Gem is an AI-powered recruiting platform that combines ATS, CRM, sourcing, scheduling, and analytics in one space. It aims to simplify hiring workflows and increase recruiter productivity.
While Gem is a powerful solution, some features (like AI-driven screening, filtering, etc.) need improvement. Also, teams with very tight budgets may find it less suitable.
Our research team invested over 40 hours reviewing Gem's platform, features, integrations, and verified user feedback. This detailed gem review will help you decide if it is the right fit for your hiring needs.
Why Trust Our Gem Review?
To keep our Gem review honest, evidence-based, and comprehensive, our team evaluated Gem's features, pricing, integrations and analyzed verified user feedback to deliver a detailed assessment.
Our review methodology includes:
- Official Product Analysis: Examined Gem's AI-first recruiting platform directly from their website and product docs.
- Verified User Reviews: Analyzed patterns from verified reviews on G2, Capterra, and others to identify real-world performance, use cases, and limitations.
- Customer Testimonials: Reviewed authenticated case studies showing measurable outcomes (time-to-fill reduction, cost savings, hiring volume).
- Role-Based Use Cases: Assessed value for recruiters, talent managers, hiring leads, and staffing agencies across sourcing, CRM, analytics, and hiring workflows.
- No Affiliate Bias: This review contains no affiliate links or paid placements influencing our perspective.
Gem Overview
Gem addresses the problem of recruitment tool sprawl. Instead of juggling LinkedIn Recruiter, a separate ATS, email tracking, and analytics dashboards, Gem brings these functions together in one interface.
The platform offers recruitment automation, candidate relationship management, full-funnel analytics, and works with existing ATS systems like Greenhouse and Workday.
However, teams that rely on advanced application screening or performance validation should check if Gem's newer ATS module fits their needs.
Gem Key Features
Here are the 10 primary features that define Gem:
- All-in-One ATS and CRM: Merges job postings, application tracking, candidate pipelines, and relationship management into one workspace. This reduces reliance on multiple separate systems.
- AI-Powered Sourcing: Tap into a large talent database with LLM-powered semantic search. Recruiters can query using plain English, like “find senior engineers with Python experience in the Northeast,” avoiding complex Boolean syntax.
- Automated Email, SMS, and InMail Sequences: Set up personalised outreach campaigns easily with template automation and follow-up rules. This enhances candidate engagement without manual copy-pasting.
- Interview Scheduling: Features automated calendar integration and candidate coordination, cutting down scheduling hassles and speeding up bookings compared to manual methods.
- Full-Funnel Recruiting Analytics: Offers customizable dashboards that monitor hiring metrics, pipeline status, time-to-hire, cost-per-hire, and forecasting. Visual reports replace complicated spreadsheets.
- Internal Candidate Rediscovery: Highlight past applicants and internal talent from your database who are now fit for new roles. This lowers the cold-sourcing burden and reduces time-to-fill.
- Seamless ATS Integrations: Compatible with Greenhouse, Workday, SuccessFactors, Lever, and more than 10 other systems. Gem serves as a CRM layer above your existing ATS, preventing data silos.
- Security and Compliance: Adheres to SOC 2 compliance, aligns with GDPR, and provides SSO and local data retention. This is crucial for organisations with strict security needs and multi-location hiring.
- Mobile-Friendly Career Pages and Landing Pages (Optional Add-on): Design branded employer pages, event pages, and lead capture forms. These enhance employer branding and support candidate nurturing campaigns.
- AI-Assisted Application Review: Utilises AI for ranking and matching during initial application screening. Users suggest this feature needs improvement compared to sourcing capabilities.
Gem Pricing
Pros and Cons of Gem
Based on our research, here are the standout benefits of Gem:
- Faster Sourcing: Users report faster candidate discovery and outreach thanks to Gem’s profile index and one-click adding from LinkedIn.
- Strong Outreach: Recruiters praise its sequencing features for scaling personalized email campaigns without losing context.
- Clear collaboration: Notes, tags, and activity tracking help teams stay aligned, especially when multiple recruiters or coordinators are working on the same roles.
- Useful analytics: Talent leaders value Gem’s dashboards for identifying funnel drop-offs and reporting recruitment performance to leadership.
- Reliable integrations: Users highlight smooth integrations with popular ATS platforms, reducing duplicate work and keeping candidate data in sync.
While Gem is widely used, users pointed out several limitations that you should consider:
- Limited Exports: Users want more flexibility in exporting reports and building custom analytics outside the platform.
