You need to make sure your candidates can pay attention to the small things. This is especially important if you are recruiting candidates for a detail-oriented position. For example, accountants, lawyers, and editors all need a high level of attention to detail.
You can assess a candidate’s attention to detail skills during their interview. Doing so will help you send the most alert and attentive candidates on to your client.
Do you know how to test attention to detail in an interview? You can weave interview questions about attention to detail into the conversation. The amount of attention to detail aptitude questions you ask depends on the job order you’re trying to fill.
Attention to detail interview questions
When trying to assess a candidate’s attention to detail, ask for examples. Whenever possible, have the candidate describe specific situations and how they acted in those situations. These are called behavioral interview questions because they reveal how a candidate behaves in certain situations.
Here are attention to detail interview questions that you can ask your candidates.
Big picture vs. small details
These detail-oriented interview questions can help you determine if a candidate prefers to work on the details or big picture of a project.
- Are you a big picture person or detail-oriented person? Why? Can you give an example that demonstrates this?
- Do you prefer to work on the details of a project, or would you rather pass those tasks on to a co-worker?
Methodology
These detail-oriented interview questions will help you uncover how the candidate works.
- What tools do you use to check your work?
- How do you find errors that aren’t immediately obvious?
- How do you ensure quality when you’re under a time constraint?
- Can you describe a time when your attention to detail was critical to a project’s success? How did the project turn out?
- How do you keep track of all the tasks you need to complete for a project?
- Describe a time when you coordinated several projects at the same time. How did you juggle all the projects? How did you keep track of what needed to be done on each one?
Errors and corrections
These questions are about times the candidate found errors in someone’s work and took action.
- Have you ever found errors in your work? Why were they there? What did you do to correct the errors? How do you plan to prevent errors in the future?
- Tell me about a time when you discovered an error that a co-worker made. How did you discover the error? What did you do?
- Have you discovered an error made by someone above you, like your boss? How did you discover it? What did you do?
After the interview
After you interview a candidate, put the responses and any notes in your applicant tracking software for recruiters. You can easily go back to what candidates said, so it’s easier for you to compare them later on. Going back to the responses and your notes can help you construct a candidate profile to send to your client.
