Attention to detail: how you can tell if you really have it

What does attention to detail mean?

Did you know that 77% of hiring managers¹ say that typos or bad grammar on a resume are immediate deal breaker? Paying undivided attention to the finer points shows you have high attention to detail. You're skilled at observing and remembering the details.

Some attention-to-detail synonyms you’ll often hear include detail-oriented, fastidious, meticulous, and thorough. But, they all boil down to the same trait. People who pay close attention are great at finding, understanding, and remembering small details.

The good: 5 benefits of high attention to detail

Attention to detail is a sought-after trait. But why? What are the advantages of this skill? People who have a keen eye for the finer points offer the following benefits:

• Producing consistent, high-quality work
• Being efficient, as they don’t need to return to fix past mistakes
• Being trustworthy, because their work rarely needs a second set of eyes
• Having an impressive memory
• Solving problems efficiently and effectively

It’s for these reasons and more that employers look out for candidates who have high attention to detail. Studies have shown that employers value this skill more than technical and interpersonal skills.

The bad: 5 drawbacks of high attention to detail

Possessing strong attention to detail will make you a valuable asset on any team. However, like any skill, it’s not always positive. People who are always zoned in on details can fall into several pitfalls, including:

• Losing sight of the bigger picture
• Being perceived as micromanagers
• Feeling overwhelmed, because all of the details seem important
• Delaying the start of projects until they feel they have all of the details
• Continuously refining projects, rather than wrapping them up

Even so, the benefits of high attention to detail outweigh the potential disadvantages for many roles. Plus, simply being aware of these drawbacks can help detail-oriented people navigate around them.

Why attention to detail is important at work

Attention to detail is an important skill that is highly valued by employers. Unfortunately, not everyone has a high level of self-awareness to know if they truly possess this competency. 

6 signs you’re not paying enough attention to detail

If you don't pay attention to details, it can hurt you in both your personal and professional life. It's important to be aware of the signs that indicate you might not be paying enough attention to the details. 

1. You frequently submit incomplete work

You forgot to include the attachment with your email. You answered some questions, but not all of them. You showed up at the meeting on time, but you forgot to bring the resources you were supposed to hand out.

Those are just a few examples of scenarios you might find yourself in. The point is that you never quite check all of the boxes right off the bat, and other people frequently need to chase you down for error-free work.

2. You continuously have to go back and fix mistakes

When you do submit projects, it’s usually not the last time you see them. Your work comes back to you like a frustrating boomerang.

More often than not, your supervisor or colleagues must bring your submissions back to you. They ask that you patch up some slip-ups and omissions they spotted as they need high-quality results.

3. You’re always working at a breakneck pace

“Fast” is one of the first words people use to describe your work style. It’s true—you crank through your assigned tasks at record speed.

While your efficiency is admirable, it also means you are not paying complete attention. When you’re constantly working quickly, the finer points tend to slip by you, completely unnoticed.

4. You’re not proud of your previous work

There have been times when you’ve looked back at previous projects, and you can’t help but cringe. Now that you look at them with fresh eyes, you spot all sorts of mistakes and things you wish you would’ve done differently.

While you’re catching those blunders now, this could mean you aren’t keeping a close eye on the details in the heat of the moment.

5. You’re never the final set of eyes on your team

When working on a shared project, you’re never the one asked to look it over last. The final deliverable always lands on someone else’s desk before it’s considered finished.

It stings, but it could mean that your team doesn’t trust you to give things a final once-over, because you don’t pay close enough attention to the details.

If this is the case, don’t stress. It could be a sign that you're a great "big picture" thinker who would do well in a visionary or leadership role. Especially if you had a team member who paid attention to details.

6. You often say, “We’ll worry about that later”

You’re starting a new complex task, and somebody asks a more intricate question about how something will work. You respond by saying you’re not going to worry about it right now, and you’ll figure it out as you move forward.

Somebody with high attention to detail wouldn’t be content with that answer. They want to ensure they have the logistics ironed out before they invest too much time and energy into the project.

Examples of important attention-to-detail soft (human) skills

Excellent attention to detail is a crucial soft skill that can greatly impact job performance and career development. It involves being meticulous, organized, and vigilant in completing complicated tasks. Attention to detail can make a big difference in the quality of work. Whether it's double-checking facts and numbers in a report or catching spelling mistakes in an email.

Examples of attention-to-detail skills include:

1. Organizational skills

Organizational skills help increase productivity and efficiency in the workplace. They allow employees to prioritize current tasks, manage time effectively, and meet deadlines. A well-organized employee is more effective and able to handle a heavier workload

2. Time management skills

Time management skills help employees prioritize tasks, meet deadlines, and achieve goals. They prevent procrastination, reduce stress, and increase productivity. Effective time management is crucial for success in the workplace and for career advancement.

3. Analytical skills

Analytical skills help employees make informed decisions, solve problems, and identify opportunities. They involve gathering and interpreting data, identifying patterns and trends, and thinking critically. These skills are essential for success in the workplace. Especially in roles that require problem-solving and decision-making.

4. Observation skills

Observation skills involve paying attention to details, analyzing situations, and recognizing patterns. This helps employees identify problems, opportunities, and potential solutions. These skills are important at work for things such as fixing problems, making sure quality is good, and improving processes.

5 Active listening skills

Being an active listener involves paying full attention, and understanding, and retaining information when communicating with others. It improves communication, reduces misunderstandings, and increases collaboration in the workplace.

