When Keiko Shinahara interviewed for a senior account-management position at a Tokyo-based import-export company earlier this year, the hiring executive immediately launched into a series of highly personal inquiries: Where did she grow up? What did her parents do for a living? Judging by her appearance and guessing that she was about 30 years old, he asked whether she had plans to get married and have kids. Shinahara answered each question politely and honestly. As the session concluded, the executive added one final question: Was she a drinker? Without hesitation, Shinahara said yes—though in truth, she considers herself conservative regarding alcohol. She got the job.

“Japanese managers want to know whether you’ll be fun on an office night out,” explains Will Jasprizza, a lawyer-turned-cultural-consultant who has lived in Japan for more than a decade. “Part of the office life is going out for drinks and karaoke, so saying no makes you sound like you won’t fit in.”

The questions Shinahara faced were par for the course in Japan, where anything-goes employment regulations foster hiring practices that Americans might consider off-limits—or outright unusual. “You’ll be asked about your age, your family, your hobbies, and it’s quite common that you’ll be asked to give your blood type,” says Jasprizza, because of the belief in Japan that each type produces a different kind of personality. For example, people with Type A blood are seen as well-organized, earnest, and perfectionist, while those with Type O are thought to make good leaders.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg as far as hiring idiosyncrasies in foreign cultures are concerned. In Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, and especially France, graphology, or handwriting analysis, is considered a critical final step in screening senior hires. More than half of French companies subject the penmanship of executive candidates to professional graphologists for review before offering a contract. Supporters say that the graphology analysis acts like a “scanner” for hidden personality concerns, such as excessive rigidity or emotional instability.

In Britain, “panel interviews” are common, during which candidates are placed in front of a group of senior executives for rapid-fire questioning. “Companies in the U.K. believe that panel interviews prevent favoritism and keep the hiring process impartial,” says Leslie Lee, who faced multiple panels during her interviews for a senior editorial position at the Financial Times Group.

Basic cultural differences in the recruitment process like these can make applying for a job in an overseas market a challenge, but that’s not stemming the tide of American professionals seeking jobs abroad. Bilal Ojjeh, C.E.O. of MBA-Exchange.com, has seen applications for overseas management positions grow at a rate of 60 percent per year since 2004. And nearly 20 percent of graduates from the University of Chicago’s top-ranked M.B.A. program took jobs outside North America this year—a new high.

“You’re seeing more and more Americans saying, ‘The world is getting smaller. I need to pull up roots to improve my appeal,’ ” says Melanie Kusin, a vice chair of Heidrick & Struggles, who specializes in board and succession work for multinational companies. “If you’re not at a company where you can get that kind of practical capital, it’s still something you can’t afford to miss anymore. You have to consider doing it by yourself.”