re: Anyone ever interview for a job you didn't know you weren't qualified for?

I applied for an engineering position in a location that I needed to be due to my wife and her graduate school requirements. I got the interview and it became clear immediately that they were looking more for a mechanical engineer. My background lends toward environmental engineering. Their job posting was very very vague and admittedly I was applying to anything in the area that I thought I could talk my way into.

About five minutes into the interview with the director and manager of engineering, I explained that I could definitely learn what they needed me to know, but I had researched a ton about their environmental challenges and offered some ideas on how I could be valuable to them in that capacity.

They stopped the interview and invited the environmental manager to join us. After discussing environmental issues and operations, they thanked me and I thanked them. I got an offer for a position they created for me three days later.