By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
There are two things a junior account executive of three years, who asked to be named only as Kim, does when she comes to work in the morning. She first scans the news, and then runs through a number of online employment sites to see if there is a better career waiting for her.
Having started her first job at a local mid-sized public relations firm, the 27-year-old believes that her current job is only a stepping stone to her ultimate goal of becoming a marketing chief at a global company.
``Even then, if I find a better offer, I'd be more than happy to move,'' she says, shrugging off the traditional idea of being dedicated to a ``lifelong career.''
She asks, ``Who wants to be stuck in a dead end job?'' Not many, according to a recent poll.
A Job Korea survey released Tuesday shows that the risk of employee defection is increasing as only one out of 10 workers was willing to spend a lifetime at their current job.
The online recruiter questioned 818 professionals, and nearly 70 percent said they would switch jobs if given a good offer.
More than 20 percent said they were ``actively searching'' on a daily basis to grab the perfect opportunity, while less than 10 percent said they'll remain loyal to their employers.
Men (12 percent) turned out to be more dedicated than women (4.6 percent) when it came to job loyalty, according to the poll.
Career experts say job hopping is more prevalent nowadays mainly because workers are seeing that their competitiveness goes up faster through a smart job switch, rather than going the traditional way of working up the ladder at one company.
``This change of trend alerts employers that they need to figure out what draws loyalty from today's employees,'' says Job Korea spokeswoman Hyun Young-eun.