Interview was just to meet a quota. Outcome was already decided. When I had my initial phone screening with HR, they said the next steps were (a) phone screening with hiring team, and (b) four finalists would be selected to interview on-site. I lacked a couple of items in the job spec but applied because I had most. When I was advanced in the process, I thought I'd found an open-minded employer, but would discover otherwise later. The hiring team consisted of three people. At the interview, the direct manager asked if I'd worked in the travel industry before even though he already knew I hadn't (it was mentioned in my phone screening with him). Then he said it would take me 6 months to familiarize myself with the data they use. (I had many years' experience working with data and didn't believe that.) He phrased it as though he were explaining the job to me, but I realized later what he was really doing. He had a candidate with prior experience he wanted to hire, and he was lobbying against me in front of his boss. Two days later, I got an automated rejection email and realized that I'd been played. The direct manager cherry picked the competition to give an advantage to a friend he was always planning to hire. (That explains the guilty expression on his face throughout the interview.) This company gave me an Excel assignment to do before the interview, and it took me a couple of hours. It’s unfair to put a person through all that effort and stress when the interview is just for show.