Which executive search firms for tech and B2B companies do ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI recommend? (October 2026)
When US technology and B2B companies ask AI engines which executive search firm to use, the large global firms are named first and tech specialists behind them. Spencer Stuart was named most often, in 35 of 57 answers (61.4%), followed by Heidrick & Struggles (34) and Korn Ferry (32). All 57 answers named at least one firm, and 96 different firms were named in total, 55 of them only once.
By Frederik Jakobsen, founder of Danish Lead Co and SourceRank AI. Measured 11 October 2026, published October 2026.
The firms AI named most often
Share of all 57 answers that named the firm as a provider, and how many answers on each engine named it. An answer counts once per firm however often it repeats the name.
100.0%
Answers that named at least one provider firm: 57 of 57. Every answer named firms.
96 firms
Distinct firms named across all 57 answers. 55 of them were named in only one answer.
24.8%
Share of all 407 firm mentions taken by the three most named firms, Spencer Stuart, Heidrick & Struggles and Korn Ferry.
| # | Firm | Answers naming it | Engines | ChatGPT of 12 | Gemini of 12 | Copilot of 10 | AI Mode of 12 | AI Overviews of 11 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spencer Stuart | 35 of 57 61.4% | 5 of 5 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 9 | 8 |
| 2 | Heidrick & Struggles | 34 of 57 59.6% | 5 of 5 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 10 | 6 |
| 3 | Korn Ferry | 32 of 57 56.1% | 5 of 5 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 9 | 7 |
| 4 | True Search | 22 of 57 38.6% | 5 of 5 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 5 |
| 5 | Russell Reynolds Associates | 22 of 57 38.6% | 4 of 5 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 6 | Talentfoot | 21 of 57 36.8% | 5 of 5 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| 7 | Egon Zehnder | 19 of 57 33.3% | 5 of 5 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 8 | Daversa Partners | 17 of 57 29.8% | 5 of 5 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| 9 | Cowen Partners | 16 of 57 28.1% | 4 of 5 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 5 |
| 10 | Riviera Partners | 16 of 57 28.1% | 5 of 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 11 | Christian & Timbers | 13 of 57 22.8% | 4 of 5 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
| 12 | Bespoke Partners | 12 of 57 21.1% | 5 of 5 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| 13 | JM Search | 12 of 57 21.1% | 5 of 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 14 | SPMB | 8 of 57 14.0% | 4 of 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 15 | ON Partners | 8 of 57 14.0% | 4 of 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
Top 15 of 96 firms. Engine columns show answers naming the firm out of that engine's measured answers. Firms with the same count are listed in the order the data was read.
What the answers show
- +Spencer Stuart (35 of 57 answers, 61.4%), Heidrick & Struggles (34) and Korn Ferry (32) lead, then True Search and Russell Reynolds Associates (22 each) and Talentfoot (21).
- +Copilot went its own way: it named Spencer Stuart, Heidrick & Struggles and Korn Ferry in 1 of its 10 answers each, and named Cowen Partners most (6 of 10).
- +Specialists win through their own sites. talentfoot.com was the most cited domain, in 14 of the 32 answers with sources, and Talentfoot was named in 21; cowenpartners.com was cited in 9 and Cowen Partners named in 16.
- +A named firm's own website was cited in 28 of the 32 answers with sources. Directories, review and analyst sites were cited in 1.
What each engine named
The most named firm per engine.
| Engine | Answers | Named a provider | Distinct firms | Most named firm on that engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 12 | 12 of 12 100.0% | 38 | Spencer Stuart, Heidrick & Struggles (9 of 12) |
| Gemini | 12 | 12 of 12 100.0% | 47 | Spencer Stuart, Heidrick & Struggles (8 of 12) |
| Microsoft Copilot | 10 | 10 of 10 100.0% | 34 | Cowen Partners (6 of 10) |
| Google AI Mode | 12 | 12 of 12 100.0% | 22 | Heidrick & Struggles (10 of 12) |
| Google AI Overviews | 11 | 11 of 11 100.0% | 38 | Spencer Stuart (8 of 11) |
First-pick agreement: in 8 of the 12 questions where at least two engines named a firm, two or more engines named the same firm first. Spencer Stuart was named by 5 of 5 engines. Google showed no AI Overview for 1 of the 12 questions; those are not counted as answers.
The sources behind the recommendations
Most cited domains in the 32 answers that showed a source list. Search firms' own pages dominate.
| # | Cited domain | Kind | Answers citing it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | talentfoot.com | A named firm's own website | 14 of 32 43.8% |
| 2 | alphaapexgroup.com | A named firm's own website | 12 of 32 37.5% |
| 3 | christianandtimbers.com | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 11 of 32 34.4% |
| 4 | cowenpartners.com | A named firm's own website | 9 of 32 28.1% |
| 5 | ultratalent.com | A named firm's own website | 7 of 32 21.9% |
| 6 | arubaexec.com | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 6 of 32 18.8% |
| 7 | spmb.com | A named firm's own website | 5 of 32 15.6% |
| 8 | tgsus.com | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 5 of 32 15.6% |
| 9 | jmsearch.com | A named firm's own website | 5 of 32 15.6% |
| 10 | bespokepartners.com | A named firm's own website | 5 of 32 15.6% |
| 11 | gogloby.com | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 4 of 32 12.5% |
| 12 | boardroompulse.com | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 4 of 32 12.5% |
Out of the 32 answers that carried a source list (110 distinct domains). Sources per engine: ChatGPT 0 of 12, Gemini 8 of 12, Copilot 10 of 10, AI Mode 3 of 12, AI Overviews 11 of 11.
| Source kind | Answers citing at least one |
|---|---|
| Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 31 of 32 96.9% |
| A named firm's own website | 28 of 32 87.5% |
| Social and video | 3 of 32 9.4% |
| Community forum | 3 of 32 9.4% |
| Directory, review or analyst site | 1 of 32 3.1% |
An answer can cite several kinds, so the rows do not sum to the total. "A named firm's own website" means the domain matches the name of a firm named in this category.
