Importance of details (by a detail-oriented person)

Maybe the most recurrent feedback I received in the beginning of my career was about being too detail-oriented. My then manager once enlightened me on this topic: "imagine developing an application, if you take too long trying to make it perfect, you might lose time and market share. Then all your work will worth nothing as your competitor took over the market". There is a great amount of truth in this statement, and don't get me wrong, I've been working on my perfectionism ever since to make sure doesn't become a blocker in my life and career. However, as I get older (getting close to my 30s, so in addition to back pain, I also feel wiser), I started to appreciate my main traits by their positives and not focus only on their negative impact.

The extremes are always bad, right? So the negative aspect of being too detail-oriented is hopefully clear to everyone: we lose time, and in an agile world that's a big deal. Now about the positive part, the importance of details. In my area, recruitment, we are in the age of "candidate experience", and I have come to learn that candidate experience is all about the details.

A couple of months ago a superstar candidate applied to one of our open roles. She was referred by an employee, which already set the bar high considering the employee experience she heard from. As I had the first call with this candidate, as I do with all of them, I shared as much as I knew (and was allowed to) about the opportunity, the project, the team setup, the company culture, and so on. The questions I could not answer, I asked the hiring manager and replied by email after the call.

Soon after, the hiring manager interviewed this candidate, which was then followed by a panel interview. The feedbacks from all interviewers were as good as possible: "incredibly impressive", one of them said. Then we move to offer stage: I presented the offer, shared the amazing feedback she got from all interviewers, made myself available to questions, exchanged multiple emails (replying as quickly as possible) providing additional information. This hiring was for a country I'm not an expert on, so I contacted multiple colleagues to learn what was needed and answer all possible doubts. Finally: she accepted our offer!

What a great feeling, closing a superstar candidate! And only now we are getting to the best part of this story: a few days after accepting our offer she reached out to me: “my experience during this process was so amazing, that I would like to refer a friend for another role you mentioned” - remember I shared everything I could during the first call? Including the team set up and the other open positions? – so here you have a detail that made all the difference already…

The outcome was: a second superstar candidate! As you already imagine, the whole process I briefly described above took place again: first call with me, all interview stages, emails to answer questions, and finally: the offer. The way our second superstar candidate replied our offer was different though, and here you might see what I mean about candidate experience. She had a day off when I presented her the offer, so she went for a bike ride and visited our company's office. The email accepting the offer had a picture of her in front of the office, saying she had a great experience during the process and that she couldn’t wait to join us.

You might be a recruiting expert or not, but let me tell you: there is nothing special about these selection processes I just described. We did not have a helicopter flying any of them to the office for face-to-face interviews, and we also didn’t send a fruit basket to any of their homes accompanied by the offer letter. The only thing we did was provide a "common process" in very consistent manner, with attention to details, and that's all. The combination of all details made the experience great, for instance: interviewers well-prepared and on time, proactive information shared, all questions clarified in a timely manner, continues and clear communication during the whole process.

In case you still don't see what I mean, let me tell you about a time when I was the candidate. A few years ago, I went through an interview process myself. The set up was great, the recruiter was nice and always available, interviewers provided great insights and information about the role, I felt challenged during the business case I had to present. And still, there was one thing I could not get over: the fact that the hiring manager was looking at her phone most of the time when interviewing me. I'm not saying I didn't accept that position because of that, but I must say, I could not stop imagining myself having a 1x1s meeting with my future manager and not having her full attention during just 30 minutes once a month or so.

This is what I mean about the importance of details. You can control what you are saying or doing, but you can't control what people are going to interpret from that. When we are detail-oriented, we are somehow considering these variables more than other people, and ultimately, providing a better experience.

So for all the other detail-oriented people out there: for a few moments allow yourself to look only at the brightside of this trait of yours. I'm sure if you oversaw this selection process I was interviewed, my experience would have been much different. I'm also sure that your career will be filled of opportunities to hire superstar candidates, or whatever success means in your occupation.