Tim Pitt is a chartered surveyor with 10 years' experience under his belt.

He completed a four-year university degree with high hopes for his career.

But his launch into the construction world coincided with economic depression.

Fewer resources, but more respect

Employers diverted cash away from training and he found himself increasingly frustrated by lack of opportunity.

Now the 32-year-old has decided to throw in his hard helmet and comfortable lifestyle, hand back the keys to the company car - and volunteer his services to build roads in Afghanistan.

And he is not on his own. The charity Voluntary Service Overseas says the number of people applying to work in developing countries is higher than ever before.

Over the past six months, 19,000 people have contacted the organisation in an attempt to be sent to work in developing countries.

So stunned was VSO by the upsurge in applicants, that it commissioned a survey of these most recent applicants.

The findings suggested that the number one reason behind new applicants wanting to work overseas was job dissatisfaction in the UK.

Mr Pitt, who is due to fly out to the Pakistan base of AfganAid in April, says he is not surprised.

"I love being an engineer, but I feel it is not something that is greatly valued here," he told BBC News Online.

"As the industry cuts costs, they do away with secretarial staff, which means engineers spend a lot of their time paper shuffling.

68% of applicants were from the construction industry

"And it took me a long time to become chartered because training budgets were reduced.

"I have a decent wage and a company car and a comfortable lifestyle, but I have got to the point where the money is not the important thing any more. In Afghanistan I am going to be building something important, which will be valued," he added.

Monica Evans, a 35-year-old former NHS nurse applied for work in a developing country. She said she wanted to help people, but felt that budget cuts and rising levels of violence towards staff in the UK were preventing her from doing so.

Carol Hancocks, 24, decided to teach in Rwanda rather than a UK comprehensive, saying her training experience in a school facing an Ofsted inspection had put her off.

Being valued is a key factor

VSO operates a scheme where it supplies skilled workers to pass on their knowledge and know-how to partners in developing countries.

Placements usually last two years, and workers are paid at the same rate as an equivalent worker in that country. Mr Pitt will be earning £70 a month.

Dan Rees: "Looking for a new challenge"

VSO spokesman Dan Rees told the BBC that being valued was a key factor in many people's decision to give up reasonably-paid work in the UK.

He pointed to high levels of health workers applying to volunteer - although they knew their wage would dip considerably.

Psychologist Dr Kim Jones, co-author of forthcoming book Energising the Workforce: The Strategic Response to Stress, says industry should sit up and listen.

She says anxiety in the workplace is at an all-time high.

Downsizing over a number of years has led to individual work burdens burgeoning.

And, she says, whole layers of management have been removed with the net effect that workers' responsibilities have increased.

"How do you know when you are doing well at work? You know perhaps because you do not get shouted at, or because you make it through your appraisal, or because you get your short-term contract renewed.

"The workplace is a very emotional environment and we need to work towards an understanding of this."

Tim Pitt is off to help build roads

She says changes within organisations serve to heighten anxiety.

Given that most workplaces are in a permanent state of flux, managers must learn to realise that stress is part and parcel of life in any workplace, she says.

"It is no good adopting a piecemeal approach - treating people who are suffering extreme forms of stress.

"Stress is there in the fabric of the workplace. People react to it in different ways. Some will volunteer abroad, some will go off sick - some will even do well on it.

"But it has to be acknowledged and accepted as an inevitable consequence of most working lives."