Got rejected after an interview, but they've offered me a chance at another role?

[Fazersa]

For context, I have been unemployed since June due to redundancy from a business analyst role that I was in for 5 years.

I had an interview this week at my local police station for an secondment applications engineer role 16 month contract. They got back in touch with me today and said that I may not have the exact skills to get me up and running quickly for this role as it covers a wide range of services, HOWEVER they told me about an upcoming role in the same team which they feel my skills are more aligned with. The role is similar but it is a longer contract so there is more time to learn on the job and it covers less wide projects.

They have said that I will need to go through the application and interview process again, Is this normal for them to say and is it worth pursuing?

Definitely worth pursuing, they clearly see your potential. Good luck

Absolutely. Pursuing this doesn't mean you have to abandon any other irons you may have in the fire. You've won half the battle already since they obviously liked you as a potential employee.

Yes go for it!

Yes, completely normal for you to have to go through the process again. They need to give every candidate exactly the same opportunity and scoring of applications and interviews, this aims to to negate any favouritism or 'jobs for the boys' assumptions.

Definitely go for it, they wouldn't have suggested you do if you weren't in with a decent chance of being successful

Yes go for it!

And by that I don't mean it's in the bag, but clearly they saw something in the first interviews that they felt fit, so a big hurdle has already been jumped.

Bank of England did similar to me (l had to interview again but not apply). I didn't get it and I'm almost certain they just used me against an internal candidate. I was furious to be honest. Wasting my time when it was hard to get out of the office.

Apply if you're interested but make no assumptions about the outcome.

I've literally just hired someone we did this with. Interviewed, great fit for the organisation, lovely person, really passionate. Just didn't have the requisite skills/education for the previous role. We told them to keep applying and a perfect role came up.

Now, bear in mind that often you don't lose roles, someone else gains them. There could be a better fit they interview for the other role as well so don't rely on it.

Can I ask why you think it WOULDN'T be worth pursuing??? 🤔

Just trying to work out your logic here? Do you think they are mentioning the other role just for the fun of it? You clearly DO have the skills and they can see that! Go for it. IF you don't get the job, its extra interview experience. If you do, then congrats.

I'm almost certain they just used me against an internal candidate.

Why? Just curious because we never do this.

Yes yes yes

Definitely pursue it. DH was interviewed twice at his current place before the job he eventually got came up. They liked him and he liked them but the jobs weren't quite the right fit. He's been there over 10 years now and progressed well.

This happened to me, I did apply for the other role and was successful at interview. Re applying was a great decision for me as within a year I was asked to apply to a higher band role, which I also got!