Disappointing interview experience - L&D Advisor Rio Tinto Employee Review

I cleared all the interview rounds for a Learning & Development position at Rio Tinto. Right from the beginning, I had clearly communicated my salary expectations to the HR, and they seemed comfortable with it at the time. However, after I had already invested around 10 hours in preparing the assignment and attending interviews—and spent nearly ₹3,000 on travel—the HR informed me that I was selected, but they wouldn’t be able to meet my expectations. After that conversation, I was ghosted for three weeks. This experience says a lot about how a company values a candidate’s time, effort, and transparency. To add to that, I sensed a lack of warmth from the hiring manager throughout the process. He was entirely focused on work-related questions, showing little interest in getting to know me as a person. It felt like building relationships and understanding people simply wasn’t a priority. An interview is meant to be a two-way street—not just for companies to evaluate candidates, but also for candidates to evaluate the company’s culture, values, and people. If your instincts are telling you something’s off, listen to them. You’re likely to spend one-third of your day in that environment—it’s important that it feels right.