Got rejected after an interview, but now been offered a chance at another role?

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, but are willing to speak to me about the role next week. Is this normal for them to say this and is it worth pursuing?

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, but are willing to speak to me about the role next week. Is this normal for them to say this and is it worth pursuing?