Setting:

Taj Holiday Village, Goa.

9:45 PM.

Post-training free time.

Poolside bar.

Ambient trance music.

Four senior line managers — Raghavan (Bangalore), Mehta (Ahmedabad), Fernandes (Goa), and Prasad (Chennai) — sprawled on deck chairs with Kingfisher Ultras and cashew nuts.

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Scene Opens

Mehta: (laughing loudly)

“Boss, today’s Talent Acquisition presentation felt like a NASA launch briefing.

‘Multi-stage evaluation frameworks,’ ‘skills taxonomies,’ ‘candidate persona pipelines’… In our time, TA meant ‘Call Sharma-ji’s nephew.’”

Everyone bursts into laughter.

Raghavan:

“Arre exactly! In 1998, my entire ‘recruitment department’ in our Pune plant was one clerk named Uday, who was also doing PF forms, typing memos, and printing visiting cards.”

Fernandes:

“Same here yaar. In Goa refinery we used to shortlist candidates by holding their resumes against the sunlight — if you could read it clearly, the paper quality was good and we called them.”

Prasad:

“That’s nothing. In my old textile mill, the interview was basically the plant head asking one question:

‘Beta, will your father allow you night shift?’

If he said yes, hired!”

They all burst out laughing again.

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As the laughter settles… the reflection begins

Mehta (sipping his drink):

“You know… today’s lecture on the three hiring eras actually hit me.

Hiring, Recruitment, Talent Acquisition — we lived all three without even knowing we were shifting eras.”

Raghavan:

“Haan, true. Back then, acceptance of varying abilities was very high.

If a person was willing, hardworking, and could learn the machine — done.

Today’s TA expects people to come with plug-and-play advanced skills.

Poor fellows have to compete with JD’s that ask for 8 years of experience in a 3-year-old technology.”

Fernandes:

“And forget ease of evaluation!

In our time, the entire interview cycle was:

‘Come tomorrow.’

Today:

Round 1 HR → Round 2 Manager → Round 3 Panel → Round 4 Case Study → Round 5 Culture Fit → Round 6 CTC Discussion → Round 7 Sign this 14-page behavior commitment!”

Prasad:

“And after all this, they still say wrong hire.”

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⭐ They drift into deeper reflection — Goa style

Mehta (feet in the pool):

“You remember the old ‘post-purchase disappointment’?

It was simple — if someone didn’t perform, we moved him to stores or documentation.

Today, companies run 90-day improvement plans like we are handling stock-market fraud investigations.”

Raghavan:

“True. Expectations vs delivery gap was a small issue earlier.

Today candidates expect growth, meaning, mentorship, hybrid freedom, mental health support — all legitimate, but damn difficult for line managers who are also targets-driven.”

Fernandes:

“And this new thing — redeployment.

Earlier we just said ‘Nahin ho raha? Chod do.’

Now HR says

‘Coaching, psychometrics, internal mobility, competency mapping.’

Boss… sometimes I feel I need an HR certification just to survive!”

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⭐ The conversation turns warm, nostalgic, human

Prasad:

“You know what I realised today?

TA teams have become strategic because the talent market became brutal.

Earlier, candidates lined up.

Today, companies line up.”

Mehta:

“Correct. And TA’s job is no longer filling chairs — it’s future-proofing the company.

Upskilling.

Succession.

Employer branding.

Internal mobility.

Analyzing every red flag in culture.”

Raghavan:

“And we line managers also became part of the new deal — whether we like it or not.

Talent is now a shared KPI.

We have to be magnets, not gatekeepers.”

They all nod — quietly, but with dignity and acceptance.

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⭐ Ending with Goa-Style Wisdom

Fernandes (raising his glass):

“To all the people we hired without Job Descriptions…”

Prasad:

“To all the people we rejected without interviews…”

Mehta:

“To all the people who survived our confusion…”

Raghavan:

“And to the new world where HR is not paperwork — it’s competitive advantage.”

All four raise their glasses.

A silent moment, waves crashing in the distance.

A soft laugh escapes as they clink the glasses.

Fernandes:

“Tomorrow morning again they will call us for that AI-Talent session.

Let’s finish this beer and sleep.

We have to look intelligent.”

Curtains.