Attention to detail test: How to tell if you possess this skill

The above signs will help you to identify whether or not you’re an expert with the details. But, it’s certainly not a perfect science.

If you’re interested to know where your strengths lie, it can be helpful to take an online assessment such as Fingerprint for Success. When you first join F4S, you'll fill out a questionnaire that will reveal what motivates you at work. Give yourself about 30 minutes to really think about it. There is no perfect answer but you should be truthful to yield the most accurate results.

Immediately after you complete the assessment, you’ll receive a detailed report. Look specifically for the motivation called “Depth.” 

If “Depth” is represented by a larger bubble and a larger number, that means you possess high attention to detail. But, if it ranks much lower (with a smaller bubble and number), that means you likely prefer the bigger picture.

How to pay attention to detail: 5 tactics to improve this skill

You’ve decided that your attention to detail needs some improvement. Now what? What actionable steps can you take to give this skill a boost?

Here are a few things to try.

1. AI coaching

F4S is an online coaching platform backed by more than two decades of motivation research. Founder and pioneering coach Michelle Duval created our AI-powered Coach Marlee. Duval engaged with industry experts in both coaching and AI technology to develop an authentic and highly-effective coaching experience.¹

2. Work at a slower pace

You treat your workday like a sprint, not a marathon. It’s a frantic scramble to get as much done as humanly possible.

Take a deep breath and slow down. Take frequent breaks if needed. Focus on quality over quantity. Despite accomplishing much, take a moment to consider the quality of your work. 

Time management methods can enhance productivity. One such method is the Pomodoro Technique². It helps you divide your work into manageable time blocks. This results in better task management and improved use of working hours, with closer attention paid to both.

3. Focus on one thing at a time

Are you guilty of having at least five browser tabs open at a time? Do you frequently rip your attention away from the task at hand to check your email or scroll through your phone?

That divided focus is not only sabotaging your productivity. Multitasking reduces productivity and decreases your attention span. In fact, research shows over and over again that switching between tasks can lead to more mistakes.

Challenge yourself to focus on one thing at a time. You’ll have a much easier time noticing the details when your focus isn’t spread so thin.

4. Make templates and lists for yourself

If consistency is a problem for you, templates and checklists can help you take care of the details time and time again.

Have an email you frequently send? Save it as a canned response. Have a task or project you complete on a regular basis? Create a template that has the barebones started, and make a checklist to ensure you handle all of the little elements that are easy to forget.

It’ll involve a little bit of time and energy upfront, but is a super effective way to boost your consistency with details moving forward.

5. Enlist some help

Relying on the advice and feedback of others is a great way to strengthen your eye for details. Especially if you don’t quite trust yourself to spot the finer points yet.

Once you’ve completed something, ask a colleague or friend to review your work.

When they’re done, take some time to look over their feedback and any errors they caught. Those are things you’ll want to keep an eye out for moving forward.

6. Break down larger projects

If you feel overwhelmed, you’re less likely to pay close attention to the details. You feel like you just need to make some progress, and quality takes a backseat.

Prevent this by breaking your bigger projects down into smaller, more manageable chunks. Not only does that make those daunting to-do’s feel more approachable. But it also gives you more regular pauses where you can reassess and refocus on specifics.

Attention to detail interview questions: be prepared to answer these

Potential employers may use the job interview to determine if the detail-oriented skill listed on the resume is real or just hype.

How do they determine whether or not you have high attention to detail? They’ll pay attention to things such as:

• How prepared you are for the interview
• Whether or not you show up on time
• How much detail you provide in your interview answers
• What types of questions you ask at the end of the interview

However, they’ll also use their interview questions to determine whether or not you have an eye for the details. They might ask:

• What systems do you have in place to check your own work
• Tell me about a time when you caught an error or problem
• Tell me about a project you worked on that required a high level of accuracy
• Tell me about the first steps you take when starting a new project

You’ll notice that many of the above are behavioral interview questions—you know, those dreaded ones that start out with, “Tell me about…”

These types of questions are valuable for employers. As they allow them to go beyond generalities and hear about real-life examples when you used a specific skill. So, be prepared to answer them with a detailed anecdote.

The STAR method³ is helpful here, as it walks you through a framework you can use to provide enough information in your response. It stands for:

• Situation: describe the scenario you were in.
• Task: describe the specific role you played in that scenario.
• Action: describe the steps you took.
• Result: describe what you achieved (quantify when you can).

So, imagine that your interviewer just asked you to tell them about a time you caught an error within your company. You could respond with:

• Situation: This happened in my previous job at CompanyXYZ, where I was working as part of the content team.
• Task: I was assigned a project that involved identifying our biggest traffic sources.
• Action: I took a fine-tooth comb to our Google Analytics. I found out that we had been misclassifying all of the traffic that came from our social media advertisements.
• Results: I updated the links so that traffic sources would be clearer. And it allowed us to better tailor our content efforts and boost traffic by another 15%.

Remember, you want to give enough detail to make your answer impactful—but you don’t need to get into so many specifics that the crux of your answer gets lost. The interviewer doesn’t need to know that it was a rainy Tuesday and you had a BLT for lunch that day.

Identify, improve, and harness attention to detail in your job search

Sure, employers are looking for related experience and technical capabilities. But, there’s another thing they’re keeping an eye out for: strong attention to detail.

Fortunately, much like any other skill, this is something you can improve. Use this as your guide to figure out your starting point. Boost your competency, and showcase this important qualification in your job search.

Do that, and your resume will land at the top of the hiring manager’s pile.