Beyond the Single AI Path: You Can Have It All 

September 28, 2026 – Executive search firms are moving beyond early experimentation with artificial intelligence and focusing more closely on how the technology can support different roles, workflows, and levels of adoption across their organizations. Rather than forcing every user into the same model, firms are increasingly looking for flexible approaches that can improve efficiency while preserving the judgment and relationship-building that remain central to search. Which makes it important to give teams multiple ways to engage with AI based on how they actually work.

“Most legacy platforms offer one way of working,” said Andrew Shapiro, founder of Cluen, a leading provider of executive search software and AI systems. “Take it or leave it. A lot of the new AI vendors are the same story in a new package: one AI, one user experience, because it’s all they built. That’s a problem for search firms, where a researcher, a partner, and an ops lead don’t need the same tool to do the same job.”

Cluen’s approach starts from the opposite premise. Different roles need different AI, not the same AI applied everywhere. Encore now offers at least four distinct tiers of AI-driven tools and shortcuts, so every person on a search team, regardless of function or comfort level with AI, has a path that actually fits how they work.

“The results aren’t theoretical,” Mr. Shapiro explained. “They’re built on proven, consolidated AI outcomes drawn from work with thousands of search professionals worldwide, paired with leading-edge capabilities for firms ready to put AI to the test themselves. It’s not a single AI path. It’s the ability to have it all.”

Mr. Shapiro recently sat down with Hunt Scanlon Media to discuss how executive search firms are adopting AI, where the technology is delivering the greatest value, and why different roles across a search firm require different tools and levels of engagement.

Andy, Cluen argues that different roles across a search firm need different AI tools. How should firms think about matching AI capabilities to researchers, partners, and operations teams rather than applying one solution across the business? 

It’s about different roles but also about different levels of engagement (and potentially, investment). Since the dawn of time, we look for areas where technology can save time or unlock new opportunities. The right AI use cases work backwards from that same process. A partner in one firm might just need a simple click (or pre-scheduled event) to kick of a pre-built AI tool to accelerate their work. Elsewhere there may be an individual who lives in Claude all day and wants an open-ended way to have their AI support their decision-making. These two can co-exist even in the same role at the same firm, but will only get benefits if they each have the right solution.

Encore now offers at least four distinct tiers of AI-driven tools and shortcuts. What separates those tiers, and how do firms determine which level is appropriate for different users and workflows? 

As above, the tools vary from zero-training, zero-setup, zero-new-costs, already-ready-already automations, to configurable connections that anyone can build themselves, to linkages to your already-proven AI tools, and fully-customizable agents. Cluen’s special ‘AI Sandbox’ projects enable firms to work with our experts to discover and prove out these pieces, all without big new investment or risk to their live systems.

Many search firms have employees with very different levels of comfort and experience with AI. How important is it to give users multiple entry points rather than expecting everyone to adopt the same technology in the same way? 

Extremely important. There are some folks in search firms today that will not engage if there is a big learning curve or something to set up. At the same time, there are super-nerds like me that would be extremely frustrated if they were limited by only pre-set options. All within the limits of a firm’s operations, compliance and budget constraints. Meet each person where they are, then gradually lift them up to the optimal level as desired.

Cluen says its approach is informed by AI outcomes from thousands of search professionals worldwide. What have you learned from those users about where AI delivers the greatest value in executive search today? 

Simple answer is ‘accelerate your existing workflows’, which means keep doing what makes you great, but just do it more efficiently, supported by the right technologies in the right places. Looking at the general categories of AI use cases, this typically breaks down into ‘data capture and centralization’ and ‘connecting the dots to get answers/insights from your central data’. We have numerous examples of AI automation on the data entry/collection side as well as using AI to leverage that valuable proprietary knowledge. One persistent theme is to focus indeed on what’s proprietary (like your candidate communications and assessments) and not just to use AI to collect what everyone else already knows.

“One persistent theme is to focus indeed on what’s proprietary (like your candidate communications and assessments) and not just to use AI to collect what everyone else already knows.”

As more AI vendors enter the executive search market, what are the limitations of platforms built around a single AI model or workflow, particularly for firms with complex or highly specialized processes? 

New vendors continually show up to service executive search. Frequently they have simple or single-purpose tools just because they need to start selling something even if it’s still in its infancy. They layer on additional complexity as needed, when they encounter customer requirements. Cluen has spent decades working with the community evolving our solutions – that’s also what makes our expert team of project leaders so valuable to our clients: continual feedback from a deep ‘gene pool’ and the ability to reflect on best practices from our work around the world is priceless in helping form a future-proof strategy.

Looking ahead, how do you see AI changing the way search teams divide work among researchers, consultants, partners, and operations professionals, and where will human judgment remain most important? 

The value of an executive search has always been in bringing what a client organization cannot do themselves. Whether that’s advising on corporate culture, speed of execution, deep industry relationships, expert assessment, or just the confidence of completing a proper independent search process, those pieces all need human expertise coupled with the right tools to be as efficient as possible. One thing I have learned in my work with thousands of search firms is that each team is different: trying to fit an existing team into a pre-set workflow is miserable for everyone and has a bad outcome, but using a proven process to continually assess the right solutions for a team’s unique needs can lead to a sustainable result that pays off for years.

Related: Cluen Invites Executive Search Firms to Participate in Upcoming 2026 Technology Trends Survey

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor  – Hunt Scanlon Media