourself.” You should have already prepared an answer, but don’t make the mistake of saying, “Well, what would you like to know?” What they’re really looking for in that question is information about you, of course, but also whether you can formulate a complete idea. In other words, can you begin; can you have some backup information; does your thought come to a complete end? You can practice this ahead of time.
They’re also paying attention to more than just that… like, how confident you are in what you’re saying and how it comes across. When you’ve thought through these things in advance, you’ll have a beginning, a middle, and a complete end. Thus, your confidence will come out, and the interviewer will be able to read into that.
So, take a deep breath before you begin answering the questions, and because you’re prepared, you know where you’re going, and there’s very little the interviewer can throw at you that you haven’t given any thought to. Remember, you’re in the driver’s seat. You feel in control and your whole body and your language will reflect that.
There are several types of interview questions, and most interviews fall into four types of questions. Some questions are intended to get you to open up. These are the open-ended ones like asking you to talk a bit about yourself.
Another type of question is designed to see if you’re going to take negative bait, meaning where it would reveal whether you are a positive person or negative person. These are questions like, “Describe for me the worst boss you’ve ever had?” Or “What is your greatest weakness?” Also, “Just between you and me, which job have you hated the most?”
If you haven’t planned for questions like these, your attempt to be totally honest will fail. What you want to do is to show them that you are a business-type person, so you’re going to give them a business-type answer with something like, “You know, I can’t think of a worst job I’ve ever had. I’ve liked some more than others, but I think I’ve learned something from each and every job.”
In other words, if you “take the bait,” it’s an open invitation to launch into a very negative discussion of something horrible that happened. When you come into an interview, you are a blank screen and everything you say adds to that. So, if you’re going to take your interview time with negativity, you’re sure to blow the interview.
The third type of question is specifically designed to find out if you’re the right candidate for the job. Those would be questions related to what it is about you that would make them want to hire you. You should have prepared ahead of time reasons that the job description you’re going for actually suits you. That’s great ammunition because, by that time, you should be the top candidate of their choice if you’ve prepared properly.
The fourth type of question is geared to what kind of person you are. In other words, they may ask you about hobbies, interests, books you’ve read, what you like to do in your spare time. Keep in mind that this interviewer is someone who relates to you on a business level. You should be able to answer with those things that you think would be helpful for them to know about you but not be too personal that would be embarrassing if everybody else knew those things. You have to be selective about that, as well.
Also, when you walk into the interviewer’s office, look around to find out what’s there. Are there any clues to their interests, like photos of family or awards or sports, anything that interests them. The interviewer might ask you about something that leads you to believe they were interested in something you know about. Jump on that first.
Now, time wise, an interview can last anywhere from two minutes to two hours. You don’t know who long the interview may take, so you want to be mindful of taking up too much time that might be off track of what they’re determined to get out of you. Making some polite conversation about something you might see in their office is a wonderful way to relate human to human, which of course is wonderful, but don’t go on and on about it.
Another very important tip concerns whether you need to disclose your ADHD. It’s a very long answer, but briefly, I can say that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) does protect people with disabilities from being discriminated against in a job interview or job situation. What it doesn’t do, however, is protect you by forcing them to hire you because you do have a disability.
So, the bottom line is that you still have to prove within your interview that you are the best person for this job. Bringing up your disability doesn’t really have a place in the interview, but it definitely does in other areas, such as training or education where you need to ask for specific accommodation. But in the job interview, if you’ve done your homework, you know you can do this job, and you know what it takes for you to do this job, you shouldn’t feel the need to disclose.
If you do disclose it, however, that may be the only thing they’ll remember. The employer may not understand what ADHD really is and may make assumptions about you that are not true. So, it’s better not to bring it up during an interview any more than you would if you had asthma or diabetes. Your purpose is to get through the process. If you’re talented and the best fit for the job—regardless of disability—what truly matters is being the right person for the job.