How a firm in this category gets named
Being named depends on what the engines read. In this category, of the 32 answers that showed their sources, 28 cited a named firm's own website and 1 cited a directory, review or analyst site. The questions name a role and a stage: a VP of Sales at a SaaS company, a CTO for a Series B, a first chief people officer. A boutique that publishes a specific page per role and stage is what the search-grounded engines cite and name, as Talentfoot and Cowen Partners show; ChatGPT, which showed no sources, still leaned on the global names. This is the work SourceRank AI does, described on the services page. The free site readiness check shows whether your site is structurally ready to be cited; it checks your site, it does not measure answers like the ones on this page. To see where your own firm stands in these answers, book a call.
Exactly what was measured
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Date | 11 October 2026, one run |
| Buyer questions | 12, each phrased as a buyer asking for a provider, varied by size, budget, situation and switching. Full list below |
| Answer engines | 5: ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews |
| Engine cells | 60. One question on one engine |
| Answers measured | 57 of 60. The denominator for every share on this page. 1 Google search showed no AI Overview. 2 Copilot answers were written for a buyer outside the US, a side effect of the third-party service we query Copilot through, and are excluded |
| Market | United States, English. Google AI Mode and AI Overviews were queried with a US location. ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot were not given a location, the same as in our client measurement runs; Copilot answers that assumed a buyer abroad are excluded |
| Sources | Cited sources come from Gemini, Copilot, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews. ChatGPT's answers in this run came back without a machine-readable source list, so ChatGPT is not in the source tables |
| Firm extraction | One language model call per answer listed the firms the answer named as providers, excluding directories, publications, citation labels and tools. Names were normalised and aliases merged. A hand check of 20 answers across the study is reported on the hub page |
| Not measured | Location personalisation for the chat engines, logged-in or personalised sessions, run-to-run variation (this is a single run, and the same question asked again can return different firms), and model versions, which change without notice |
All 12 buyer questions
- Best executive search firms for hiring a VP of Sales at a B2B SaaS company
- Which executive search firms are best for technology companies?
- Top executive search firms to hire a CTO for a Series B startup
- We are unhappy with our current executive recruiter. Which executive search firm should we switch to?
- Best executive search firm for hiring a CFO at a mid-size tech company
- Which boutique executive search firms specialize in B2B software?
- Recommend a retained executive search firm for a CEO search at a private equity-backed software company
- Best executive search firms in the San Francisco Bay Area for tech leadership roles
- Which executive search firms charge less than the standard one-third fee?
- Top executive search firms for hiring a CMO at a B2B company
- Best executive search firms in New York for fintech executives
- Which executive search firm is best for a 200-person technology company hiring its first chief people officer?
Cite this research
Journalists, analysts and writers are welcome to quote, chart and republish the figures on this page. Please credit SourceRank AI and link to this page as the source. For the underlying data, a comment from Frederik Jakobsen or a category we have not covered, see the press page.
Suggested citation
SourceRank AI (2026). Which executive search firms for tech and B2B companies do ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI recommend? Measured 11 October 2026. https://sourcerankai.com/research/who-ai-recommends/executive-search-firms-tech-b2b/
Link to copy
<a href="https://sourcerankai.com/research/who-ai-recommends/executive-search-firms-tech-b2b/">Which executive search firms for tech and B2B companies do ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI recommend? (SourceRank AI, October 2026)</a>Where to go next
All 22 category studies
Who AI recommends across 22 B2B categories, with the cross-category findings and the full method.
What AI engines cite by industry
The source mix behind AI answers in ten industries, from our September 2026 measurement runs.
AEO for this industry
What we do for firms in this space, and the questions their buyers ask AI.
Common questions
Which executive search firms for tech and B2B companies does ChatGPT recommend?
In this October 2026 run ChatGPT named Spencer Stuart and Heidrick & Struggles most often, in 9 of its 12 answers each. Across all five engines the most named were Spencer Stuart (35 of 57 answers), Heidrick & Struggles (34) and Korn Ferry (32).
Do ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI recommend the same executive search firms for tech and B2B companies?
Partly. Spencer Stuart was named by 5 of the 5 engines, and in 8 of the 12 questions at least two engines named the same firm first. Below the top few names the lists diverge: 55 of the 96 firms were named in only one answer.
How was this measured?
12 buyer questions asking for executive search firms for tech and B2B companies were put once to ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews on 11 October 2026, from a US English context. 57 answers were measured, and the firms each answer named as providers were extracted and counted once per answer. It is a single run, and the same question asked again can return different firms.