Recap: Developing a Neurodivergent-Friendly Strategy
What is a “neurodivergent-friendly career strategy”, anyway?
Put plainly, it’s a career strategy that works for you — and no one else. That’s because there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution for neurodivergent folks. We’re far too diverse in our needs and situations for that to work.
So rather than following a carefully laid out plan, we need to do something more terrifying… figure it out ourselves.
In this presentation, our very own Veronica Yao presents the skills you need in order to develop a career strategy that suits you, and navigate the unpredictable world of work. Veronica is the career coach behind Atypical Careers, and her mission is to create neurodivergent-friendly career resources for her community.
Keep reading, or scroll to the bottom of the recap for the full recording!
Essential skills for navigating a career transition:
Evaluating and assessing yourself.
It’s about more than just knowing what you’ve done. It’s about understanding the potential behind your strengths, challenges, motivations, and experiences.
Assessing situations for risk.
This ability helps you make decisions that improve your odds towards achieving your goals. For example, whether to disclose your diagnosis to an employer, or whether to accept a job offer.
Managing your energy and focus levels.
It’s all about managing your career transition as sustainably as possible. Consider your energy and focus levels as valuable, finite resources that require time to recover.
Ability to advocate for yourself.
In our current world of work, it’s likely that no one will take the initiative to meet your needs unless you ask for it. Knowing how to communicate your needs and come up with solutions is key.
Stage 1: Evaluate Where You Are
You can’t plan a journey without knowing where you are right now. This first stage is essential to the foundation of your career strategy - so don’t skip it!
This stage is all about data collection and analysis. Review your work experiences and other relevant experiences to date, and try to find patterns and trends in your skills, work preferences, and motivations.
Your skills and experiences.
Take time to go through your old resumes, Linkedin profiles, and work history. Which skills and work experiences did you like or dislike? Which ones were you more skilled at? Consider which elements of your past jobs you’d like to carry forward in your career.
Your core motivators.
Understand what drives you to overcome blocks and difficult moments at work. What are some times you have felt motivated to complete your work? Did any of these experiences have anything in common?
Your work style.
Consider any aspects of your work that you find challenging. What conditions need to be met in order for you to be able to produce your best work? For example, environmental conditions, management style, etc.
Stage 2: Envision the Future
How would you answer the dreaded interview question, “where do you see yourself in 5 years?” Neurodivergent professionals often have trouble planning ahead and picturing the future.
There are a few reasons for this:
We are constantly focused on surviving the here and now
We are too tired at the end of the day to do personal or professional development
We get overwhelmed by the unknown.
However, we need to make space to envision the future because if we don’t know what our goal is, we can’t work towards it. Without clarity, your chances of building a work life that suits you will be low.
When envisioning your future, don’t limit yourself to your work life. The reality is, work doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Your personal life, your relationships, your health – it all affects one another.
Begin by considering what your personal values are, and how you can centre them in both your personal and work lives. If you can picture what you want your life to look like outside of work, you can begin shaping a career that will support your goals and hopefully align with the way you want to live your life.
Stage 3: Develop Your Strategies
As mentioned earlier, there is no “one-size-fits-all” option for this. Try not to think of this process as a binary (for example, “the neurotypical way” vs “the neurodivergent way”.) Just focus on figuring out what works best for you.
Now that you’ve completed the work of evaluating your current state and envisioning your future, it’s time to come up with your career strategy. And by that, I mean lots of little strategies that will work together to help you improve your chances of reaching your goals!
Here are some examples of career strategies you can employ during your next transition.
Clearly defined mini-goals to work towards.
Ensure that all your “mini goals” are aligned towards your one big goal: building a career in your target industry and field of work.
A timeline or roadmap.
Progress in a job hunt isn’t linear. Depicting this visually sometimes helps – think of the process as a series of “phases” where progress can happen with multiple tasks simultaneously.
A toolkit of resources and strategies.
Get creative – have a playlist on your device for external motivation where you’re feeling demotivated and understimulated. Have grounding techniques prepared for the next time you’re feeling activated and overwhelmed at work.
Setting up “safety nets”.
Imagine you’re climbing a really tall ladder. If something bad happens – say, a strong wind hits you – the goal is to be knocked down only a few rungs. You can recover a small setback, but you want safety precautions in place to make sure you don’t fall all the way down the ladder.
Abuzz Academy is Coming!
The concepts in this presentation recap are all part of our new online course, titled “Developing a Neurodivergent-Friendly Career Strategy.” If you’d like to get updates leading up to the launch of this resource, please subscribe to our mailing list.