Head to head
Heidrick & Struggles vs True
Named side by side in 4 executive search firms questions. Heidrick & Struggles came out ahead on 3; on 1 the sample cannot tell them apart.
Over 4 executive search firms questions measured by The Shortlist Report over 220 AI responses, Heidrick & Struggles was named more often than True on 3 of them, True on 0, and the sample could not separate them on the remaining 1.
Question by question
| Question | Heidrick & Struggles | True | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|
| What are the best executive search firms?55 responses | 100.0% | 85.5% | Heidrick & Struggles |
| Which firms specialise in the role we are hiring for?55 responses | 81.8% | 23.6% | Heidrick & Struggles |
| Who runs board and chief executive searches?55 responses | 63.6% | 18.2% | Heidrick & Struggles |
| Which search firms work with venture-backed startups?55 responses | 18.2% | 25.5% | 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 1 of these 4 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 220 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 TrueConducts executive search for technology, growth, and PE/VC-backed companies.
Other comparisons
- Heidrick & Struggles vs Spencer Stuart7 shared questions
- Heidrick & Struggles vs Korn Ferry6 shared questions
- Heidrick & Struggles vs Odgers5 shared questions
- DHR Global vs Heidrick & Struggles4 shared questions
- Spencer Stuart vs True4 shared questions