Emily Gordon Named to the Talent 100

We are proud to announce that Emily Gordon has been named to the Talent 100, Class of 2026, an annual recognition honoring exceptional leaders and practitioners shaping the future of talent acquisition and recruiting.

Emily brings nearly three decades of recruiting experience to the recognition, with a career spanning agency recruiting, process improvement, recruitment process outsourcing, global account leadership, and the development of talent organizations serving some of the most challenging hiring markets in the country.

Her career began in Los Angeles in the late 1990s, recruiting technology professionals in an environment built around phone banks, paper resumes, and constant relationship building. What drew Emily to the profession then remains central to how she approaches it today: the opportunity to help people make meaningful human connections.

Over the years, Emily expanded her expertise across nearly every facet of recruitment process outsourcing. Her work has included Six Sigma process improvement, offshore sourcing operations, RPO implementation, sourcing, and the leadership of global client accounts.

More recently, Emily built a talent organization from the ground up focused on recruiting skilled trades across transportation, construction, and agriculture. These are some of the most difficult talent markets in the country, requiring teams to operate at significant scale while maintaining the personal connection that is essential to successful recruiting.

That balance between scale and human connection has become a defining part of Emily’s leadership.

Her team handles thousands of calls each week, much of it in a virtual environment. Emily has focused heavily on ensuring that technology does not come at the expense of recruiter development. She uses technology to identify conversations that create valuable coaching opportunities, helping managers provide more targeted feedback and helping recruiters continually improve their craft.

Emily brings the same pragmatic perspective to artificial intelligence.

She believes talent leaders should actively experiment with AI rather than forming opinions about it from a distance. At the same time, she is clear that AI should remain a tool that strengthens recruiters rather than a replacement for human judgment.

Her team uses AI to reduce repetitive administrative work, capture information more efficiently, surface opportunities for recruiter coaching, and support recruiters as they work through complex problems.

Emily has also seen firsthand that AI adoption cannot be approached the same way for every candidate population. In transportation recruiting, AI enabled calling can be particularly effective because truck drivers often want to engage when their schedules allow rather than during traditional business hours. Other skilled talent populations can respond differently.

For Emily, the lesson is simple: understand the person first, then determine which technology best supports the interaction.

She is equally thoughtful about where AI should not take control. Emily believes human judgment remains essential when evaluating talent, particularly because great recruiters often build relationships with candidates who may not fit the opportunity available today but could be right for one in the future.

That perspective also informs her work with the Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association, where she contributes to conversations around AI governance and how recruiting organizations can establish thoughtful guardrails for the technology.

Throughout her career, Emily has remained focused on a principle that predates any technology transformation in recruiting: never forget why you do the work.

Efficiency, productivity, and cost per hire all matter, but Emily believes strong business outcomes ultimately follow great recruiting. Talent teams should use technology and resources to become better at their craft and create stronger human connections rather than allowing efficiency itself to become the objective.

Her recognition as a Talent 100 honoree reflects the experience, curiosity, leadership, and commitment to people she has brought to the recruiting profession for nearly 30 years.

Emily joins a distinguished community of talent leaders recognized for their impact on their organizations and their influence on the future of how companies attract and hire talent.

Read Emily’s full Talent 100 honoree profile to learn more about her career, leadership philosophy, and perspective on the future of recruiting.