It's hard enough for us ADDer's just to get through the workweek! Being unemployed is probably the hardest situation for us for several reasons; dealing with lack of structure, dealing with the daunting job search process AND following through, and covering up our past mistakes in jobs which were poor fits to begin with. That's in a good economy....it's so much worse these days! Anyway, here's my advice (I should take this as well) You need to somehow get that employer to look beyond the resume. Concentrate on your accomplishments.. Use past co-workers, friends for recommendations ( sometimes I hate to put people I care about on the line professionally). If you can get the ear of a key influencer in a company Depending on the position, even lie. I hate to say it, but for certain positions I've omitted jobs from my resume. Luckily, a resume can be tweaked and augmented with a creative cover letter and a well explained back story. There are tons of articles dealing w/ "job hoppers" which you can reference. I wish I could be more helpful, but I definitely feel your pain!

Quote

Take a look at my profile on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/markfriedman/ and you'll see that our histories may be parallel.

After being diagnosed, I applied for Social Security Disability - just in case I couldn't get another job (and, being 60 - with my employment record - didn't seem likely).

The counselors at Vocational Rehab suggest a functional resume rather than a traditional one. This would emphasize your skills and achievements.

It doesn't address the question I found myself asking: I'm in the wrong career (middle management); what COULD I do that I can be successful at?

I didn't find a usable answer to that, so I retired on Disability. But I'm still looking. If I were 20 years younger, I would retrain towards something that would take advantage of my ability to hyperfocus, wouldn't be a managerial position, and would have short deadlines - allowing me to complete one piece of work before moving on to something else.

It would be unusual to have no co-morbidities (I have Asperger's and NLD) since you're dealing with a neurological disability.

On the off-chance you also have a touch of Asperger's, I'd like to recommend a book I found to be very useful: Asperger's on the Job by Rudy Simone. I didn't find solutions there, but I felt understood (a rarity). If I were younger, I could take more advantage of his many insights.

The baby boomer generation got diagnosed too late in their careers to overcome their past (at least, that's true for me).

A documented diagnosis of ADHD is covered under the ADA and qualifies you (probably) for disability benefits. If you haven't applied for them yet, you should consider doing so. Just in case.

Mark

Quote

Hi I read your post with great empathy, I am a job hopper and have probably had 40 to 50 jobs in my life. I have selected to omit jobs from my resume as i deemed necessary and I successfully used a functional resume to get a job in the non-profit sector in 2008. I listed my strengths and achievements in volunteer and community work as well as advocacy learned helping my learning disabled , ADHD son navigate the Chicago public school system. I learned how to write a functional resume from information on Microsoft.com.

Quote

I'll be happy to do it for you. I have the same problem, I probably have had 40+ jobs myself. Main things is lead with experience and leave jobs last. Use most important accomplishments to show career skills. List only last 3-4 jobs or last 3-4 jobs that display skills you want to present.

You can cut and past the info into a private message if you need. Just leave off the name and address if you feel uneasy.

Quote

Just lost another job...I am looking at this thread about a functional resume. Can anyone post a good sample? I think that this time it is going to be very difficult to find another job without decent references and now being older. I really feel like giving up on work period. TIred of looking for jobs, tired of doing badly on interviews, tired of losing a job and starting over.

Quote

I've been a job-hopper myself, so I read your posts with a lot of sympathy. I have been laid off, fired, let go from positions that have made me hop like a little bunny rabbit. I have found that your cover letter, not your resume, does a better job of telling a story. I've talked to a ton of recruiters and HR folks about functional vs. chronological resumes and they all agree that the chronological ones are the better choice. That being said, you might want to omit jobs that you were at for less than 90 days and omit the ones that don't make sense to the job that you're applying for. For instance, I worked as an admin assistant while I was out last time - when I am a marketing manager.

Make sense? Good luck! I know its tough, but focus, meditate and follow up! Your dream job is out there!!

Quote