By Michael Ha
Staff Reporter

They can put it down to the old saying that the grass always looks greener on the other side. New surveys found that nearly 70 percent of young corporate employees have considered changing jobs, but a vast majority of those who actually do make the move to a new company regret it later.

A survey of 1411 young corporate employees found that 68 percent of respondents have made attempts at moving to another company this year and that 22 percent have in fact made the leap. The e-mail survey was carried out by online job portal Careernet between May 10 and May 13. The poll specifically targeted young company employees, those in their 20s and 30s.

``The survey shows that more than half of the respondents are not happy with their current jobs and are making at least some efforts to move to another company. Basically seven out of 10 employees are looking to change jobs. And one in five have actually moved to another company this year. These are pretty high numbers," said Moon Ji-young, assistant public relations manager who carried out the survey.

The survey found that it's not easy to find a new job. Respondents that have made the move to a new company said they have submitted resumes to eight different corporations and had to do about three in-person interviews on average before landing the new job.

How did they succeed in getting a job at another company? More than 80 percent cited maintaining a good professional background while 66 percent emphasized good timing. Some 47 percent cited the importance of knowing the right people.

But a separate survey suggests not all job hoppers are happy with their decision. In fact, a new poll by Jobkorea found that a vast majority of those who do change jobs regret it afterwards.

In a survey of 1557 employees who changed their jobs, a whopping 82 percent said they have regretted their move. More than 30 percent said that's because the new job is not any better than their old one. And more than 20 percent said the new company is not as good as its reputation. Some 19 percent said the new company didn't keep its promise of higher salaries and promotions.

``The 82 percent figure was higher than we had anticipated. It seems like many of those that change jobs and move to another company start out with high hopes and expectations. And later many of them come to realize that the new job isn't quite as good as what they had expected," said Jung Joo-hee, assistant public relations manager at Jobkorea.

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