If you feel that the interview went well but the interviewer seems undecided, an assertive approach may be called for. Consider these two techniques.

• Make an offer to start on a trial basis. Offering to come to work on a trial basis before you have been officially offered the job may sound risky, but if you're currently unemployed and have done a good job at the interview, the gambit can pay off. What you should do, basically, is come right out and say that, from the way the interview has gone, there seems to be a good fit between what the company is looking for and what you can offer. You then suggest that the best plan may be for you to start out on a trial basis — to come in for a week or so to show what you can do.

The interviewer may not take you up on your offer or may ask for some time to think about it. Either way, don't press. Keep in mind, too, that if your offer is rejected, it doesn't mean that you're out of the running or that you failed miserably at the interview. It simply means that the interviewer doesn't want to commit just yet. Meanwhile, you haven't lost anything by being assertive.

• Suggest a deadline. This strategy can be a little risky as well, but the risk is sometimes worth it. You ask the interviewer when he or she expects to make a final decision. If you phrase the request diplomatically ("I'd love to get the final word from you by July 8. Is that possible?"), it won't sound like an ultimatum. You don't have to give a reason for wanting to hear by a certain date, and you can always retreat from that deadline. What you're trying to do here is to plant the seed that the interviewer may not be able to take you for granted.