Contractors and other professionals looking for a career change should make sure their decision is not a result of post-Christmas blues, one expert has said.

Zain Wadee of hyphen said that New Year 2011 would be a busy time for the jobs market, with many people wanting a fresh start.

"Make sure that you are looking at a change of career for the right reasons rather than as a gut reaction to the post-Christmas blues or a feeling that the New Year should herald change for the sake of change," he said.

This comes after the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development's (CIPD) quarterly Employee Outlook survey said that there has been an unexpected rise in job satisfaction during the autumn of 2010.

However, according to the survey, one in four workers believe it is likely that they will lose their jobs, with 63 per cent saying that stress has increased due to the recession, compared to just 54 per cent who said this in the previous quarter.