Firm profile
Korn Ferry
Korn Ferry was named in 7 of the 9 executive search firms questions measured by The Shortlist Report, appearing in 1030 of the 1439 AI responses sampled across those questions (71.6%).
Korn Ferry is strongest on “What are the best executive search firms?”, where it was named in 233 of 235 responses (99.1%), placing it in tier 1 of that report.
What Korn Ferry is surfaced for in executive search firms
Based on the measured answers, Korn Ferry is most likely to be surfaced when buyers ask about “What are the best executive search firms?”, “Which firms specialise in the role we are hiring for?” and “Which search firms know our industry?”.
How the answers describe the firmConducts CEO, C-suite, board, and leadership assessment searches for large global organizations.
In this sample, Korn Ferry was named on 7 of the 8 executive search firms ranking questions measured. These are the buyer questions where it appeared most often:
- Executive search firms — named in 233 of 235 responses (99.1%), tier 1.
- Executive search by role — named in 212 of 235 responses (90.2%), tier 1.
- Executive search by industry — named in 200 of 234 responses (85.5%), tier 2.
This describes when the firm is surfaced, not whether it is the right firm to hire. The sample measures recommendation visibility, not client outcomes.
Every question in executive search firms
Korn Ferry was named on 7 of these 8 ranking questions. The rest are questions buyers ask that it did not come up for — with whoever did.
Who leads executive search firms overall: Spencer Stuart tops 3 of 8 · Egon Zehnder tops 1 of 8 · Heidrick & Struggles tops 1 of 8 · Korn Ferry tops 1 of 8 · Riviera Partners tops 1 of 8 · Russell Reynolds Associates tops 1 of 8. See all reports.
Where Korn Ferry was named
| Question | Tier | Responses | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What are the best executive search firms? | 1 | 233 of 235 | 99.1% | |
| Which firms specialise in the role we are hiring for? | 1 | 212 of 235 | 90.2% | |
| Which search firms know our industry? | 2 | 200 of 234 | 85.5% | |
| Who runs board and chief executive searches? | 2 | 150 of 235 | 63.8% | |
| Which search firms deliver genuinely diverse candidate slates? | 2 | 130 of 235 | 55.3% | |
| Our executive search is not working. Who can take over? | 2 | 98 of 235 | 41.7% | |
| Which executive search firms report measurable search outcomes? | 1 | 7 of 30 | 23.3% |
What Korn Ferry gets named for
Across the 9 executive search firms questions measured, Korn Ferry is named most often on “What are the best executive search firms?” — it appears in 233 of the 235 ChatGPT responses to that question, or 99.1% of them. Its next strongest question is “Which firms specialise in the role we are hiring for?”, where it appears in 212 of 235 responses (90.2%).
Korn Ferry clears the reporting threshold on 7 of the 9 questions. The spread matters as much as the peak: a firm named across several different questions is one an assistant reaches for generally, where a firm named on one is attached to a single specialism.
What Korn Ferry’s tier placings mean
On “What are the best executive search firms?”, Korn Ferry sits in tier 1 of 6, named in 233 of 235 responses (99.1%). Tier 1 does not mean it was ranked first. It means that at 235 responses, the gap between Korn Ferry and the most-named firm in that sample is inside the margin of error, so the two cannot be told apart. Korn Ferry shares tier 1 with Egon Zehnder, Heidrick & Struggles, Russell Reynolds Associates and Spencer Stuart, and the order they are listed in is arbitrary. 10 further firms were named on this question but fell into lower tiers, meaning the sample did separate Korn Ferry from them.
On “Which firms specialise in the role we are hiring for?”, Korn Ferry sits in tier 1 of 6, named in 212 of 235 responses (90.2%). Tier 1 does not mean it was ranked first. It means that at 235 responses, the gap between Korn Ferry and the most-named firm in that sample is inside the margin of error, so the two cannot be told apart. Korn Ferry shares tier 1 with Spencer Stuart, and the order they are listed in is arbitrary. 10 further firms were named on this question but fell into lower tiers, meaning the sample did separate Korn Ferry from them.
