The Most Crucial Skill HR Should Assess While Hiring: Attention to Detail

A small mistake could cost you millions. To prevent such mistakes, you need employees to be intelligent and accurate. You want them to be detail-oriented.

Attention to detail is an essential part of soft skills to look for while hiring. According to an article by INC, some mistakes have cost organizations millions. If you want to avoid errors, you need to hire employees with good attention to detail.

In this article, you’ll learn: 

• What attention to detail means while hiring
• Why is it such an important skill for your organization?
• The benefits of hiring employees with good attention to detail
• The cost of hiring employees that lack attention to detail
• How to assess attention to detail while hiring candidates

What Does Attention to Detail Mean?

Attention to detail refers to being aware and alert about the data, instructions, and subtle things about the tasks and projects. Someone with attention to detail is more thorough and accurate about executing the projects. 

Attention to detail is also referred to by the term detail-oriented. It is an essential skill for technical and non-technical roles. Employees with attention to detail understand tasks and assignments better and take the initiative before any problem gets severe, execute the task with accuracy and precision. They are good planners and have essential time management skills.

How Does Attention to Detail in Employees Impact an Organization?

Individuals make an organization. There are benefits of hiring employees with good attention to detail and consequences of ignoring the skill during recruitment.

Let us discuss how attention to detail in an individual makes a difference to your organization.

When you hire employees with good attention to detail 

1. The quality of work will be high

When your employees have good attention to detail, they will have a clear view of the task. They will ensure the quality of work is good.

For example, a DevOps Engineer with good attention to detail will not make development, operations, or communication mistakes. They will be clear about understanding instructions and data. They will execute with perfection, and as a result, the quality of the work will be high.

2. They will work with accuracy and precision

It would be best if your employees stayed careful about the tiny decimal points, signs, and punctuation marks. When you hire employees with good attention to detail, they will work with accuracy and precision. This skill is critical for employees in financial roles, development roles, cyber security, and leadership roles.

3. They require less supervision

As the employees with good attention to detail are more perfection oriented, they are more reliable. And, they don’t need much supervision and managing, which helps you delegate important work and save time. You can blindly trust them and hand over responsibilities.

4. They identify problems

People with attention to detail are alert and observant. They spot possible errors and solve them beforehand. They are sharp planners too. They hardly get into situations that require a contingency plan, and they get to the roots of the problems and find solutions.

What happens when you hire employees who lack attention to detail?

1. You can no longer trust your employees

According to a Forbes article, trust is a foundational element in the manager-employee relationship. A team leader can make solid commitments only when they trust their team. 

For example, a team member made a mistake in an important document, a technical white paper. Now, once you know your employee has made such a mistake, you might warn them a few times, but if they repeat it frequently, it is a sign they lack attention to detail, and you can no longer trust them.

2. It will ruin customer satisfaction

If your employees lack attention to detail, they might make mistakes. If their role directly impacts your product or services, your customers will be unsatisfied.

For example, let us assume you run a digital marketing agency. If your employee made a typo in a social media post or if they sent out an email campaign with mistakes in the offer your client would not trust you anymore.

3. They might misinterpret the instructions

If your employees misinterpret the task or assignment, it could waste time and energy and even cost you money. Some employees with a lack of attention to detail are weak communicators. They might not read the emails carefully, might not listen attentively, and execute the project in a completely wrong direction.

Types of Attention to Detail: Textual and Visual

Attention to detail is of two types: Textual and Visual. Both are important and essential based on requirements and roles.

What is textual attention to detail?

The textual detail orientation refers to candidates’ understanding of instructions, tasks, statements, information, or data in textual form. 

For example, mistakes in accounting have cost significant losses to companies. Hertz discovered errors worth $43.3 million, Groupon made losses worth $22 million, and Enron went into bankruptcy. 

What are some roles that require good textual attention to detail?

Here are some of the roles which require good textual attention to detail:

• Software Developers
• C-Suite executives
• Team Leaders
• Accounts and bookkeeping
• Writers and editors
• Marketers and advertisers
• Data Scientists
• Data Operators

Signup with Testlify and add textual attention to detail assessment for your candidates.

What is visual attention to detail?

Visual detail orientation refers to candidates’ observing skills regarding visuals, graphics, designs, or anything that requires visual stimuli. 

According to a Search engine journal article, Social media mistakes have cost losses of up to $4.3 million. These mistakes were because the brand didn’t pay close attention to different aspects of branding and marketing.

Chandana Pitta, a copywriter for the ecommerce industry, made a small change to her ad and found an increase in CTR (Click Through Rate) by 150%. This is possible only with good visual attention to detail.

What are some roles that require good visual attention to detail?

Here are some of the roles which require good visual attention to detail:

• Doctors
• Graphic designers
• UI Designers
• UX designers
• Website designers
• Advertisers and Marketers
• Security officers

Attention to detail is a necessary soft skill, and it will provide substantial leverage if all your employees are good with textual and visual attention to detail.

Signup with Testlify and add visual attention to detail assessment for your candidates.

How to Assess Attention to Detail?

Assessment of attention to detail is critical, and it isn’t easy to judge a person in the interview span. But there are ways to help you assess by understanding some familiar cues about attention to detail in the candidates.

Here are some ways to assess attention to detail in your candidates while hiring:

1. Check the resume or portfolio

Please pay close attention to their resume or portfolio. If they have made apparent mistakes in their resume, it is a sign that they lack attention to detail.

We recommend you notice:

• Check if there are there any typos on their resume
• Check if the font is consistent or in-sync across the whole document
• Check if the document is well-formatted
• Check if there are any basic grammar mistakes?

A survey by CareerBuilder found that 77% of employers find these mistakes to be a deal-breaker.

2. Screening test by assessment tools

Assessment platforms are an easy way to test attention to detail in your candidates. These screen tests have questions prepared by subject matter experts who understand human behavior and psychology. 

You have to select and create the test for the role you are hiring for and select the form of test you want the candidate to take. Testlify offers different test libraries, including textual and visual attention to detail.

3. Observing during the interview

You can assess the attention to detail of a candidate during the interview by closely observing them and noticing subtle things to understand how prepared they are and by asking questions based on their previous experience.

Here are some pointers that will help you assess attention to detail during interviews:

• Ask to check if they researched your company
• Ask to check if they explored the role they are applying for
• Notice how engaged they are throughout the conversation
• Ask them questions about specific scenarios from their previous job

These few tips will help you observe them thoroughly during the interview.

Final Thoughts

There’s no doubt that any organization needs people ready for contingencies. But if you hire people with good attention to detail, you will never have to use the contingency plan. Ever. 

You need a system that shows you an accurate assessment of attention to detail in your candidates. Testlify offers you a screen testing assessment for attention to detail, especially designed by the subject matter experts. 

Sign up with Testlify today, the finest assessment platform for all your hiring needs!