And, found the report, such lacking confidence means employees are not leaping to greener pastures, and are instead looking to ensure the conditions are "safe" before making a move.

"As we come out of the global financial crisis, we've seen the levels of job dissatisfaction amongst employees reduced over the last 12 months," said chief executive officer of CareerOne.com.au, Michael Harvey.

"They recognise that there are areas that could be improved in their role, but aren't rushing into decisions when it comes to changing jobs," he said.

According to the research, which looked at the triggers that would move employees from one job to another, the number of people actively looking for jobs has decreased to 14 percent - five per cent less than the report found last year. And the number of people happy in their current roles has increased to 23 per cent - four per cent higher than in 2009.

The research found that the bulk of the market - 63 per cent - have stated they are "open to opportunities" and could be tempted into a job role, but only if the role and the company meet the needs of the candidate.

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The needs of job hunters have been greatly impacted by the financial crisis, according to the report, and job hunters are now placing less emphasis on the pay and benefits on offer and focusing more on finding the right team, culture and working environment for them.

So this means employers will have to work smarter in 2010 to attract top quality candidates as these changes will make finding and securing the hidden job hunters more complex, Careerone.com.au found. The report also found that understanding the subtle reasons that trigger different people to leave one job and go to another is vital to help ensure that retention and attraction strategies are effective in the new job hunter market.