Talent not found

In a café in Mexico City, two friends are chatting. María complains about her son because he has done nothing with his life, and she fears he might become one of those people who live with their parents and have no job.

“Seriously, Lucía, I have tried everything,” says María while sipping her coffee.
“I think I have just what your son needs. I just got the contact of a firm that handles these types of cases.” She pulls out a card from her bag. “Look, here it is.”

Talent Search Agency
applications@jobs.dubyte.com

That afternoon, she decides to contact the agency and make an appointment. At night, she dreams that she is older and goes to wake up her son to tell him that dinner is ready. She wakes up but doesn’t remember dreaming, and tells herself, “It’s good that I already have an appointment.” And goes back to sleep.

“Good morning, Mrs. María, I hope you are well. I see that you didn’t bring your son. I am Juan García, at your service.”

“Hello, Mr. García, that’s right, I decided to come alone to understand how this service works before consulting with my family. I asked my son to sign the consent to disclosure personal information, and I also brought the printed sheet of the emoji he selected from the app you mentioned in the email.”

“Ok, first of all, I am obligated to tell you that I have to use your son’s personal data to input them into our talent search app. Let’s input your son’s data and see what the app tells us. Is that ok?”
“Ok, go ahead,” replied María.

“Here are the results, and everything matches, talent not found or, in other words, for the current job market, your son’s talent is not required.”

Mrs. María’s face turned red. “You have made me waste my time and feel bad. Is this some kind of bad joke? I didn’t need an emoji for something I already knew.”

“Mrs. María, calm down, that’s not bad, it means you did well in contacting us. Let me explain how our department works. We use the app to know what talents your son has and compare them with the talents demanded by companies worldwide. Although indeed nothing was found, the app extends the search to the past and the future. There are matches, for which your son could use some of his talents.”

María is already getting up from the chair. “That’s ridiculous, is this some kind of hidden camera show?”

“You see, the company I work for –the company is not registered yet– is dedicated to the exploitation and use of time travel. And so please don’t leave until I have finished explaining, take this post-dated check corresponding to your son’s first salary.”

Mrs. María took the check, surprised by the amount, and sat back down.

“As I was saying, we are a department that locates talents through time and space. Have you ever wondered why some people find their vocation at first try but others don’t? For example, you are a software developer and, as you mentioned in the email, you are very happy in your position and had no trouble finding your job. But what would have happened if you had talents for programming but were born in the Middle Ages? It’s just an example, please don’t protest for using Eurocentrism, which should already be discarded by this time. Although it’s true that we could adjust our talents to the needs of present time, there are other limitations.”

“But how do you expect me to believe that you have a time machine? How much would your services cost? Does that mean my son has to move there?” Mrs. María asked, puzzled.

“That’s an interesting question. How much will it cost you? Absolutely nothing. You see, in the results, we have the positions your son could work in, two matches in the past and five in the future, it’s just a matter of him deciding. Now, as for whether your son has to travel to work, yes, he does, but only during working hours. Have you ever had a coworker who couldn’t be located outside of work or always made excuses not to go out with colleagues after work? Well, they could be one of ours. Your son will come to work in those offices, and we will transfer him with our ‘shuttle’ at no cost to him. For dinner time, he could come to greet you.”

“Another free thing, but how do you make money? This must be a scam, nothing is free, you know?”

“We are transparent in the way we make money, let me continue. Your son will receive a salary in the past or in the future, and we will give him a fair and very competitive salary in the present, converting the money and adjusting it to the current inflation. And we can do that because one of our branches will take his salary in the

past and invest it, and from the profits, we will pay him in the present, charging an operation cost. If your son worked in the future, our department, the one you are in right now, will be the one to invest, and so from the profit, we also pay him in the present.”

“I still can’t make sense of it. Why would you do so much work? Searching for talents and sending people in time, when you could do without us and make the investments without needing us.”

“I understand your doubt, but in the future, the exploitation of time travel is regulated by the government, and doing that would be pure capitalism! Which is prohibited in the future. For the exploitation of the ‘Shuttle,’ there must be a human component that is of social benefit. Also, the investment money cannot come from us but from the employer.”

“And what if my son wants to study instead of working with your app, could he do something, right? Tell us what he can study, and maybe that changes his vocation.”

“Yes, the ‘app’ also yields results about that, the career where your son could shine is unfortunately out of reach, it’s in 2078, and that would be with another department. We could ask for a loan.”

“First of all, Mrs. María, student loans were banned in 2048, and second, the amount to be paid would be exorbitant, considering the inflation.”

“And what happens if, intentionally or not, my son takes advantage of the ‘shuttle’ situation in addition to receiving a salary?”

“Don’t worry, all of that will be mentioned in the orientation session, where those situations are explained including what the time police considers a crime.”

“I still don’t know, I think I should consult with my husband and let my son decide. Well, thank you very much for your check, I will let you know what we decide.”

“Very well, we are going to be here waiting for you, available whenever you wish.”

María leaves the place, and a secretary enters. “Do you think they will come back?”

“Yes, of course, they will come back.” He shows her the document that came out of the app, in it, an older man at a last day of work party, smiling with his wife and children can be seen.

Later, both are closing the office, and you can see that with a remote control, the office sign is turned on.

“Department of Temporal Relocation for Misfits”