I've had a similar experience. I've found out, though, it isn't really what you say, it is how you say it. Be assertive without sounding arrogant and pushy.

I've had a similar experience. I've found out, though, it isn't really what you say, it is how you say it. Be assertive without sounding arrogant and pushy. If you go in to an interview and pretend you are a consultant selling your services, and not someone who is desperate for a job, then chances are better you will get an offer. Now part of this is reading body language, to see if what you are saying is triggering a happy emotion in the person interviewing you. For example, in my current position, it was apparent that things were in chaos. I started mentioning some automation tricks, and that lead into a strong emphasis on repeatable processes. Turns out, that was the key phrase that got me hired -- I found a dozen ways of giving the same message of automation, repeatability, and trackability. In a previous position, I had sold the hiring manager on a design for a web based user account automation system (kind of accidentally). Turns out that was their biggest pain point at the moment, handling a huge stack of account request forms. So either I was very insightful during the interview process, or extremely lucky. Or, I happened to take my vitamins that morning.