The week following the application deadline in June 2022, I received the interview call. The interview was scheduled to be done in person, so I had to travel to the city. Head of the department and main supervisor led the interview. It started with an introduction to their department, research, and the project and continued with easy, typical PhD interview questions, no challenging questions. It lasted almost 40- 45 minutes. Apparently the final decision was supposed to be made by the main supervisor, who frequently and obviously looked at the time!! They politely accompanied me along the department corridor and nicely wished me a good stay. Everything seemed just a formality, while I assumed that they were genuinely interested in my CV and background for the position. When they announced the name of the successful applicant, the person was as the same nationality as the main supervisor!!! Perhaps a pre-selected, successful applicant!! It is OK (and unfortunately very common) when the recruiters already have someone in their minds, but why do they waste and disrespect other applicants' time and efforts just to pave the administrative path for their pre-selected/ internal candidates?! And then there is no need to advertise the position internationally, review, interview invitation, and no extra efforts for a decision, just promise the successful candidate the position and that's it!