Many shared Lu's frustrations, some of whom sought to make a change through finding another job. Among them is Miss Sun, a sales manager with a cosmetic company. She had filed several letters applying for a job, and didn't miss any large job fairs over the past two months.

The reason, as Sun put it, is that she found it hard to make a breakthrough in her current company, and there is little room for a raise or promotion.

Peng Dongling, a career consultant with chinahr.com, said the "year-end job-hop" is a concentrated expression of the year-end syndrome, a manifestation of mood incurred by the employment psychological cycle.

A report by a Beijing-based career consulting agency shows 49 percent of white collars planned to change jobs at the year-end, and 17 percent believed they could land a new one.

Peng attributes the white collars' vulnerability to the syndrome to their overly-high expectations of themselves.

For example, she said, as many 45.6 percent of the respondents target "a satisfactory raise," 21.3 percent of them set their eyes on "improved performances," and 14.8 percent hoped for a promotion. As to the fulfillment of the set targets, only 6.5 percent were "very satisfied," while 26.7 were "rather unsatisfied."

"With the figures, it is not uneasy to understand their depression and self contempt," Peng was quoted as saying.

She suggests the white collars have a clear understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses before drawing a blueprint for their careers. She also warns against changing jobs without a clear career plan.

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