Job seekers looking east to China, India and South Korea

Shahrzad Moaven quit a public relations job in London and moved to Hong Kong four months ago to take what she saw as a more exciting post: communications director at the exclusive jeweler Carnet.

Jan Mezlik moved to Hong Kong from the Czech Republic in April for a job as a trainer in a physical therapy studio called Stretch. For the 29-year-old, the move brought a secure job and the chance to learn to become a yoga instructor.

Charlotte Sumner, a lawyer, arrived eight months ago, thanks to a transfer within her firm. She had spent six months in London and another six in Moscow and had jumped at the chance for a stint in Asia, which she felt would lead to more opportunities than a posting elsewhere.

Before the global financial crisis, none of the three had thought seriously about moving to Asia. But growth in China, India, South Korea and other countries is outpacing that of Europe and the United States. Many local companies are enjoying rapid expansion, while international employers are shifting positions to Asia and are hiring again. So increasingly, Europeans and Americans are hoping that Asia is a place where opportunities match their ambitions.

"Things are just so much more dynamic here," Moaven, 28, said. "Back in London, there were fewer resources for P.R. events or advertising. Here, everyone is expanding and spending on marketing activities. That makes my job here a lot more interesting."

In Hong Kong, the recruiting firm Ambition estimates that the number of resumes arriving from the United States and Europe has risen 20 to 30 percent since 2008. These now make up about two-thirds of the more than 600 resumes its Hong Kong office gets every month, said Matthew Hill, Ambition's managing director for the city. Similarly, at eFinancialCareers, an online job site, applications for positions based in Singapore and Hong Kong have jumped nearly 50 percent in the past year, said its Asia-Pacific chief, George McFerran.

Landing a position in Asia, though, is not just a matter of being willing to make a new life halfway around the world. Many employers prefer candidates who have track records in the region and who bring language skills and local contacts to the job.

Mike Game, chief executive in Asia for Hudson, an international recruitment agency, said the number of Westerners actually making the move was still fairly small. Many employers, he said, are more demanding than they were during the economic peak of 2007 and are "setting the bar very high in terms of what they want."

Nevertheless, many Westerners seem to be looking to make the move.

No wonder. The jobless rate in the United States is 9.5 percent, Britain's is at nearly 8 percent and Spain's is 19.9 percent. In Hong Kong, the unemployment rate is 4.6 percent. In Singapore, only 2.2 percent of people are registered as being out of work. In Australia, the jobless rate fell to 5.1 percent in June.