Harish, a talent acquisition (TA) leader of a large organisation, was faced with the inevitable situation of downsizing the workforce during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Like most businesses, his organisation’s projects were impacted, and teams had to be optimised. There was no hiring addition for several months, and TA teams were at the bottom of organisations’ capacity planning. The situation persisted until October 2020, and then Harish once again was faced with a difficult situation. However, this time, he had to hire 200 people to upsize teams owing to the sudden influx of projects. Managing the demand single-handedly was taxing for him.