Based on 40+ executive search firm interviews
How ready is your firm for AI?
Half the firms we interviewed are stuck in the experimentation phase. A small group have already restructured their operating models around AI. This assessment places your firm on the same 5 dimensions the study measured, in 10 questions.
The four tiers
Every firm we interviewed fell into one of four stages of AI maturity. The assessment places you on the same scale.
- Nascent14% of firms studied
- AI is not yet changing how work gets done. Intelligence lives with individual consultants and the CRM records who you know rather than what you know about them.
- Developing50% of firms studied
- Tools are in use and individuals are getting value from them, but the gains are personal rather than institutional. This is where half the firms we interviewed sit, and where most of them have sat for over a year.
- Advanced27% of firms studied
- AI is part of how the firm works, not just how some consultants work. Data is structured enough to build on and at least one workflow runs end to end.
- Leading9% of firms studied
- The operating model itself has changed. Capacity has moved from assembly and administration towards judgement and client relationships, and the data asset compounds.
The benchmark
What we found across the industry
Figures from our study of 40+ executive search firms across the UK, US and Europe. The full report runs to 35 pages.
2 / 5Average self-assessed AI maturity
50%Stuck in the experimenting phase
73%Now using AI meeting notetakers
86%Using ChatGPT as primary LLM
14%Have a dedicated AI role