Head to head
Heidrick & Struggles vs Russell Reynolds Associates
Named side by side in 8 executive search firms questions. Russell Reynolds Associates came out ahead on 1; on 7 the sample cannot tell them apart.
Over 8 executive search firms questions measured by The Shortlist Report over 2331 AI responses, Russell Reynolds Associates was named more often than Heidrick & Struggles on 1 of them, Heidrick & Struggles on 0, and the sample could not separate them on the remaining 7.
How Heidrick & Struggles and Russell Reynolds Associates differ
This data does not establish which firm is better. Heidrick & Struggles’s strongest result relative to Russell Reynolds Associates was on “Which firms specialise in the role we are hiring for?” (79.8% versus 77.2%), while Russell Reynolds Associates’s strongest result relative to Heidrick & Struggles was on “Our executive search is not working. Who can take over?” (37.4% versus 31.3%).
Those are the clearest differences in the shared sample. They measure which firm AI assistants surfaced more often for each buyer question, not service quality or client results.
Question by question
| Question | Heidrick & Struggles | Russell Reynolds Associates | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|
| What are the best executive search firms?345 responses | 99.4% | 99.4% | Same tier — too close to call |
| Which executive search firms have documented placement results?129 responses | 79.8% | 79.1% | Same tier — too close to call |
| Which firms specialise in the role we are hiring for?346 responses | 79.8% | 77.2% | Same tier — too close to call |
| Which search firms know our industry?345 responses | 73.3% | 74.8% | Same tier — too close to call |
| Who runs board and chief executive searches?345 responses | 63.8% | 68.4% | Same tier — too close to call |
| Which search firms deliver genuinely diverse candidate slates?345 responses | 52.2% | 55.1% | Same tier — too close to call |
| Our executive search is not working. Who can take over?345 responses | 31.3% | 37.4% | Russell Reynolds Associates |
| Which executive search firms report measurable search outcomes?131 responses | 11.5% | 12.2% | Same tier — too close to call |
How to read this
Share is the percentage of sampled ChatGPT responses to a question that named the firm at all — a measure of visibility, not of the work. A capable firm little has been written about will score low, which is a fact about how often it gets named and not a verdict on whether to hire it.
"Too close to call" is a result, not a gap in the data. Firms are grouped into tiers holding every firm the sample cannot statistically separate from that tier's leader, so two firms in one tier are reported as level however their percentages happen to fall. On 7 of these 8 questions that is what the measurement supports, and saying otherwise would be inventing precision.
Nothing here is our judgement of who is good. It is a count of who gets named. Both firms are measured over the same questions and the same 2331 responses, so neither is being scored on a sample the other did not face.
The full picture on each
- Everything measured about Heidrick & StrugglesConducts CEO, C-suite, and board searches for large companies and PE-backed organizations.
- Everything measured about Russell Reynolds AssociatesConducts CEO, C-suite, and board searches for large public companies and financial services.