Recruiting Agencies: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

The Recruiting Agencies benchmark recorded a decline across all ten tracked brands in August 2026. Every brand's valid recommendation coverage fell to 0.0%, down from baseline levels that ranged from 19.4% to 46.8% in July 2026. In July 2026, Robert Half led the category with 46.8% valid recommendation coverage, ahead of Randstad at 38.2% and Adecco at 35.9%. In August 2026, none of the ten tracked brands registered a measurable presence, recommendation, or sentiment signal across the qualified observations.

The largest coverage decline belonged to Robert Half, falling from 46.8% in July 2026 to 0.0% in August 2026, a drop of 46.8 points. Randstad declined the next most, from 38.2% to 0.0% over the same period, followed by Adecco (35.9% to 0.0%) and Korn Ferry (31.7% to 0.0%). Every tracked brand moved to 0.0% in August 2026, so no brand held recommendation coverage this month.

The benchmark began with 792 prompt-surface observations in July 2026 and 791 in August 2026, producing 521 and 579 qualified observations respectively after qualification.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts the canonical AI surface families (ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode) with at least one qualified observation. All six families were present in both months.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Recruiting Agencies

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design. Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection size.

For full methodology, see AI Market Discovery Methodology.

Current Brand Standings

In August 2026, none of the ten tracked brands registered measurable presence, recommendation coverage, or sentiment signals. The table below reflects the current-month benchmark view, sorted by valid recommendation coverage.

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate: share of qualified observations in which the brand is mentioned at all.
• Valid recommendation coverage: share of qualified observations in which the brand receives a valid recommendation.
• Top-three rate: share of qualified observations in which the brand appears in the top three recommended positions.
• Rank-one rate: share of qualified observations in which the brand is the first recommendation.
• Net sentiment: positive minus negative sentiment among mentions, on a scale from -1 to 1.

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Every tracked brand declined in August 2026. All ten brands are classified as decliners this month, with no riser recorded in the category. Because the shift affects every tracked brand in the same direction and by a similar magnitude, it is best read as a difference in the measured output distribution for this vertical rather than as a story about any single brand losing ground to a competitor.

Largest Decline: Robert Half

Robert Half's valid recommendation coverage fell from 46.8% in July 2026 to 0.0% in August 2026, a drop of 46.8 points. This was the largest single-month decline among all tracked brands. Presence rate fell from 70.6% to 0.0% and top-three rate fell from 30.9% to 0.0% over the same period.

Additional Declines: Randstad, Adecco, and Korn Ferry

Randstad declined from 38.2% to 0.0% (down 38.2 points). Adecco fell from 35.9% to 0.0% (down 35.9 points). Korn Ferry declined from 31.7% to 0.0% (down 31.7 points). These three brands, along with every other tracked brand, moved to zero valid recommendation coverage in August 2026.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. The table below tracks top-three and rank-one placement for the two brands with the largest July 2026 coverage.

Close coverage can still hide different first-position rates. In July 2026, Randstad's 38.2% coverage produced a 15.7% top-three rate and a 5.4% rank-one rate, while Robert Half's higher coverage produced a 30.9% top-three rate and a 22.1% rank-one rate. In August 2026, no brand registered any measurable top-three or rank-one placement.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

In both July and August 2026, all qualified observations fell into the Brand Recommendation class.

The current public series measures Brand Recommendation discovery exclusively and does not yet contain qualified observations in the Pricing & Value or Multi-Brand Comparison classes.

Historical Measurement Record

This is an evergreen benchmark URL. New measurements are added to the same report.

Evidence and Source Layer

The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and, where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment. It is not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

In August 2026, the qualified observations did not surface any brand-level recommendation signal for any tracked brand. Within the current dataset, that outcome reflects a difference in the measured output distribution, not a confirmed cause. The benchmark cannot distinguish platform behavior from measurement effects, and the data does not establish why every brand's recommendation signal moved to zero in the same month.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure:

• Market share or sales attributable to AI-driven discovery
• Every possible AI response, only the sampled prompt-surface combinations
• Organic-search ranking or social mention volume
• Private or sponsored channels
• Causality from a metric movement alone

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index tracks how often brands are present and recommended across leading AI search and assistant surfaces. Each month, the benchmark publishes category-level standings based on qualified prompt-surface observations.

• AI Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions
• AI Market Discovery Research Standards
• Modeled AI Authority Value

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