Head to head
JM Search vs Spencer Stuart
Named side by side in 4 executive search firms questions. Spencer Stuart came out ahead on 4; on 0 the sample cannot tell them apart.
Over 4 executive search firms questions measured by The Shortlist Report over 700 AI responses, Spencer Stuart was named more often than JM Search on 4 of them, JM Search on 0, and the sample could not separate them on the remaining 0.
How JM Search and Spencer Stuart differ
This data does not establish which firm is better. JM Search’s strongest result relative to Spencer Stuart was on “Our executive search is not working. Who can take over?” (7.4% versus 65.7%), while Spencer Stuart’s strongest result relative to JM Search was on “Which search firms know our industry?” (96.0% versus 19.4%).
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 | JM Search | Spencer Stuart | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|
| What are the best executive search firms?175 responses | 24.0% | 100.0% | Spencer Stuart |
| Which search firms know our industry?175 responses | 19.4% | 96.0% | Spencer Stuart |
| Which firms specialise in the role we are hiring for?175 responses | 19.4% | 89.7% | Spencer Stuart |
| Our executive search is not working. Who can take over?175 responses | 7.4% | 65.7% | Spencer Stuart |
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 0 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 700 responses, so neither is being scored on a sample the other did not face.
The full picture on each
- Everything measured about JM SearchConducts CEO, CFO, COO searches for private-equity-backed and middle-market companies.
- Everything measured about Spencer StuartConducts CEO, board, and senior C-suite searches for large enterprises and succession planning.