Nerodivergence is typically negatively associated by society due to it being somewhat cumbersome and difficult to interact with from a normal (neurotypical) person’s point of view. However, there are numerous instances in which neurodivergent professionals have a perhaps even unfair advantage comparated to neurotypical professionals. What can we, for example learn from someone who is being characterized by ADHD and works as a recruitment professional, whilst exciting AI developments for recruitment are taking place?
Jake
“Why I believe ADHD minds could become the hidden drivers of innovation in the AI age“
For years, I felt like an outsider at work. While my colleagues systematically worked through their tasks, my mind was racing with “brilliant ideas” I couldn’t organize. Though broadly interested and certainly not unintelligent, I struggled to show my true potential in busy classrooms and workplaces alike. It felt like I was constantly hitting walls in a system designed for neurotypical minds.
Getting diagnosed with ADHD at 34 changed everything. “Finally, I understood how my brain worked,” I reflect now. “It explained everything – my struggles with authority, my restlessness with routine work, and how I could solve complex problems while simultaneously losing my keys all the time.”
The recruitment years: A personal discovery
Nine years ago, I stumbled into recruitment, where I discovered something fascinating: my ADHD brain – long seen as a liability – proved to operate in ways that brought unexpected value. My ability to rapidly connect patterns between people, technology, and opportunities didn’t just make me a good recruiter; it positioned me differently in an increasingly fast-paced business landscape.
Through my journey, I’ve come to believe that talent often hides in unexpected places. The ‘difficult’ employee who doesn’t fit your system might be the very person who can transform it for the future.
The AI breakthrough: A natural match?
The emergence of AI marked a turning point in my understanding of ADHD’s potential value. Working with AI, I noticed something intriguing: the way my ADHD mind jumps between concepts and generates ideas seems to mirror how AI processes information. Where conventional systems had constrained me, AI appeared to complement my natural tendencies toward non-linear thinking and unexpected connections.
From my observations, AI tools seem to work similarly to how my ADHD mind processes information – making rapid connections, generating multiple possibilities simultaneously, and finding patterns in seemingly unrelated concepts. This parallel has led me to wonder whether ADHD minds might be uniquely suited to working with and innovating through AI. My personal experience seems to confirm this theory.
The ADHD advantage in practice
My daily interactions with AI tools have revealed a striking contrast in how different minds approach these technologies. When I first discovered ChatGPT, I had a revelation: those repetitive tasks that my ADHD brain struggled with could be automated. By providing detailed context, I could generate recruitment plans and proposals that captured my vision while bypassing the executive function challenges that typically held me back.
What started as simple task automation soon evolved into something more transformative. As an ADHD professional, I discovered that these tools excelled at areas where I traditionally struggled with the administrative aspects of recruitment. They helped me transform my daily conversations with hiring managers and candidates into actionable plans. More importantly, they enabled me to create personalized candidate proposals and tailored onboarding plans, incorporating specific input from each candidate – something I always wanted to do but never found the time for. These AI tools also helped me manage my weekly planning and calendar integration – a genuine game-changer for someone with ADHD.
As I explored different AI models, I found each had its distinct strengths, leading me to maintain multiple paid accounts. Gemini’s direct integration with Google Docs allows me to seamlessly incorporate text into specific templates, streamlining my documentation process. Claude stands out not only for its exceptional writing capabilities but also for its ability to visualize code and elaborate on complex plans and concepts. Meanwhile, ChatGPT has become my daily companion for task management, planning, and as a sparring partner for brainstorming new ideas. For scheduling, I use Dola AI, which lets me manage my calendar through simple WhatsApp prompts – perfect for those moments when traditional calendar apps feel overwhelming. Additional tools like NotebookLM, which transforms lengthy articles into audio content, allow me to stay productive while managing other tasks.
With new AI tools emerging almost daily and the field evolving at a breathtaking pace, this is just a snapshot of the possibilities. What excites me most is not just the tools we have today, but how each new development seems to align perfectly with the way ADHD minds work.
But perhaps most importantly, these tools helped me channel and develop the countless ideas constantly flowing through my mind. This is where I believe ADHD individuals, often blessed with unlimited creativity, can now truly shine – in conceptualizing and building solutions. AI, and in the future AI agents, can help translate our rapid-fire ideas into concrete plans or even execute them entirely.
A new perspective on workplace dynamics
Based on my experience in recruitment and working with AI, I’ve started to see a pattern that suggests ADHD professionals might bring unique advantages to corporate environments:
- A natural inclination to think beyond established patterns
- An inherent adaptability to rapidly changing environments
- What appears to be an intuitive understanding of non-linear problem-solving
Rethinking innovation in the AI age
In my daily practice, I’ve observed how professionals with ADHD often excel in:
- Finding unexpected applications for AI tools
- Adapting quickly to new technologies
- Seeing possibilities where others might see obstacles
These observations have led me to think differently about how organizations might approach innovation in the AI era. What if the very traits that have traditionally been seen as workplace challenges could become advantages in a technology-driven future?
A perspective for HR leaders
As a recruitment professional with ADHD, I want to share what I’ve learned with HR leaders. What I once saw as my limitations – the constant need for new challenges, difficulty with routine tasks, questioning existing processes – now seem like potential assets in an AI-driven workplace.
The power of different thinking
For the first time in my career, I’ve found that technology has evolved to match what I believe to be my natural thinking style. In my experience, AI doesn’t demand adherence to rigid systems but rather rewards the ability to create new ones. It doesn’t require following rules but reimagining them.
AI doesn’t demand adherence to rigid systems but rather rewards the ability to create new ones.
Looking into the future
Based on my journey and observations, I believe we’re at a turning point in how organizations might approach talent and innovation. In a world where adaptability and creative thinking increasingly determine success, I’ve come to think that ADHD professionals might find themselves moving from the margins to the mainstream of corporate innovation.
The qualities that once made many of us feel like outsiders – our rapid-fire thinking, our ability to make unexpected connections, our constant drive for novelty – might be exactly what companies need to thrive in an AI-powered future.
This isn’t just about my personal story. I believe it points to a broader opportunity for organizations to rethink how they view and utilize neurodiversity. The question for business leaders might no longer be how to manage neurodiversity, but how to harness it as a potential competitive advantage in an AI-powered world.
From my perspective, we’re not the problem HR needs to solve. We might just be the solution they’ve been looking for. While more research would be needed to confirm these observations, my experience suggests that the combination of ADHD thinking patterns and AI technology could create unprecedented opportunities for innovation in the workplace.
The future of work is being rewritten by AI, and I believe those of us who have always thought differently might just help write the next chapter.
Jeremy Noll (37) is an entrepreneur working at the intersection of AI and recruitment. Together with his business partner, he is building a startup focused on developing AI solutions and platforms for businesses, while continuing his passion for recruitment as a freelance recruiter. This combination of human talent acquisition and artificial intelligence development gives him a unique perspective on the future of workplace innovation.