Over half of digital job-seekers only hear back from 1 in 5 jobs they apply for despite an increase in vacancies, a new survey has revealed.

The survey, carried out by niche online jobs board Bubble Jobs, made the observation as research into the digital industry shows that the sector is burgeoning despite all the bad news about employment.

A study into the European app economy revealed that almost 800,000 jobs have been created in that digital sector alone, and other research showed its revenue is increasing faster than any other traditional industry.

Recruitment figures from the Office for National Statistics reported over 500,000 live job vacancies in the UK between June and August this year and 2.49 million unemployed Brits, leaving as many as five job seekers for each vacancy.

Managing Director of Bubble Jobs Adam Butwilowski said that survey statistics show that more needs to be done to match the right digital jobs with the right people, given the predicted growth trends for the digital sector.

He said: “The statistics surrounding the lack of response by employers and recruiters to job seekers’ applications suggest a mismatch between the digital jobs being advertised and those viewing and applying for them.

“This could well be down to people applying for jobs that their skills are not suited to.

“The reason for this could be jobs not being advertised correctly, or job-seekers not being educated properly on how their skills can be translated into the working world.”

The survey also showed that nearly 40 per cent of digital job seekers were only applying for up to two jobs per week – which also suggested that adverts were not being targeted at the right people.

This is something that Bubble work very hard to improve upon, as Adam explained: “We make sure that only digital jobs are listed on our site under very specific categories, to help reduce this issue.

“We know how difficult it is to get a job in this current climate, so we want to make it as easy as possible for job-seekers to find roles relevant to their skillset quickly and efficiently.

“Recruiters and employers also have a responsibility to post high quality adverts if they are to expect a high quality of job applications.

“Far too often we see job adverts that are too vague with the main driver likely to be the hope of reaching a wider audience.

“The consequence is that employers and recruiters tend to end up with a list of irrelevant or unqualified job applications so it can sometimes be a case of ever-decreasing circles.

“That’s why we do what we can to help employers and recruiters to create better, more concise and specific adverts to appeal to the right people and improve their chances of hiring the perfect candidate.”

Meanwhile, the majority of those surveyed said they felt they would have more success in finding a job on a jobs board than through any other medium.

Over 35 per cent of respondents said they had more faith in jobs boards than recruiters, who received just 21 per cent of the vote.

At the bottom of the pile just 2.5 per cent said they thought they would secure a job through the job centre, heaping more pressure on an already-criticised system.