My 2012 predictions!!

The last few years have been chaos for everyone and listening to the predictions for 2012 the economy is not exactly planning on bouncing back. So what do I think 2012 will bring us in the world of talent technology?

Social, mobile, acquisitions blah blah blah. We all know that stuff will be on the agenda but I think 2012 is more about the year of the people.

G4S will lose their exclusivity

We will see a few more organisations go down the same route as G4S with their talent community. Colin Minto has clearly had some great results from implementing Tribepad and there will be a few jealous eyes wanting a bit of the same. I expect a few deals for Tribepad in the first 6 months of 2012 because even in a poor economy, the best people will still need to be coaxed out of their existing job into a new one.

Disclaimer: This is purely my prediction and is not based on any inside information.

Employee spring rising

I'm not talking about strikes but employees pushing back on the crazy workloads and chaos and saying to the top "Fix things or go." Once the first one happens then we will see a few more. Of course, it's going to be mobile and social that enables this kind of employee collaboration but it will be for the good of the company that such revolts will take place.

A job board will shock me

There are some very smart people in the job board sector and there is no way they will be sitting back thinking they can carry on as is particularly when Linkedin have openly stated they aim to replace the CV! Someone in the sector will do something unexpected. Don't know what it is, but I can feel it in my bones!

Focus

There will be a move towards being on fewer social networks and having far fewer friends and followers. The noise levels are killing so many of us so the only option is to leave the party. People will brag about how few followers they have rather than how many. Friends will be "real" friends rather than just lists of unknown names, faces, tweets and updates.

Life is hard enough at work so time becomes a luxury. Who really wants to be tweeting away at midnight with people they don't really know!?! Good bye #early/lateshift and hello #meshift.

Internal will impact external

As more organisations start to implement internal social tools we will start to see a decline in volumes on external sites such as Twitter and Linkedin. It will start slowly but as people realise that the people they really need to connect with are on their own network, they will have less need to seek outside influences. 

External content will still be important but this will be consumed via feeds rather than going "outside" so content providers will look to monetise what they offer if they can.

Recruitment agencies will die

What set of predictions could not include this one? Secretly, I think may survive another year but the end is nigh ;-)