Robert here. I am writing from Miami, where I am recovering from another Gators BCS title. It has been a few weeks since we have posted here, due to the holidays and then being slammed upon return to work. There has also been a tremendous amount of partner level recruiting that we have been pre-occupied with in Asia. We will be pumping out two posts per week from here on out.

Notwithstanding the poor lateral hiring market at present, we do have some pressing client needs in Asia and the Middle East. Here is just a sampling:

Dubai – 4+ year PE / M&A associate for major US firm

Dubai – 2+ year strong projects / construction associates needed at major US firm

Dubai – 2+ year Islamic Finance associate with regional experience needed at major US firm

Abu Dhabi – 2 – 4 years US transactional associates needed at major US firm

Hong Kong – 3+ year PE / M&A associate needed at major US firm

Hong Kong – 2+ year PE / M&A associate needed at major US firm, Mandarin preferred

Hong Kong – 2+ year finance associate needed at major British firm

Hong Kong – 5+ year Korean fluent corporate associate needed at major US firm

Beijing – 2+ year PE / M&A associate needed at major US firm, Mandarin fluency required

Shanghai – 3+ year energy associate needed at major US firm, Mandarin preferred

Tokyo – 4 – 8 years M&A / cap markets associate for major US firm, Japanese required

We are receiving inquiries from solid US associate candidates about Asia and the Middle East at present at a much higher volume than ever before. We appreciate all the calls and emails and will respond to all of them, as soon as possible.

Please note that a job search in Asia or Middle East at present requires, above all else, patience. I don’t see a tremendous amount of lateral associate hiring in either market until summer and firms can afford to be picky and deliberate when making new hires in ’09.

While we continue to make associate placements in Asia and Middle East, most firms are simply not hiring now or are only looking for a specific mid-level to senior associate. There are exceptions and some are US firms just breaking into an Asia or Middle East market and needing minimum critical mass. Also, for the foreseeable future the days are over where any solid US associate, with no real reason for an overseas move, could just show up in Hong Kong / China or Dubai and have multiple offers. However, most of these firms in Asia will be hiring again in earnest, across the board, starting sometime between summer ’09 and early ’10. The lateral market in Asia is expected to pick up much quicker than in the US and London.

Notwithstanding the lack of immediate strong lateral hiring activity in the Asia markets, it is still important for those intent on lateraling to Asia in ’09 to apply to firms and start dialogues with them sooner rather than later. Many US and British firms in Asia have already been in preliminary contact with a short list of US associates that they are considering for their next hires, whether that be in the next month or several months from now. Partners at your target firms will already be emotionally invested in a few candidates if you were to wait until your target firms begin to formally interview for new hires. Some of my candidates currently in the US, for example, have made personal trips to Asia during the holidays and while there were invited to have informational meetings with various partners at their target firms (a no brainer for both parties due to them being in town). Some of these preliminary face to face meetings, as well as other candidates’ phone calls and VCs with firms, go really well and it is hard to compete with such candidates if you wait to make your candidacy known to target firms right as they start pro-actively hiring again. Further, many of our firm clients that are not hiring right now have asked us to continue to introduce them to top end candidates, as long as those candidates understand that hiring is not likely to happen at such firm until later this year.

I fully expect that all of our solid current US associate candidates for Asia will be hired at some point from February ’09 to September ’09, if they remain on the market. For Dubai and other Middle East markets, the outlook is less certain, as those markets may take longer than Asia to substantially pick up, but firms will be hiring more there in late ’09 most likely.