Calling it "Wildcard People" removed the gatekeeping/"medical" aspect while maintaining expectations of how these candidates end up doing their work.
> Manage products from concept to design, requirements, testing, pricing, promotion, and support.
> Prioritize thousands of bugs and feature requests using a ruthless focus on both quantitative and qualitative criteria towards defined goals
> 5+ years of SaaS product management experience working within the financial sector
I get that's for a Senior position, but let's be real, they're looking for someone with specific skills in a specific domain that have been applied in a somewhat linear fashion for years. Is my impression off?
Your FAQ describes someone who might be doing a tradeshow one week, while probably not also being responsible for programming some feature, nor do they have unlimited time and energy. But those job postings read like they just want someone to be responsible for everything all the time, because everything is arbitrarily urgent, and manage it well.
I don't know quite what I'd expect to see, maybe I'm just too far gone from being in a job, but I feel like just short term contracting might be the thing to do.
ADHD people, from what I've read, are some of the most chronically underemployed, including myself. I think it's been a massive uphill battle for me as someone in programming, but who burns out easily, shows up late, and has crazy gaps on their resume. I hope you find success with this and will keep an eye on it.
In fact I just interviewed with a company today where I expressed my resistance being pigeonholed in my own words.
Speaking of being a generalist, the book "Range" by David Epstein gave me some hope.
I have seen a lot of job boards catering to various niches popping up in recently years, and they all eventually become just a regular job board that generates passive income for the creator without much curation.
Right now I've been able to speak directly with hiring managers/CEOs who are instantly on-board and "get it" after reading the blog post. My hope is that the clear messaging is actively driving away people who want to hire non-Wildcards. I make it clear on the Job Creation page that you will only receive applicants of a certain type. But that's just what I'm hoping happens. If it starts to drift away from that, I'll have to figure out how to vet employers better. I don't want people like me getting jobs that cause suffering.
I'd rather make 10x less money than compromise on the mission.
If nothing else:
> I don't want people like me getting jobs that cause suffering.
> I'd rather make 10x less money than compromise on the mission.
I feel that by saying those you have answered my questions already! :) It's quite possible that your answer is somewhere in there, too! All the best with it!
P.S. The "Why you shouldn't" section for the Pallet role is great. At least it makes me feel like it's a frank conversation about what both sides want.
Can I ask you what an Adhd-friendly job entails?
ADHD is different for everyone, but basically an ADHD-friendly job is one where "maintenance" or "routine" tasks are not an expectation. I.e. keeping API documentation up-to-date every week is not a good Wildcard task. If you need someone to do that work, don't hire a Wildcard. If you need someone to do a little bit of everything (i.e. Chief of Staff type role) then it's a better fit.
> First, neurotypical people (those without ADHD) make decisions based on three factors: Importance, Rewards, and Consequences. (e.g. I think it's important. Someone I [love, like, fear or respect] thinks it's important. Or, there are consequences and rewards
> People with ADHD, rarely, if ever, make decisions based on these things. Dodson says (and I agree wholeheartedly), that people with ADHD make decisions based on different criteria: Interest, Challenge, Novelty, Urgency (ICNU).
(https://www.oaktreecounselor.com/blog/adult-adhd-lazy)
That difference in motivators makes it likely that people with ADHD will constantly jump between different tasks, which over time builds up into becoming an expert at learning new things, and a broad knowledge about many things within their domain.