In-depth interviews with 711 job seekers across mainland China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam found that 39 per cent of professionals spent an average of three to four years in a role.

The company’s survey of 496 employers in these markets revealed a similar trend, with most hiring managers responding that 37 per cent of skilled employees told the same story.

The top two reasons for professionals choosing to leave their post are limited growth at the company and being underpaid.

To retain those professionals, Gerrit Bouckaert, country manager of Robert Walters Thailand, suggested that chief executives should be aware of corporate brand-building in parallel with preparing talent and career-development programmes, and promoting open communication between employees and employers and forging a good work-life balance.

Bouckaert said a company should be able to learn to read the signals at an early stage that its employees are unsatisfied in their jobs – well before they decide to leave the organisation.

The key clue in this regard is that an employee seems to be disengaged, resulting in a decrease in the efficiency and quality of their work.

To prepare for this problem, the human-resources department and supervisors should create a communication channel with employees, in order to get to the root of their unhappiness, he said.

He also suggested that if a highly valued employee wanted to quit, the employer sometimes needed to deal with this by making a counter-offer.

According to the firm’s survey, increased pay and a more competitive package were cited as the top reasons by 35 per cent of employees who would accept a counter-offer, closely followed by improved career progression, at 30 per cent.

However, 54 per cent of those interviewed said they would decline to accept a counter-offer to keep them at their company.

Other studies had shown that while pay rises could entice some candidates for the short term, there were usually other underlying causes for their unhappiness, Bouckaert added.

Apart from offering attractive salary packages, the key to effective retention is to keep employees engaged with the development of meaningful key performance indicators and a clear career-progression path, as well as more flexibility that creates a good work/life balance for them, he stressed.

For job seekers, the HR expert suggested that apart from creating a persuasive resume to present their core skill sets, they should dig down and do research about the target organisation and prepare themselves for a competency-based interview, particularly in high-demand industries such as finance/accounting, banking and financial services, human resources, information technology, sales and marketing, and supply chain and procurement.

The demand for professionals in these fields is fuelled by continuing foreign direct investment, particularly from China and Japan, he said.

“Candidates with experience in a multinational company, good English skills and management expertise can expect salary increases of 15 to 25 per cent when switching jobs this year,” the country manager suggested.