Am I the only one with adhd who's good at and enjoys networking? Most of it is just asking specific questions based on prior information you've been given by the other person.

Really important is identifying a topic the other is passionate about, maybe it's not even work related, but a hobby or a travel experience they've had. Then you get them to "teach" you about it by asking them to elaborate and maybe even explain specific parts of their hobby, and voila you've succeeded in networking.

People are passionate about their skills and hobbies, and most love to elaborate and explain the specifics of it, especially when they usually don't get to do it.

Remember those "Joe is forcing us to see his travel pictures" joke? This is basically that but you're actually interested in the pictures. Listening to someone being passionate about something is a lot more fun than others lead you to believe, give it a try, it's basically nt infodumping.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Really important is identifying a topic the other is passionate about, maybe it’s not even work related, but a hobby or a travel experience they’ve had. Then you get them to “teach” you about it by asking them to elaborate and maybe even explain specific parts of their hobby, and voila you’ve succeeded in networking.

This works until you try it in DC and suddenly everyone is an analyst at the State Department and when you ask what they analyze they say "data."

They also don't have hobbies they're willing to talk about, and tend not to have strong feelings about music or TV or books or, really, anything.

I do not like networking in DC.

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[–] Fox@pawb.social 6 points 3 months ago

One of the best things you can do to prep is to find someone you can relate to at least a little bit who's already been through it, ideally someone with a few years under their belt, and do mock interviews with them. Interviewing sucks, it's not an easy skill and you hopefully won't need it very much. The first ones are always the hardest.

[–] Faydaikin@beehaw.org 5 points 3 months ago

Don't worry, the rest of us don't like the process either.

[–] Zess@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago

You just have to figure out the ways your autism makes you a good worker and explain it to them. Honestly chatgpt could probably help with the wording if you just explain your autism to it lol

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