Many people dream of quitting their boring, corporate positions for a "dream job" elsewhere, but uncertainty and instability mean few actually follow through.
Emma Radford was one of those few. She left her job at Goldman Sachs to work for U.K. start-up Graze, an online snacking company, in 2013.
"A lot of people have said it was a risky move, but it didn't feel like it at the time," she told CNBC. "I wasn't happy in investment banking and wanted to try something new."
Radford was not alone in being unhappy at work. The vast majority of employees across the world feel negatively about their work, according to Gallup's 2013 State of the Global Workplace report. Its survey found that actively disengaged workers outnumbered engaged employees at a rate of nearly 2-1.
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Radford found her new position on Escape the City, a website which helps corporate professionals find new – different types of – jobs.
'Cool' alternatives?
"It all about finding cool alternatives to being in a corporate environment," the company's co-founder, Dom Jackman, told CNBC.
Roles listed on the site are defined by their "escape factors", which include "adventurous challenge", "entrepreneurial work" or "exotic location".
There are 181 jobs currently available, including "social media superstar" at Original Surf Morocco and "lodge manager" at a boutique hotel in Malawi.
Numerous start-ups - and bigger names like Uber, Tough Mudder and even Virgin Galactic - are among the 780 employers that have listed jobs on the site in the last year.
Pay cuts…
But are high-fliers in the corporate world willing to sacrifice their super-salaries for roles like this? Surprisingly yes, according to Jackman.
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"There's this gravy train of people going from good university to a good corporate job, and then they get to a point and think: 'is this it?'" he said. "They're looking for alternatives."
After graduating from Oxford University, Radford said a career in banking seemed like an obvious – and secure - choice.
"Everyone seems to be going into banking, accountancy, consultancy. It's where the recruitment focus was," she said. "I didn't think twice about accepting the job offer at Goldman, but it wasn't as I expected."
The global financial sector's reputation has been hard hit over recent years, with the crisis of 2008, rogue traders, mis-selling scandals and evidence of rate-fixing all taking their toll. Thousands of jobs in the sector across the world have been cut as banks respond by reining in their riskier operations.
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"Now, even if you did everything right, you might not necessarily get promoted," Radford added. "In fact, you knew you could get fired tomorrow."
Jackman, who co-founded Escape the City in 2010, said Generation Y – born between the 1980s and 2000 – was likely to have three or four totally different careers.
"Our generation is much more aware of what is available to them. The notion of having one job for life – like my parents' generation – is now over," he added.
—By CNBC's Katrina Bishop