Be wary of job-hopping in turbulent times More and more professionals are saying "no thank you" to potential employers who want them to switch jobs.

A survey released by Accenture Ltd. showed that 46% of U.S. middle managers surveyed in mid-September said it was dangerous to change jobs in the current environment, and they were all worried about the shaky economic situation.

Only 13% of respondents said they were actively looking for a new job, down from 30% in 2005 when Accenture last conducted a similar survey. This survey result was echoed by recruiters at headhunting firms.

They say it's now more difficult to get professionals to sit through their introductions to job opportunities.

Misfortunate stories of people being fired soon after being hired have also contributed to the rapid spread of employee caution.

Accenture is a global consulting company.

David, Managing Director, Talent and Organizational Performance.

David Smith, director of the company, said many employees are hesitant to move to a new company due to the high level of uncertainty.

They don't know whether their new employer can provide adequate job security, training, promotion opportunities and other benefits.

In contrast, they are aware of the opportunities and benefits that their current job offers.

Accenture conducted an online survey of 322 middle-level managers, including account supervisors, assistant vice presidents, and sales managers.

A spokesman for the company said the company surveyed 225 professionals in 2005 about their job prospects because the economy was strong at the time and it did not ask about perceptions of risk.

Recruiters say professionals considering a job change should carefully examine the financial health of their prospective employer.

To protect themselves, job seekers should also strive to have a severance agreement included in future employment contracts.

With such a turbulent economy, employees may have good reason to be wary of changing jobs.

Ron Weiss, a partner of the headhunting company BMW Group Inc., introduced the experience of an IT employee.

The employee quit his job at a New York investment bank and accepted a management position with an annual salary of $120,000 in late September.

Just days before he was set to start his new job, his new employer, a New York hedge fund, decided not to offer him the job, citing financial market turmoil.

Weiss said he initially struggled to find a job, even though the hedge fund fulfilled its promise of a $32,000 signing bonus.

Weiss added that this is the first time he has seen jobs eliminated so late in the hiring process.

The recruiter said that the IT employee was recently hired by a foreign bank.

Headhunters say they are finding it harder to attract potential job-changers.

Robin Bland, a senior recruiter at QuestPro, a Dallas insurance industry headhunting company, said, "We must create opportunities that are absolutely certain for them. We must provide them with massive information about potential employers so that they feel they know what they are doing."

Aaron Brooks, managing director of Chicago headhunting firm Mergis Group, said job seekers are also taking longer to decide whether to accept a job; companies need to realize that job seekers are more qualified than they think.

Greater decision-making power.

Dale Winston, chairman and CEO of Battalia Winston International, an executive search firm in New York, said professionals should consider that when companies need to lay off employees, they sometimes do so on a "last in, first out" basis.

In some cases, entire departments were wiped out.

Kevin Burke was laid off earlier this month after only seven months as vice president of finance at a large chemical company.

For this position, he moved his family from Ohio to Missouri and bought a house.

He said the company ran into financial troubles and laid off the entire department where he worked.

He said, of course I was shocked.

Burke, 41, came from a similar position at an automobile manufacturer.

He said despite being laid off, he doesn't blame the company.

He said that the market situation determined that this outcome was inevitable, and no one expected that the economy would decline as sharply as it did now.

Paula Marks, executive coaching and managing partner at New York-based executive search firm Gilbert Tweed Associates, said job seekers may be able to protect themselves to a certain extent by asking direct questions of prospective employers.