How to make a one-page ADHD interview cheat sheet

Why a script works against you

A script feels safe because it is complete. In the room it breaks. They ask a sideways version of your question, you hunt for the paragraph, and your eyes leave them. On a video call that looks like reading.

Trigger words do a different job. They do not tell you what to say. They remind you which story you are in, and the one fact you do not want to forget. You still speak in sentences. The page just stops you inventing the story from scratch while someone is waiting.

One landscape page, split into boxes

Turn the page sideways. A portrait page invites an essay. Landscape gives you a row of stories you can scan in one eye movement.

The top box is only for you, in about 30 seconds: who you are and the kind of work you want. Under that, one box each for four or five stories. Use a win, a conflict, a mistake, and a time you led something. A fifth box is there if you have another story you trust. Leave it blank if you do not.

Each story box holds the result, then three or four words. Not a sentence. If you can read the box aloud as prose, it is too long. Cut it.

A strip along the bottom holds two or three questions you want to ask, and the interviewer's name. The name matters more than it sounds. People freeze on it, then spend the first minute embarrassed. Write it down.

The 30-second about me

The top box is not your life story. It is the answer to "tell me about yourself" if they only give you half a minute. Role, the setting you work in, and one proof that you do the job. Four words is enough.

A customer-support lead might write: shops, rota, escalations, calm. Spoken, that becomes: "I lead the team that handles shop complaints. I build the weekly rota, I take the calls that have already gone wrong, and I stay calm when the queue is ugly." The page never contains that sentence. You do.

Put the result at the top of the box

Most people write a story from the beginning: the setting, the problem, then the ending if they get there. In an interview the ending is the part they score. If you lose your place, you want the first thing you see to be the outcome, not the weather on the day it happened.

So the top line of every story box is the result, in a few words. "Queue cleared by Wednesday." "Refund inside the rule." "Client stayed." "Both took live calls on day four." When you look down, you jump straight to the ending, then use the words underneath to climb back through how you got there.

A worked example

These are ordinary work stories, not a perfect candidate. Copy the shape, not the jobs.

A win. Result: queue cleared by Wednesday. Words: rota, 40 calls, handover note. What you say: the Monday queue had sat all weekend. You changed the rota so two people took the backlog, you stayed on the phones for the ugly ones, and you wrote a handover note the next shift actually used. By Wednesday the queue was normal. The note stayed.

A conflict. Result: refund inside the rule. Words: policy, customer on the line, five minutes. A manager wanted a full refund the rule did not allow. You asked for five minutes, showed the line that allowed a partial refund, and the team script was updated afterwards.

A mistake. Result: client stayed. Words: wrong file, called in an hour, checklist. You sent the wrong attachment. You noticed before they did, called within the hour, sent the right file, and said what you had done. Then you added a "right file" line to the checklist. The client stayed. The checklist is still on the wall.

A time you led. Result: live calls on day four. Words: shadow, checklist, end-of-day question. Your lead was off. Two new starters were in. You had each of them shadow one live call, gave them the checklist, and asked one question at the end of each day: what almost went wrong? Both took their own calls on day four.

None of those boxes contains a sentence. If you practise them twice out loud, the sentences show up on their own.

Questions, and their name

The strip is small on purpose. Two or three questions you actually want answered, written as prompts: "team size", "what good looks like at three months", "why the last person left". You will turn them into polite questions in the room.

Write the interviewer's name in large letters. On a panel, write the person you most need to look at, and initials for the others if you have them. It is a kindness to them and a rescue for you.

Colour, then the camera

Colour-code by theme so your eye knows the box before you read it. Green for a win, amber for a conflict, red for a mistake, blue for leadership. The about-me box and the question strip stay neutral. If you are low on ink, use the black-and-white version. The labels do the same job.

On a video call, stick the sheet just under the camera. Blu-tack on the monitor bezel, or a phone propped against the stand, works. Your eyes stay near the lens instead of dropping to the keyboard, where it looks as if you have left the call. Do not paste a script into the notes app beside the window. You will read it, and they will see you reading it.

In a room, the sheet lives in your notebook, open at that page. You are allowed to look. A glance is not a failure.

Practise each story out loud

Reading the boxes is not practice. Say each story out loud, twice. The first time you will add too much. The second time, cut anything that is not in the box. If you freeze, look at the result line first, then the three words, and start again from the ending: "The queue was clear by Wednesday. What happened was…"

Two passes is enough the night before. A third pass, if you are tired, often makes you stiff. You are not trying to sound identical each time. You are trying to know which story you are in.

If you want a person on the other side of the question, CareerPilot's interview practice lets you rehearse out loud and get feedback. The sheet is still yours. The practice is only there so the words have been in your mouth before they need to be.

Asking for a reasonable adjustment

You do not have to tell an employer you have ADHD. Some people do, because they want a change to the interview. Some people do not, and that is allowed.

The Equality Act 2010 says an employer must make reasonable adjustments where a disabled person would otherwise be at a substantial disadvantage. That includes interviews, tests, and application forms. In law, a disability is a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial, long-term effect on normal day-to-day activities. This guide cannot tell you whether that describes you.

If you want to ask, email the person who booked the interview. Keep it plain. Say what you need for the interview, not your whole history. People often ask for the questions in writing, a short break, extra time on a written test, or the interview split into two shorter slots. The employer decides what is reasonable. Ask early enough that they can actually do it.

Access to Work is a separate scheme from the Department for Work and Pensions, for England, Scotland and Wales. It can pay for a communication support worker to attend a job interview with you, if you need that because of a disability or health condition, you are 16 or over, and you apply before the interview. It is not money the employer uses to pay for their own reasonable adjustments. Northern Ireland has its own Access to Work arrangement. The official pages are on GOV.UK: reasonable adjustments in recruitment and communication support at a job interview.

Questions