Career Expert Shares The 4 Types Of People Who Are Unlikely To 'Make It' In A Corporate Environment
Unless you're neurotypical or a narcissist (or ideally both) it's usually a pretty tough climb.
Peopleimages | Getty Images Signature | Canva Pro If you've ever struggled to fit into the corporate world, you're definitely not alone — all but the lucky (or deranged) few of us feel like a square peg at one time or another.
But it often never occurs to people that it might mean they're just not built for the corporate world and may need to try something else entirely. A career expert on TikTok says that's often the case and has some insight for all those who've ever felt itchy sitting in a cubicle all day.
The career expert reveals the 4 types of people who don't fit corporate environments — and likely struggle because of it.
Audra Talamantes is a business consultant and career coach known as @becomingaudra on TikTok. Before launching her business, she spent more than a decade in the corporate world, so she's definitely learned the ropes.
On TikTok, she recently used that experience in a series of videos that bluntly explained how the corporate world really works. As she pithily stated in the first video, "Corporate is for narcissists and neurotypicals."
That may sound a bit reductive, but if you are a person (like this writer) who has spent years and years frustrated, confused, and at times outright infuriated by the way the workplace operates — and tends to leave you behind in the dust — her words will certainly ring true.
1. People with autism are likely to struggle in the corporate world
People with autism tend to struggle with unwritten social cues and rules that are the backbone of conformist environments like the corporate world. But Talamantes said it goes much further than that.
"Being autistic is fundamentally being all of the qualities that corporate America is actively trying to beat out of people," Talamantes bluntly put it, and she said some of the best attributes of people with autism are directly at odds with what corporate leaders want.
"They don't want honest people," she said. "They want people that are going to live the lie." Autistic people's skills at pattern recognition are particularly problematic in this regard.
"You're gonna be able to look across the organization and see at a high level what is wrong with the company and what needs to be improved," Talamantes said. That is the last thing corporate leadership wants—and corporate environments are structured accordingly.
2. People with ADHD
"Lord help us in our nine to fives," Talamantes, who has ADHD herself, said. "If there was something that didn't go together more than an ADHD person and a 9-5, I don't know what it is."
Talamantes explained in a video that if you deal with ADHD, "you are gonna feel like a caged animal" in a corporate environment. That's because people with ADHD tend to hyper-focus on tasks and work at a pace that is often much faster than others.
Talamantes said this often manifests as impatience for people with ADHD — a feeling that everyone else is lollygagging. "You wanna see progress," she said, "you don't wanna deal with paper pushing and waiting for approvals and all the red tape that comes with corporate."
Finally, people with ADHD often struggle with time and task management in ways that are frowned upon in corporate environments but also feel "tedious and boring" because, Talamantes said, "ADHD people are not motivated by boring tasks that have no purpose." And unfortunately, that's basically all corporate jobs are most of the time!
3. People with PTSD or other trauma-related conditions
As a person with Complex PTSD, this is one I can speak to personally, and Talamantes' take on it sums it up perfectly: "If you have PTSD and you're working in corporate, you are basically asking yourself to heal from your abuse while remaining in an abusive environment."
This is exacerbated by the fact that "there are no accommodations" for the condition in the workplace. "People do not care that you have PTSD and they're gonna pretend it does not exist," Talamantes said.
On top of that, corporate workplaces are often toxic in their own right, rife with bullies and confrontations that, for those with a history of trauma or PTSD, become triggers. So you're put in a position of constantly dealing with trauma responses in an environment that isn't safe to do so.
Talamantes says that for those struggling with PTSD who work in a corporate environment, it's vital to have a support system in place outside the workplace to help manage the uphill battle.
4. Highly sensitive people
This isn't just people who take things too seriously — it's an actual mental health condition. These are people who are far more highly attuned to their environments than others. They feel the "vibes" and are greatly impacted by them.
So if, say, the boss is in a bad mood, they're going to REALLY feel it, whether it has anything to do with them or not. And given how toxic many corporate environments are? Well, it's not hard to understand why these people often struggle.
"They are going to have sensory overload in corporate America," Talamantes explained, especially because HSPs often need quiet and alone time to recharge—a thing that inherently does not exist in corporate environments.
Office politics are also very difficult for HSPs. "Corporate can be really cutthroat, so if you're a sensitive person, you are gonna be absorbing so much emotional garbage from the people around you," Talamantes said. She recommended that HSPs work from home if possible, which is probably a good idea for all four of these types.
The bottom line is that YOU are not the problem. The corporate world is.
As a person who definitely fits two and probably all four of these profiles (if only autism and ADHD screenings didn't have thousand-year waitlists in my area), I can say from experience that Talamantes is right.
Working from home has been the only thing that has saved me from the constant cycle of failing and stumbling in corporate environments — and watching my mental health erode as the 9-5 grind monopolizes my energy and time — that characterized the first 20 years of my working life.
Ultimately, Talamantes recommends people who fit within these four types pursue entrepreneurship. "Build your own company so that you can work for yourself," she said, and be in control of your work life instead of the other way around.
Not everyone is suited to that, of course. But whether you choose to go your own way or stick around the office, it's important to know that if you are one of these four types of people, YOU are not the problem.
The problem is the corporate world itself, which loves to pay lip service to people like these 4 types of "square pegs" — and by "pay lip service" I basically mean "outright lie" — with beautifully worded HR presentations and PR spin and TED Talks about acceptance, accommodation and valuing different approaches and perspectives.
But take it from one who's long in the tooth and has learned the hard way: They want what you have to give IF and ONLY IF you can find a way to squish it into the previously existing structure they have no intention of actually changing or modernizing.
Going into the corporate world with clear eyes and expectations will save you a lot of time and energy as you work to find your niche and make your mark — or find the right time to leave it all behind and venture out on your own path.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.