Petra Grabmajer: 20 Years Finding Top Executives for Central Europe's Biggest Companies

Petra Grabmajer, equity partner at the international firm Pedersen & Partners, has spent two decades in executive search — finding and placing top executives at some of the region's largest companies. Along the way, she has conducted thousands of interviews with senior leaders and helped fill top positions at Czech and international companies alike. This year, Forbes named her to its list of the most influential women in Czechia.

The Prague office of Pedersen & Partners, which Grabmajer heads, is modest and unassuming — no lavish reception area, no flashy signage. Yet it's behind these very doors that decisions get made about who will lead some of the region's biggest companies in the years ahead. Pedersen & Partners is one of the world's leading executive search firms.

According to Grabmajer, the hardest part of her job isn't finding the right candidate — it's convincing that person to even hear out an offer. "For some positions, we already know who's the right fit. The hard part is earning their trust," she explains. Salary and job title rarely come up first in these conversations — what matters far more is understanding what would actually motivate a successful executive to leave a company they helped build themselves.

"The best managers usually aren't thinking about changing jobs at all. You need to understand what matters to them, where they want to go professionally, and whether a new role even makes sense for them — otherwise the conversation is over in a few minutes," Grabmajer says.

She stresses that executive search isn't just about finding people — it's about reading between the lines: picking up on ambitions a candidate never states outright, and gauging whether they'd actually fit the culture of a new company. That, she says, is the hardest part of all — a top executive can look perfect on paper and still not be the right person for the job. "We're not looking for the best résumé. We're looking for the best match — between a company's strategy, its culture, and the person who's meant to lead it," she says.

Grabmajer joined Pedersen & Partners in 2009, returning from maternity leave right in the middle of the economic crisis, when the executive search industry was cutting staff rather than hiring. Despite the tough timing, she managed to break into the firm and, over twenty years, rose to become equity partner responsible for the Central European region — playing a part in hundreds of decisions that shaped the future of major companies.