The annual National Online Recruitment Audience Survey (NORAS) surveyed over 50,000 online jobseekers. The survey shows that one in seven jobseekers exclusively use the internet to look for jobs, a figure up from one in 11 a year ago and more than double the figure of one in 16 in 2007.

The survey also shows that  a quarter of  online jobseekers had obtained a job that they searched for, found and applied to online.

Meanwhile 10% said that they have used a smart phone or BlackBerry to look for a job.

Giles Guest, managing director of Enhance Media – the online recruitment research and strategy company that produces NORAS, says: “NORAS 2009 shows that the Internet is becoming an increasingly important and dominant channel in recruitment.

“The year-on-year results also show that the downturn is accelerating the move towards online hiring as companies look to save costs wherever possible during the recruitment cycle.”