The original interview was published in German in the daily newspaper KURIER on June 28th, 2025. To read the original article, please see the PDF attached. The English translation of the original article is below.

By Jennifer Corazza

Headhunters. How they find the best minds and bring them to Austria.

One thing headhunter Julia Zdrahal-Urbanek makes immediately clear: international top managers do not come to Austria because it’s such a beautiful place. You have to offer them something.

What exactly? An exciting role in a renowned company. The opportunity to accompany a challenging growth phase, to contribute their know-how and grow from the experience themselves. “It has to be the next logical step in their career,” she summarizes. Money would only be a minor part of the motivation. That has to be right anyway. But in that respect, Austria can compete better than expected.

Salary as a Secondary Factor

The level of salaries is internationally comparable, says Zdrahal-Urbanek. This applies both to executive board salaries of publicly listed companies as well as those one level below – such as Division Managers or Executive Vice Presidents. The base annual gross salary at this level often ranges between 250,000 and 300,000 euros. Added to that is a bonus of 30 to 50 percent, as well as long-term incentives such as stock plans. “There are various models,” says Zdrahal-Urbanek. This allows Austria to easily compete with countries like Finland, Belgium, France, or Italy. Only the USA, Switzerland, and also Germany are significantly higher, she knows from twenty years of experience.

But to be able to offer a good salary, you first have to find these top managers. How that works is revealed by Zdrahal-Urbanek and a “veteran” of the business, Hannes Gsellmann, when the KURIER visits them at the Vienna office of the executive search specialist AltoPartners.

Searching Across the Globe

Placing job ads, combing through databases or your own network – these are just “individual slices of the pie,” they explain. “That’s selection, picking from people who apply,” clarifies Hannes Gsellmann. “Search is when there is a clearly defined target group, a specific profile we are looking for.” That borders on detective work: “You work until you find the holy grail,” says Zdrahal-Urbanek with a wink. Searching only in Austria is often not an option. “Sometimes the specialized expertise we are looking for just doesn’t exist here a second time,” says Gsellmann.

They identify 30 to 100 target companies, from which suitable candidates are located. “There can be more than a hundred who qualify,” says the headhunter. “Then we closely examine the profiles. That’s the point where we scan newspaper articles or social media.” The more we can find, the better. “We have to avoid approaching candidates who ultimately aren’t a good fit,” she explains. Only after a successful approach do interviews follow, leading to a shortlist of three to five people.

However, a change of location would deter very few top-level candidates, reports Gsellmann: “If you look at the executive and board levels of companies, you’ll find many people who have already built up a social environment in different countries and taken it down again after a few years.”

Since COVID, a physical move often isn’t even necessary anymore – just the willingness to travel extensively and be wherever you’re needed.