Online recruitment is playing a key role in the success of modern business, according to a new study of the industry.

The latest Total Forum Report, a biannual survey of e-recruitment practices in the UK, revealed that one in five businesses perceive online recruitment to be critical to the success of their organisation. This was an increase from 14 per cent last year.

However, recruiters still need to be aware that firms still need to educate clients about the market. The report found that just one in four businesses posting all of their vacancies online.

The results also revealed that the larger the organisation, the greater the use of job sites. Seventy two per cent of companies with over 500 employees have used recruitment websites in the last year compared with 47 per cent of organisations with less than 500 employees.

Stephen O’Donnell, director at online recruitment portal Alljobs, has seen a continuing upward trend for the sector.

His firm monitors online traffic for some of the leading online recruiters, including Fish4jobs and Jobserve, and has seen the sector continue to grow this year.

However O’Donnell warns that online recruitment is simply not suitable in some cases.

He said: “A company may want to source companies locally or headhunt someone. Online recrutiment should only be part of the mix.”

Senior HR professionals at 180 public and private sector companies were interviewed for the Total report, which predicted a bright future for online recruitment with 40% of companies predicting an increase in the number of vacancies that they place on recruitment websites.

Michael Robinson, marketing director for totaljobs.com, said on the report: “It is great to see that many businesses are realising the importance of having online recruitment as part of their hiring strategy.”