Animation precision?

Hello, I am wondering about animation precision. What I mean is, making sure the character model is in the correct position while doing the animation?

Lets say I want to make a climbing ladder animation. Now, how do I make sure the hands on the character go exactly on the bars of the ladder? Because if you get on the ladder a little differently, it could be out of sync and look as though you are grabbing the air in between the bars of the ladder, right?

What is the key, to make sure the animation is correctly placed? Parenting? Moving the player to a close, but predesignated transform, from which the animation was made to start at?

Again, doesn't have to be about a ladder, just after the general principle of getting the specialty animations to work properly.