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There can be inadvertent roadblocks for Individuals with ADHD within the interview process.
However, it is important to note that everyone with ADHD is a unique individual and as such we recommend that in addition to the ideas here you speak to them about any adjustments they may personally need.
The following are adjustments that are applicable to most candidates with ADHD:
It is impossible for someone with ADHD to know what accommodations might be reasonably needed if they are kept in the dark about the process. We therefore recommend being open about the details of the interview and its process.
Including:
It is acknowledged that some questions will by necessity be ad-hoc, for example in response to answers, and as such can’t be known beforehand.
By providing the core questions to the candidate beforehand you give them time to get their answers in order, as if the interview was conducted live with no preparation they may not mention details that would have been useful to mention as they failed to make the connection themselves in the moment, but given time to prepare they are more likely to notice such things.
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Someone with ADHD will likely have a hard time focusing on the questions being asked or possibly get too focused on some questions to the detriment of the others. Therefore letting the candidate take notes with them into the interview will give them the ability to bring up relevant information that they would have otherwise forgotten.
Part of ADHD is the fact that the person will be easily distracted so removing anything from the location of the interview that may distract them will improve the likelihood of them presenting themselves well.
For in person meetings:
For virtual meetings:
Non-specific questions introduce a chance to go off topic, after which it may be hard to get them back on topic. It also means that you aren’t indicating a key point to the question so the answers are likely to be less detailed than desired.
In a similar vein; If the candidate goes off topic or doesn’t provide the level of detail desired, repeating the question can reinforce the idea that this particular topic requires greater thought. It’s also possible that due to their easily distractible nature that you may need to repeat your question to get an answer at all.