“I believe that people make their own luck by great preparation and good strategy.” Jack Canfield

If you’ve been asked to attend a job interview now is not the time to start daydreaming about what that new job will be like. An interview is a sales pitch and you need to prepare in similar fashion.

No one would leave a sales pitch to chance. So don’t make the same mistake that 90% of people of do and try to ‘wing’ a job interview. People prepare for sales pitches carefully because they know that that gives them a much better chance. Take the same approach with your next job interview.

As the interview preparation infographic from Acuity Training below shows less than 10% of people attending an interview bother to spend 2 hours preparing for an upcoming job interview. Given the impact that a new job can have it seems amazing that people won’t give up two lunch breaks to get themselves properly prepared.

To be sure that you don’t make the same mistake follow the five key steps laid out below. In particular, do your research and have some good questions to ask your interviewer. A few well-thought out questions can really make you stand out from your competition and demonstrate a real tangible interest in the position. They also serve to get your interviewer talking for a bit which can give you with a nice break from doing all the talking.