Gem's 2024 Customer Awards

Brandice Payne

Head of Events & Customer Marketing, Gem

Posted on

December 17, 2024

Articles

Celebrating excellence: The 2024 Gem customer awards

At Gem, we believe recruiting is more than just a job—it’s a craft that transforms careers, builds exceptional teams, and shapes the future of work. That’s why the 2024 Gem Customer Awards hold such a special place in our hearts. These awards honor the incredible talent acquisition leaders, recruiters, and teams who are redefining what’s possible in our industry.

This year’s awards were filled with standout achievements and heartfelt stories, and we’re excited to celebrate the entire community that makes talent acquisition extraordinary.

The purpose behind our awards

Talent acquisition often happens behind the scenes, but its impact is felt everywhere. The Gem Customer Awards are our way of shining a spotlight on the people who make it all happen. They’re the innovators, the bridge-builders, and the difference-makers in their organizations.

As one nominee shared:
"Recruiting isn’t just a function—it’s a craft. It’s about creating opportunities and shaping futures."

Through these awards, we honor individual achievements and the collective spirit of a community redefining what’s possible in recruiting.

Who we’re celebrating

This year, the awards recognize accomplishments across various categories, designed to highlight the diverse ways recruiting professionals are making an impact.

Some categories celebrated measurable achievements, like reducing time-to-hire or driving exceptional candidate engagement rates.
Others recognized creativity and innovation—leveraging AI, streamlining workflows, or reimagining recruiting for a tech-forward world.
We even included lighthearted awards to honor the quirks and unique contributions that make talent acquisition fun.

Gem’s hall of fame

These winners exemplify what it means to lead with purpose, passion, and innovation.

Blog - Gem Awards 2024 - HoF

Peer-nominated winners and their stories

One of the most inspiring parts of the awards is hearing directly from peers about why they nominated their colleagues. Here are a few of this year’s peer-nominated winners:

Blog - Gem Customer Awards 2024 - Peer Award

Hear from our winners peers!

The Talent Magnet Award: Swati Arora - Senior Technical Sourcer, Yelp
"Swati stands out for her tenacity and ability to build strong, representative pipelines with impressive response rates. Her work leading hiring in new markets delivered impactful insights that greatly supported Yelp’s Engineering and Product teams." - Ellen Heirbaut Technical Recruiting Manager, Yelp

The Candidate Whisperer Award: Cassie Chao Leemans - VP, Talent, Craft Ventures
"Cassie has contributed to significant growth and stability for early-stage companies in our portfolio by ensuring they have strong leadership teams in place."

The Efficiency MVP Award: Simone Bolton - Recruiting Manager, Custom Ink
"Simone Bolton is a force of nature in talent acquisition, consistently pushing boundaries and exceeding expectations. She embodies the Efficiency MVP Award through her unwavering commitment to optimizing the recruiting process, driving impactful results, and fostering a positive candidate experience." - Aubrey Cirillo Director of TA, Custom Ink

The Team Builder Award: Michelle Spencer - Senior Clinical Talent Acquisition Manager, Octave
"Michelle is truly a guiding light when it comes to team building. Her ability to empower others and lead by example has transformed our team culture." - Ali Cohen Manager, Talent Acquisition, Octave

The Creative Visionary Award: Angela Rowe - Talent Programs & Systems Manager, Humane
"Angela has gone above and beyond to lead us into the future of recruiting; building automations and AI tools to give recruiters and hiring managers time back so they can focus on finding the best candidates for the role."

These stories remind us of the extraordinary impact talent professionals have—not just on their teams, but on the candidates and communities they serve.

Recognizing excellence in sourcing, outreach, and candidate experience

This year’s awards celebrated the art and science of sourcing, outreach, and candidate engagement—critical pillars of successful recruiting.

Blog - Gem Customer Awards 2024 - Customer Data

Sourcing & outreach excellence honoring teams and individuals for standout strategies, including the personalization pro award for the best use of personalized outreach and the follow-up mastery award for the most effective multi-stage email sequences.

Industry-specific excellence recognizing leaders who achieved the highest candidate engagement for engineering roles with the engineering excellence award

Candidate experience celebrating leaders committed to inclusivity and impact, with the diversity champion award for best practices and measurable outcomes in sourcing underrepresented talent.

These stories remind us of the exceptional impact talent professionals have—not just on their teams but also on the candidates and communities they serve.

Looking ahead

As we celebrate the 2024 Gem Customer Awards, we’re reminded of the incredible impact talent acquisition professionals have daily. Their work builds teams and shapes the future of industries worldwide.

As one nominee beautifully put it:
"Recruiting isn’t just about finding talent—it’s about creating opportunities that change lives."

To all the winners, nominees, and the entire Gem community: thank you for inspiring us. We’re excited to share more of your stories in the months ahead and can’t wait to see what we’ll achieve together in the future.

Here’s to another year of pushing boundaries, innovating, and celebrating the power of great recruiting—together.

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