Senior level legal professionals (both in practice and in corporate business) love their jobs while only 1 percent of senior level IT professionals were happy in their current jobs and 99 percent willing to consider a competitive career option.

This has emerged from a survey of over 3500 people across a wide range of industry sectors and senior management level roles interviewed in the past two years by executive search-firm Jack Hammer Executive Headhunters.

Managing director Debbie Goodman-Bhyat says the reasons for job satisfaction include perception of being financially well looked-after and excellent relationships with one's boss.

Other cited criteria include a solid career path with growth, promotional prospects and constant new challenges in the organisation as well as satisfaction with and belief in the leadership of the organisation.

Lawyers are top of the pile

She says Jack Hammer's research which was conducted over the past two years as part of the group?s ongoing headhunting activities showed that the most satisfied group of professionals are lawyers.

"We found 30 percent of all legal professionals who were offered an alternative career opportunity outside of their current organisation indicating that they were happy in their current role and not interested in considering a career move.

"The next highest job satisfied sector is that of finance professionals ? and not only those who are qualified chartered accountants. We found 18.4 percent of this group were not willing to be lured away from their current jobs.

Looking for a new job

"The least satisfied and most mobile segment of the current workforce ? ie those most willing to consider alternative job opportunities - are senior level IT professionals. They are followed by senior level risk and governance professionals. We found only 5 percent of this segment were really happy in their current jobs ? with most of them showing no real job satisfaction or measure of fulfilment."

Goodman-Bhyat said the sample they polled covered a wide range of risk disciplines including credit, operational, legal and compliance and market risk, as well as chief risk officers.

In terms of job satisfaction in industry sectors, she said their research showed the most satisfied group were people in the property sector.

"I am not sure if the figures would be the same if we did the research now, especially given the interviews for this sector were done during 2008, prior to the global markets crisis and the slump in the property sector."

Unsurprisingly, professionals in the Investment Banking sector are the least satisfied of all - recessionary time or not.

She says this sector is known for attracting ambitious, aspiring, career-driven people who, 97.7 percent of the time, if presented with a greater career prospect, will seriously consider taking it.