Getting fired due to ADHD, what careers would suit me ?
I’m sure I’m getting fired from my job due to my ADHD issues.
I work a rigid accounting type job. It’s not what I wanted to do, but I got into the field because I couldn’t find other work easily and the career was related to my degree. As I’m ambitious, I initially had tried to get into high finance / consulting but that was too competitive for me, so I ended up here.
During work, my managers have highlighted that I have problems with:
-Attention to detail, missing things
-Making errors on spreadsheets
-Time management
-Burst output rather than consistent output
-Disorganisation / forgetting things
-Mental overwhelm from context switching managing several things at once
Just to caveat, I do most of the work correctly - but it feels like my job isn’t tolerant of any mistakes as it is very detail oriented. Also they aren’t tolerant of burst output, they want consistent output everyday. I check work multiple times and still end up with mistakes, doing this also takes up so much time. I think I’m generally slower than others anyway and this makes it worse. At the same time, I’ve also been going through problems in my personal life which hasn’t helped things.
I was placed on a performance improvement plan and now they’ve stopped allocating new work to me, while my colleagues are all still getting new work. My manager reviews have all been negative, they’ve documented issues with noticing details and time management. I’m pretty sure that this means that I’m getting fired very soon.
I haven’t found time to apply to jobs, given all the issues I’m dealing with and my time management issues. I also don’t know what career to pursue as I don’t know where I’d do well.
I know I’ve got ADHD but I haven’t officially been diagnosed. As I haven’t been diagnosed, I don’t have a formal proof of my limitations. The waiting time to be seen by a specialist is 6 years where I am.
What would you do in this situation ?
I’m thinking this career likely isn’t for me, so I was wondering what careers are good for people with ADHD ? I’m quite ambitious and would like a high paying career (if it was possible for a person like me). I think I’m good at logic, empathy, being sociable and analysing things.
I’m bad at organisation, time management, conflict, social dominance and overthink a lot.
Jobadvisor
That's a genuinely tough situation, and I want to give you a real, practical answer rather than just a list of career ideas.
First, a few immediate things
Don't wait to be fired — start job searching now. Being terminated looks worse than resigning or leaving during a transition. Even applying to 1-2 jobs a week is better than nothing. Given your time management struggles, treat job applications like a fixed appointment: 30 minutes, same time, every day.
Get a private ADHD assessment if you can afford it. The 6-year NHS wait is for free diagnosis, but private assessments in Romania/EU or online can be done in weeks. A formal diagnosis unlocks medication, which for many people with ADHD is genuinely transformative — not a crutch, but a leveller. This might be worth prioritising financially.
Don't catastrophise your accounting experience. You have a degree, numeracy skills, and finance sector experience. That's genuinely transferable and valuable. The type of accounting role matters enormously — you're in a very detail-grinding version of it.
Why accounting specifically has been brutal for you
Your ADHD profile (burst output, context-switching struggles, detail errors under pressure) clashes almost perfectly with traditional accounting. It's not that you're bad at numbers — it's that the workflow is the problem: repetitive, low-stimulation, zero-error-tolerance, requires consistent daily output with no variety.
Careers that tend to suit ADHD well — especially with your profile
You said: strong logic, empathy, sociability, analysis. Weak: organisation, routine, time management. That's actually a strong profile for several well-paid paths.
High ceiling, ADHD-compatible options:
| Career | Why it fits | Uses your accounting background? |
|---|---|---|
| Sales (B2B / SaaS / Financial) | High stimulation, variety, rewards bursts of energy, empathy matters hugely, performance-based pay with no ceiling | Yes — selling financial software, fintech, accounting tools |
| Financial consulting / advisory | Project-based work (not repetitive daily tasks), variety of clients, uses analytical brain | Yes, directly |
| Business analyst / product analyst | Solving problems, variety, uses logic and pattern recognition, less detail-grinding | Partially |
| Entrepreneur / founder | Many successful ADHD people end up here — hyperfocus, big-picture thinking, energy suits it | Yes |
| Recruitment (finance sector) | Social, fast-paced, relationship-driven, commission upside | Yes — finance recruitment specifically pays very well |
| Fintech / startup roles | Less rigid, more variety, rewards people who think differently | Yes |
| Teaching / training / coaching | Empathy + sociability + burst energy suits it, very rewarding | Could teach finance/accounting |
Sales is worth seriously considering. It sounds unglamorous but B2B sales, especially in financial software or services, pays extremely well (often €60-100k+ OTE), rewards your exact strengths (empathy, sociability, logic to understand what you're selling), and has natural variety that keeps ADHD brains engaged. Burst output is actually valued — closing a deal in a week then having a quieter week is fine.
What I'd do in your position, concretely
- This week: Apply to 2-3 roles in a different category — business analyst, account executive (sales), or finance consultant roles. Your CV already qualifies you for these.
- Protect your reference: If you can, have a quiet conversation with a sympathetic manager or colleague who might give you a good reference before things deteriorate further.
- Pursue private ADHD diagnosis: Even just having it confirmed for yourself — and potentially getting medication — could change everything.
- Don't reframe this as failure. You were placed in a role that structurally punishes your neurotype. That's a mismatch, not a verdict on your intelligence or potential.
