Which firms specialise in the role we are hiring for?
Executive Search by Role: What The Shortlist Report Finds
2 firms lead, appearing in 90.2–90.2% of 235 AI responses. The sample cannot separate them, so we do not pretend it can.
Two firms lead
Korn Ferry and Spencer Stuart come up most often here. They are close enough together that the order between them is not worth reading anything into.
Korn Ferry212 of 235
Conducts CEO, C-suite, board, and leadership assessment searches for large global organizations.
Spencer Stuart212 of 235
Conducts CEO, board, and senior C-suite searches for large enterprises and succession planning.
Based on 235 ChatGPT responses to this question, collected August 11, 2026–October 1, 2026. Firms are counted once per response. How we measure.
The ranking
| Firm | Responses | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 2 firms, 90.2–90.2% | |||
| Korn Ferrykornferry.comConducts CEO, C-suite, board, and leadership assessment searches for large global organizations. | 212 of 235 | 90.2% | |
| Spencer Stuartspencerstuart.comConducts CEO, board, and senior C-suite searches for large enterprises and succession planning. | 212 of 235 | 90.2% | |
| Tier 2 2 firms, 81.7–83.0% | |||
| Heidrick & StrugglesConducts CEO, C-suite, and board searches for large companies and PE-backed organizations. | 195 of 235 | 83.0% | |
| Russell Reynolds Associatesrussellreynolds.coConducts CEO, C-suite, and board searches for large public companies and financial services. | 192 of 235 | 81.7% | |
| Tier 3 stands alone | |||
| Egon Zehnderegonzehnder.comExecutive search for CEO succession, board work, and leadership assessment across global enterprises. | 183 of 235 | 77.9% | |
| Tier 4 2 firms, 43.8–46.8% | |||
| Christian & Timberschristianandtimbers.comSpecializes in CTO, product, and technology leadership searches, having placed 800+ product and technology leaders. | 110 of 235 | 46.8% | |
| Cowen Partnerscowenpartners.comRetained executive search active in CFO, CRO, sales officer, and senior HR/C-suite placements including PE-backed companies. | 103 of 235 | 43.8% | |
| Tier 5 2 firms, 26.0–30.2% | |||
| TrueConducts executive search for technology, growth, and PE/VC-backed companies. | 71 of 235 | 30.2% | |
| Daversa Partnersdaversapartners.comServes venture-backed and growth-stage technology companies, particularly when building executive teams during rapid scaling. | 61 of 235 | 26.0% | |
| Tier 6 3 firms, 17.0–21.7% | |||
| JM Searchjmsearch.comConducts CEO, CFO, COO searches for private-equity-backed and middle-market companies. | 51 of 235 | 21.7% | |
| ON PartnersRetained executive search for C-suite, board, and PE/VC portfolio-company placements. | 51 of 235 | 21.7% | |
| Riviera Partnersrivierapartners.comTech-specialized for product, engineering, AI/data, cybersecurity and design leadership from startup through public-company stage. | 40 of 235 | 17.0% | |
Key findings
- Korn Ferry and Spencer Stuart lead this sample, each named in 90.2–90.2% of 235 ChatGPT responses to the question “Which firms specialise in the role we are hiring for?”, collected August 11, 2026–October 1, 2026.
- The gaps between Korn Ferry and Spencer Stuart are inside the margin of error at 235 responses, so The Shortlist Report groups them in one tier rather than ranking them against each other.
- 12 firms cleared the reporting threshold on “Which firms specialise in the role we are hiring for?” in ChatGPT as of October 1, 2026; the full table with response counts is below.
- Korn Ferry appears in 7 of the 9 executive search firms reports published by The Shortlist Report, the widest coverage of any firm named on this page.
- No firm paid to appear in this ranking; placement cannot be bought, and the counts come from ChatGPT responses rather than from submissions.
Why the tiers fall where they do
Tier 1 holds Korn Ferry and Spencer Stuart, named in 212 to 212 of the 235 ChatGPT responses. They are grouped rather than ranked because the gaps between them are inside the margin of error at this sample size — one extra mention would reorder them, so an order would be reporting noise as a finding.
Tier 2 holds Heidrick & Struggles and Russell Reynolds Associates, named in 192 to 195 of 235 responses (81.7–83.0%). The sample does separate these firms from the tier above: the difference from the leading group is larger than the margin of error, which is what puts them in a tier of their own.
Tier 3 holds Egon Zehnder, named in 183 to 183 of 235 responses (77.9–77.9%). The sample does separate this firm from the tier above: the difference from the leading group is larger than the margin of error, which is what puts it in a tier of its own.
Tier 4 holds Christian & Timbers and Cowen Partners, named in 103 to 110 of 235 responses (43.8–46.8%). The sample does separate these firms from the tier above: the difference from the leading group is larger than the margin of error, which is what puts them in a tier of their own.
Tier 5 holds True and Daversa Partners, named in 61 to 71 of 235 responses (26.0–30.2%). The sample does separate these firms from the tier above: the difference from the leading group is larger than the margin of error, which is what puts them in a tier of their own.
Tier 6 holds JM Search, ON Partners and Riviera Partners, named in 40 to 51 of 235 responses (17.0–21.7%). The sample does separate these firms from the tier above: the difference from the leading group is larger than the margin of error, which is what puts them in a tier of their own.
The test is McNemar’s at 95%, applied against the same 235 responses for every firm. The full reasoning, and what happened when we ranked one-to-N instead.
What the sample shows
2 firms lead this question: Korn Ferry and Spencer Stuart. They appear in 90.2–90.2% of the 235 responses. The gaps between them are inside the margin of error at this sample size, so they are listed together rather than ranked against each other.
141 firms were named at least once across the sample. 12 of them cleared the threshold of 2 responses and appear above; the rest were named once and are inside the noise.
How to read this
Firms are grouped into tiers, not ranked one to fifteen. A tier holds every firm whose 95% confidence interval overlaps the leader's, which is a long way of saying the sample cannot tell them apart. Order within a tier is arbitrary — read the counts, not the position.
Share is the percentage of responses that named the firm — not a quality score. A firm scoring low here may be excellent and simply under-written about online, which is a finding about its visibility rather than its work.
The same question was asked repeatedly because AI assistants do not answer identically twice. A single response would tell you almost nothing.
What this measurement does not tell you
- It is not a quality ranking. Share reflects how much has been written about a firm online, which is what an AI assistant reads. A capable firm nobody writes about scores low here.
- It is a reading from a date range, not a permanent standing. This sample was collected August 11, 2026–October 1, 2026; models change and so do their answers.
- It covers ChatGPT only. Other assistants answer differently, and we do not extrapolate across engines we have not measured.
- Order within a tier is arbitrary. Read the counts, not the position. Why we use tiers.
Cite this report
The Shortlist Report. (2026). Executive Search by Role: What The Shortlist Report Finds. The Shortlist Report. https://www.shortlistreport.com/article/executive-search-by-role
Underlying counts: CSV · JSON. Every answer they were counted from: plain text · JSON. All reusable under CC BY 4.0 with attribution.