Quick useful Info about my internship: My host organisation is the German Society for International Cooperation (Gesellschaft für International Zusammenarbeit GIZ). GIZ is an implementing agency and service provider for the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in Germany in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development and international education work. The main headquarter offices are in Berlin, Bonn and Eschborn, Germany.
My Experience
I am completing my internship at the GIZ as the last semester in my Communication Science Bachelor. A year ago, in my second year, I was diagnosed with ADHD. This internship was my first ever “office job” experience and it presented a number of challenges related to my disorder that I want to share with you. Maybe you are neurodivergent and starting your internship soon and hopefully this can help you!
As I said, my internship was my first ever “office job” and wow it is such a difference compared to studying at university full time, or doing small jobs on the side.
Here is 5 ways to help your ADHD at the office:
- Honesty
Honesty is the best policy. Tell your team that you are neurodivergent and how this will impact your work. This can be difficult but it’s better if they know. Otherwise you will be treated like a neurotypical but you aren’t one. You might be met with confusion, they might not be well educated, you could be looked down upon. That’s very scary, so only out yourself if you feel safe. But: representation matters and the more people know, the more people will remember “oh yeah one of our interns was neurodivergent, but they did great work” and will think differently in the future.
- Home Office
I asked to do home office for as many days as possible and I was allowed (thank you GIZ!). It made such a difference to be able to work in my own space with less distractions. If you can’t make this happen, ask for a quiet space to work. Can you turn off the lights or wear comfortable clothing? Anything to minimise the amount of distracting stimuli.
- Asking Questions
The amount of miscommunications I had is embarrassing so I won’t go into detail but here is what I did about it: when receiving verbal instructions I took notes and always asked questions immediately (do it then, you will forget. You think you won’t, but you will). Also read your notes out loud to your colleague after they are done explaining so they can confirm you heard everything correctly.
- Deadlines
Working in a large team means you have many tasks from different people. Many tasks can be overwhelming and make you freeze or trigger your executive dysfunction. That’s why it’s important to prioritise and take things one step at a time. Also if you have projects whose deadline is way in the future you might not have enough dopamine-reward to start on it early: so create mini deadlines for yourself for motivation. Tell your boss that you will hand in a small section each week and stick to that.
- Trust
You do things differently than other people but that’s ok, it never impacts the results, it’s just how you get there is a little unusual. Well, that’s okay! Tell your team to trust you. You do things your way, you do them differently, but they get done and you do a good job. They will believe you after seeing it a few times and will be discouraged from micromanaging your every move which would otherwise completely inhibit your productivity.
