Head to head
Heidrick & Struggles vs Spencer Stuart
Named side by side in 7 executive search firms questions. Spencer Stuart came out ahead on 5; on 2 the sample cannot tell them apart.
Over 7 executive search firms questions measured by The Shortlist Report over 1439 AI responses, Spencer Stuart was named more often than Heidrick & Struggles on 5 of them, Heidrick & Struggles on 0, and the sample could not separate them on the remaining 2.
How Heidrick & Struggles and Spencer Stuart differ
This data does not establish which firm is better. Heidrick & Struggles’s strongest result relative to Spencer Stuart was on “Which executive search firms report measurable search outcomes?” (23.3% versus 20.0%), while Spencer Stuart’s strongest result relative to Heidrick & Struggles was on “Who runs board and chief executive searches?” (86.8% versus 61.7%).
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 | Spencer Stuart | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|
| What are the best executive search firms?235 responses | 99.1% | 99.1% | Same tier — too close to call |
| Which firms specialise in the role we are hiring for?235 responses | 83.0% | 90.2% | Spencer Stuart |
| Which search firms know our industry?234 responses | 77.8% | 93.2% | Spencer Stuart |
| Who runs board and chief executive searches?235 responses | 61.7% | 86.8% | Spencer Stuart |
| Which search firms deliver genuinely diverse candidate slates?235 responses | 54.9% | 59.1% | Spencer Stuart |
| Our executive search is not working. Who can take over?235 responses | 38.7% | 61.7% | Spencer Stuart |
| Which executive search firms report measurable search outcomes?30 responses | 23.3% | 20.0% | 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 2 of these 7 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 1439 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 Spencer StuartConducts CEO, board, and senior C-suite searches for large enterprises and succession planning.