- Missing Contacts: Sourcers note that verified emails are sometimes unavailable for early-career or niche candidates, requiring manual LinkedIn outreach.
- Agency Sharing Gaps: Staffing teams want simpler ways to share candidate shortlists and activity with external clients
- Setup Effort: Enterprise users mention that implementation and configuration can take time, especially with complex ATS environments.
- Feature Depth Limits: A few reviewers point out gaps in niche workflows or advanced customization compared to highly specialized tools.
How Can Integrating Skima AI Handle Gem Limitations?
Skima AI adds an explainable layer for Gem, addressing gaps in screening, matching, and talent rediscovery.
When integrated with Gem via REST APIs or prebuilt connectors, Skima AI layers explainable AI candidate matching, advanced resume parsing, and talent rediscovery onto Gem's sourcing and CRM workflows.
Hiring teams gain enterprise-grade candidate intelligence without replacing Gem or forcing a platform migration.
Benefits for Hiring Teams:
- Explainable Match Scores: Skima AI outputs resume-based evidence for why a candidate matches, reducing blind reliance on black-box scores.
- No Auto-reject Policy: Skima AI suggests matches but keeps humans in the loop, which helps to avoid false negatives from automated filters.
- Audit Trail & HM Tracking: All hiring manager decisions, notes, and shortlist actions are recorded back into Gem, improving compliance and reporting.
- Improved Resume Parsing & Normalization: Skima AI extracts 200+ data points and normalizes resumes, which helps Gem’s analytics and reporting be more reliable across messy inputs.
- Role-based Sharing & Redaction: Secure shortlist links and redaction modes allow agencies or enterprises to share candidate data while respecting privacy and compliance.
Who Should Consider Gem?
Gem is ideal for:
- Mid-market to enterprise TA teams need security, analytics, and unified sourcing or outreach.
- High-volume sourcers and staffing firms that benefit from features like send-on-behalf, client workflows, and talent pools.
- Companies looking to centralise tools (sourcing, CRM, and analytics) to reduce tool sprawl.
Who Should Avoid Gem?
Avoid Gem if you are:
- A very small startup on a tight budget that needs clear, low-cost pricing. Gem is sales-led and tailored.
- A team needs a simple ATS solution. If you only want basic ATS features without sourcing or analytics, Gem may be too much.
- An organisation requiring straightforward public pricing or self-serve purchase options. Gem’s model needs sales engagement.
Final Verdict - Is Gem Right for You?
As this Gem review found, it is a user-friendly recruiting platform that simplifies sourcing, CRM, and outreach tasks. It excels in ease of use, email automation, and transparent pricing, making it suitable for mid-market and scaling companies.
However, it's not a complete replacement for mature ATS platforms, and its AI features need improvement. Gem helps recruiters work faster through automation and data consolidation.
For startups and mid-market companies, Gem is worth considering. For enterprises, it works best as a CRM and sourcing layer on top of an existing ATS. Integrating Skima AI with Gem solves its largest blind spot - intelligent candidate screening and matching. This combination transforms Gem into an end-to-end intelligent recruiting solution.
Gem Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is Gem?
Gem is an AI-first recruiting platform that combines sourcing, outreach, CRM, and analytics to help talent teams find, engage, and track candidates at scale. It focuses on pipeline management, automated sequences, and hiring metrics.
2. Is Gem legit?
Yes. Gem is a reputable recruiting platform used by startups and enterprises. Verified user reviews praise its sourcing and analytics capabilities, while enterprise security features and integrations support compliance and scale.
3. How much does Gem cost?
Gem uses custom pricing tailored to company size, seat counts, and feature bundles. Public list prices aren’t posted; contact Gem’s sales team for a quote, implementation options, and any usage or sourcing credit details.
4. What integrations does Gem offer?
Gem integrates with major ATS and HR systems like Greenhouse, Lever, Workday, and common calendar and email providers. Integrations sync candidate data, reduce manual entry, and preserve workflows between sourcing and hiring systems.
5. Can Gem integrate with Skima AI?
Yes, Skima AI can integrate with Gem through APIs or connector partnerships to surface best matching candidates and explainable match scores within Gem workflows. This brings clearer screening evidence and smoother shortlist handoffs.
6. How does Skima AI improve Gem’s screening?
Skima AI extracts 200+ resume fields, normalizes skills and experience, and provides transparent match reasons. When paired with Gem, it reduces false negatives, speeds screening, and creates auditable candidate decisions for recruiters and hiring managers.
