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2023 (3)-1

The Campus Recruiting Choice Awards put the power in your hands: Nominate the leaders and professionals who are changing how the industry recruits the next generation of talent.

Submit a Nomination

NOMINATION DEADLINE: MAY 16

Bridging the Great Disconnect: Honoring the Leaders and Ideas Shaping the Future of Gen Z Recruitment

The disconnect between Gen Z talent and traditional recruiting approaches has never been more evident. While students search online for transparency, personalization, and speed, many recruiting teams are navigating in-person recruitment, bandwidth limitations, and shifting company priorities.

Yet across the industry, standout individuals are rising to the challenge—reimagining how their companies connect with the next generation, advocating for early career hiring, and transforming the candidate experience from the inside out.

That’s what the 5th Annual Campus Recruiting Choice Awards are all about: celebrating the professionals – and their big ideas – that are actively closing the gap between what Gen Z wants and what companies deliver.

And the best part? You help decide who gets recognized and which ideas will lay the foundation for the future of campus recruitment.

🏆 How It Works

Each year, RippleMatch invites our community to nominate and vote for the recruiters, managers, and leaders who are solving the Great Disconnect. From navigating internal roadblocks to driving innovation on the ground, these individuals are shaping the future of talent—one candidate experience at a time.

Once the nomination period ends, RippleMatch will announce the official list of Nominees. From there, the final winners of each award will be determined by open community voting.

🙌 Learn more about the categories below, and submit your nomination or idea here! 👈

🏅 Award Categories

💼 Exceptional Leader Award: This award honors senior leaders (directors or above) who are championing the future of early career hiring within their organizations. These individuals are making the case for investing in Gen Z talent, guiding their teams through transformation, and aligning leadership around the importance of connecting with the next generation. They are bold advocates for candidate experience, early talent strategy, and using innovative approaches to close the gap between what Gen Z candidates expect and how companies show up. (This award is for individuals who have a director-level title or higher and lead managers and individual contributors).

🌱 Career Catalyst Award: Career Catalysts are team managers who are helping their organizations better engage Gen Z talent—while also developing the next generation of recruiting professionals. These awardees drive meaningful change on the ground through empathetic leadership, strategic program design, and a deep commitment to helping both candidates and recruiters grow. Their work is shaping more intentional, human-first early career experiences that resonate with today’s students. (This award is for individuals who manage a team, mainly of individual contributors).

💡 Talent Innovator Award: Talent Innovators are experienced early career professionals who are reimagining how companies connect with Gen Z talent. They challenge traditional thinking by introducing new strategies, platforms, and touchpoints to meet students where they’re at. Whether through technology, storytelling, or community-building, they’re closing the gap between how recruiting has always been done—and how it needs to evolve. (This award is for individual contributors with 5 years of work experience or more).

🌟 Rising Star Award: Rising Stars are early-career recruitment professionals who are already driving impact and pushing the industry forward. With fresh perspectives and a finger on the pulse of Gen Z, they’re helping their teams better understand and engage today’s candidates. Whether through standout events, stronger messaging, or elevating candidate experience, these individuals are shaping the future of recruitment from day one. (This award is for individual contributors with 4 years of work experience or less).

A Special Award for the 5th Annual Campus Recruiting Choice Awards

🚀 The Pathfinder Award: The Pathfinder Award recognizes strategic initiatives to help Gen Z candidates discover opportunities they might not otherwise find—and might not realize they’re qualified for. These initiatives bridge the gap between students and overlooked roles and industries, or nontraditional career paths through creative concepts designed to increase visibility, access, and engagement. From innovative event formats to storytelling campaigns and peer ambassador programs, Pathfinders are finding new ways to illuminate career possibilities for the next generation. (This is a special award for individuals nominated for a CRCA. It is something they were part of – either as a team member or team leader. This award will not be a part of the voting process, but will be selected based on an application.)

FAQ

RippleMatch established the Campus Recruiting Choice Awards to recognize the individuals that are integral to the space of university recruitment. While teams and companies often get recognition, it isn't often an individual gets the chance to share their proudest accomplishments with their wider network. We rely on peer nominations to form our list of nominees, so your nomination is essential to helping your contact get recognized!

If you'd like your nomination to be shared with the individual you nominated, you can include your information in the nomination form! This will allow us to ensure the nominee knows all of the great things you had to say about them when nominating them!

The four primary award categories established are intended to help us recognize leaders, managers, individual contributors, and folks just starting their careers. If you aren't sure, please make your best selection when submitting a nominee's information.

For RippleMatch's 5th Annual Campus Recruiting Choice Awards, we are excited to add a special 5th category: The Pathfinder Award! This category is open to individuals who are nominated for a CRCA to share how they help Gen Z candidates navigate their careers and discover opportunities and career paths. The winning submission will not be selected through public voting, but through the strength of the application.

Any talent professional who is involved in recruitment is eligible to be nominated! There are multiple categories they can be placed in if selected as a nominee, so you can nominate anyone from a Head of Talent Acquisition to a University Recruitment Manager to a campus recruiter, for example.

No, there is no cost associated with nominating someone for the Campus Recruiting Choice Awards, and there is no cost if someone participates as a Nominee! There will also be no cost to access any associated branding materials to participate in the Campus Recruiting Choice Awards.

You can nominate as many people as you feel are deserving of a being a Nominee for the Campus Recruiting Choice Awards! However, please start a new submission for every person you would like to nominate.

We will notify all potential nominees in late April and May. To ensure they do not miss this notification email, individuals should whitelist all communications from 'awards@ripplematch.com' and ensure the point-of-contact email included in the nomination form is accurate.

Some security systems block the application technology embedded in this web page. If you are having trouble completing the nomination form, please email awards@ripplematch.com and we will provide you with a document to fill out and email back.

For any questions and inquiries, email awards@ripplematch.com

Winners will receive a gift card and recognition as a winner of their Campus Recruiting Choice Award category!