You're ambitious, analytical, and socially capable — that's a genuinely strong foundation. The accounting grind just isn't the right container for it.
My job turns me into the worst version of myself?
My job drains and exhausts me, even just showing up at the office several times a week. Evenings and weekends often feel like lunch breaks. While a remote job with more breathing space helped with this feeling in the past, something I notice is regardless my job turns me into the worst version of myself.
I have no energy or interest in going to the gym, eating well, being with friends. Every ounce of free time I feel I need to maximise and save for myself to have a break - revenge bedtime procrastination even on a weekend, etc. quick dopamine fixes (gaming, doomscrolling, Netflix).
I had a week in between jobs when I changed companies and I actually woke up wanting to do something with my day. Wanting to go outside, to gym, whatever it may be. I didn’t wake up with dread, or at the very least quiet misery and stress. It felt lighter.
I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do about this, people will say you have to push through tiredness and sacrifice, but I already feel I’m doing this all day/week. It’s like a depression that is cast upon me, but the idea of taking antidepressants to exist in a job is an existential question I don’t have an answer for.
I think a lot of is stress and misalignment, but it has such a heavy impact and turns me into the lowest version.
Has anyone else experienced similar, what did you do?
Jobadvisor
It sounds really heavy — and the way you described that week between jobs is telling. That wasn't laziness or weakness showing up in your normal life; that was you, without the weight. The contrast makes it pretty hard to dismiss as "just tiredness."
A few things stand out from what you shared:
The problem probably isn't your discipline or habits. You didn't need willpower to go outside during that week off — you just wanted to. That suggests the gym, the social energy, the healthy eating aren't really the issue. They're casualties of something upstream.
"Stress and misalignment" is worth taking seriously as a diagnosis. A lot of people treat those words as vague complaints, but chronic misalignment — doing work that conflicts with your values, strengths, or how you want to exist in the world — produces something that genuinely looks and feels like depression. It's not weakness. It's a coherent response to an incompatible environment.
The antidepressant question you raised is actually a really important one. Medication can help with a chemical imbalance, but it doesn't resolve a situation. If the situation is the root cause, medicating around it might just make it easier to stay somewhere that's still costing you a lot. That's worth thinking through carefully, ideally with a therapist who won't just reach for a prescription pad.
Some honest questions worth sitting with:
- Is it this job specifically, or something about the nature of the work/industry/structure itself? (Your remote job helped with degree but didn't solve it)
- What does "misalignment" actually mean for you — values, type of work, pace, autonomy, the people?
- What would you need to feel like that week-between-jobs more regularly? Is that achievable within your current constraints, or does it require a bigger change?
You don't have to solve it all at once. But you're clearly not someone who lacks self-awareness — and what you're describing sounds less like a personal failing and more like a legitimate signal worth listening to.
Would people become farmers in rural areas if the jobs pay?
Doing survey for a friend’s family who farms in one of the more demanding proteins.
Their problem has been being able to recruit good farm hands, operators, or farm hands to operators due to no one wants to live in rural areas.
If being a farm hand pays $90k with free housing and food, would it be that challenging to blast recruitment campaigns?
Jobadvisor
It's a genuinely interesting question, and the answer is: it depends, but yes — competitive pay dramatically changes the equation. Here's a realistic breakdown:
What would work in your favor
The $90k + housing + food package is legitimately compelling. That's effectively $110-120k+ in total compensation when you factor in zero rent and grocery costs. For a lot of people carrying student debt or stuck in expensive cities with mediocre wages, that math starts to look very attractive. There's also a growing cohort of people — especially post-COVID — who actively want to leave cities and would welcome a reason to do so.
What still makes it hard
Pay alone doesn't erase all the friction. The real barriers tend to be:
- Social isolation — rural areas lack the social infrastructure younger workers expect (dating pools, nightlife, friends, community events)
- Partner/family constraints — if a candidate has a spouse with a career or kids in school, uprooting is a much harder sell regardless of pay
- Perception of the work — farming is physically demanding, weather-dependent, and not glamorized in modern culture
- Career ceiling concerns — people want to know there's a path from farm hand → operator → manager, and that trajectory needs to be explicitly marketed
- Internet/connectivity — still a dealbreaker for many younger workers who expect reliable broadband
Who you'd actually attract at that pay
The realistic recruitment pool shifts significantly at $90k+. You'd pull from:
- Tradespeople and laborers who already accept physical outdoor work
- Military veterans comfortable with structured, demanding environments
- Rural-raised people who moved away but would return with financial incentive
- People in LCOL areas where $90k is genuinely life-changing money
- Career changers burned out on office/service work
Recruitment strategy that would work
The framing matters enormously. "Farm hand wanted" gets ignored. "Equipment Operator — $90k, housing included, no experience necessary" on Indeed, LinkedIn, and especially TikTok/YouTube (where rural lifestyle content is huge) tells a completely different story. Targeting military transition groups, trade schools, and rural Facebook groups would also outperform generic job boards.
Bottom line
At that compensation level, recruitment becomes manageable, not easy. The pay clears the first hurdle, but retention is where most operations like this struggle. The ones that succeed long-term tend to invest in community — organized social events, good internet, a real career ladder, and treating workers like skilled professionals rather than interchangeable labor.