It\'s Not Speed Dating. It\'s Job Hunting.

HONG KONG -Two groups of potential partners-each with their own set of criteria and standards-work their way down the line. They size one another up as quickly as possible. Some have high hopes of finding that special spark. Some, bouncing back from rejection, just want to fulfill minimum requirements. Yet others have had to take an honest look in the mirror and lower expectations.

It's not speed dating. It's job hunting.

A special report in the IHT's education pages on Tuesday examines both sides of the issue. New graduates are struggling to find work, especially in suffering Western economies. Meanwhile, employers may have a hard time finding top applicants. Both job-seekers and recruiters are increasingly expected to cross national borders to find what they want.

As Miki Tanikawa reports from Tokyo, Japanese tech firms have had to change their ways to attract, say, that new M.I.T. hotshot. Talented 20somethings have little time for old hierarchical man agement systems. They want English-speaking, multicultural workplaces, as well as exciting projects and more responsibility.

Japanese companies are reaching out to the world. But there are factors that no company can change. Some recruiters expressed a desire to hire more Chinese engineers, but have been blocked for political reasons, as Beijing continues to seethe over a maritime dispute.

Expectations in China have also changed. Young Westerners reading about the country's booming economy might be tempted to buy a one-way ticket to a better job market. A generation ago, a foreign native English speaker with a Western university degree could land at the airport and expect to find decent work. But today, they are competing with many more Chinese- including overseas-educated “returnees”- who are fluently multilingual. Lara Farrar braves the crowds at the Job Fair for Foreigners in Beijing, and discovers that it can be harder than expected for young expats to f ind top positions in their field of study.

Still, a minimally paid job may be better than nothing if the cupboard is bare back home.

Economic news from Europe seems to be getting worse all the time. Christopher F. Schuetze at The Hague looks at the first E.U. benchmark for graduate employability and asks if setting a Continent-wide goal of pairing young people with jobs will actually work.

Sara Hamdan, reporting from the United Arab Emirates, talks to European expatriates who have left home for the Gulf. Manuel Ayas, a Spaniard who has set up his own successful consultancy in Dubai, said he often got requests from his countrymen back home: “I got one today from a 27-year-old with two master's degrees and five years of work experience asking for any job, just anything, even as a waiter,” he said.

Even those with a job realize that they may have to work hard to keep it, which is why many professionals are going back to school.

Kristiano Ang si ts in on a new executive M.B.A. course in Singapore offered by the Insead business school. Here's a typical student: A Japanese lawyer gets on a plane Thursday night in Tokyo, grabs a few hours of sleep before three days of intensive study in Singapore, returns to the airport Sunday night, and is back at his desk Monday morning.

In today's world, it's often a case of try, try again.

Are you a recent graduate looking for work? Or a company seeking that perfect candidate? What are some of the challenges you face?