On “Which search firms know our industry?”, Korn Ferry sits in tier 2 of 6, named in 200 of 234 responses (85.5%). That places it below the leading group on this question, where the top firm was named in 93.2% of responses against Korn Ferry’s 85.5%. It shares tier 2 with Russell Reynolds Associates, which the sample cannot separate from it. 9 further firms were named on this question but fell into lower tiers, meaning the sample did separate Korn Ferry from them.
On “Who runs board and chief executive searches?”, Korn Ferry sits in tier 2 of 5, named in 150 of 235 responses (63.8%). That places it below the leading group on this question, where the top firm was named in 86.8% of responses against Korn Ferry’s 63.8%. It shares tier 2 with Russell Reynolds Associates and Egon Zehnder, which the sample cannot separate from it. 6 further firms were named on this question but fell into lower tiers, meaning the sample did separate Korn Ferry from them.
On “Which search firms deliver genuinely diverse candidate slates?”, Korn Ferry sits in tier 2 of 4, named in 130 of 235 responses (55.3%). That places it below the leading group on this question, where the top firm was named in 59.6% of responses against Korn Ferry’s 55.3%. It shares tier 2 with Heidrick, which the sample cannot separate from it. 6 further firms were named on this question but fell into lower tiers, meaning the sample did separate Korn Ferry from them.
On “Our executive search is not working. Who can take over?”, Korn Ferry sits in tier 2 of 5, named in 98 of 235 responses (41.7%). That places it below the leading group on this question, where the top firm was named in 61.7% of responses against Korn Ferry’s 41.7%. It shares tier 2 with Russell Reynolds Associates, which the sample cannot separate from it. 7 further firms were named on this question but fell into lower tiers, meaning the sample did separate Korn Ferry from them.
On “Which executive search firms report measurable search outcomes?”, Korn Ferry sits in tier 1 of 1, named in 7 of 30 responses (23.3%). Tier 1 does not mean it was ranked first. It means that at 30 responses, the gap between Korn Ferry and the most-named firm in that sample is inside the margin of error, so the two cannot be told apart. Korn Ferry shares tier 1 with Heidrick & Struggles, Egon Zehnder, Majhi Group, Russell Reynolds Associates, Spencer Stuart, Acuity Executive Search Group, ALAC HR Solutions, Axe Recruiting and Crucial Hire, and the order they are listed in is arbitrary.
Firms named alongside Korn Ferry
When ChatGPT names Korn Ferry, these firms most often turn up on the same questions: Egon Zehnder (7 shared questions), Heidrick & Struggles (7 shared questions), Russell Reynolds Associates (7 shared questions), Spencer Stuart (7 shared questions), DHR Global (4 shared questions), JM Search (4 shared questions), Boyden (3 shared questions) and Caldwell (3 shared questions).
That overlap is the closest thing this data holds to a shortlist: these are the firms a buyer asking the same questions is most likely to see beside Korn Ferry. It says nothing about which of them is the better fit.
Egon Zehnder · Heidrick & Struggles · Russell Reynolds Associates · Spencer Stuart · DHR Global · JM Search · Boyden · Caldwell
Korn Ferry compared
Where Korn Ferry was measured against another firm on the same questions, over the same responses.
- Korn Ferry vs Egon Zehnder
- Korn Ferry vs Heidrick & Struggles
- Korn Ferry vs Russell Reynolds Associates
- Korn Ferry vs Spencer Stuart
- Korn Ferry vs DHR Global
- Korn Ferry vs JM Search
What this page is, and is not
- It is a count of how often AI assistants named Korn Ferry when asked buyer questions about executive search firms. Nothing here is a review, a rating, or an assessment of the firm’s work.
- Korn Ferry did not submit this listing, was not contacted about it, and cannot pay to change it, move up, or be removed.
- A firm named in few responses may still be excellent. Share follows what has been published about a firm online, which is what an AI assistant reads.
- Wrong details, or a firm merged with another of a similar name? We fix those.