More than half the people interviewed for a job they found on the internet were successful in getting that particular job, according to the National Online Recruitment Audience Survey (NORAS) 2007.

It reported that emailing a CV is the most popular way to apply for a job (38%), followed by completing an online application form (31%).

The survey found that Monster is particularly popular in the South-east, where 37% of its users are registered. Its users describe themselves as employees (40%), junior managers (16%) and middle managers (16%). They are primarily working in the engineering/manufacturing (10%) and retail (13%) sectors.

Fish4jobs had 2.5m unique users in October, of which 29% were in the South-east and 16% in the North-west. The survey found that 15% worked for employers in the retail sector.

NORAS found that 62% of fish4jobs' users had not applied for a job through the site in the past six months. However, 53% of its users had gained a job as a result of a job board.

The survey found Guardian Jobs users are mostly based in the South-east (60%). The research found that a majority work in admin/secretarial (12%), general management (12%) and public services/social work (11%). The average salary of the site's users was £27,300.

It revealed that JobServe's users are mainly based in the South-east (48%) and in the West Midlands (15%). The research found a large percentage of the website's users are employed in IT (21%) and retail (9%).

NORAS reported that Times Online's 188,824 users are primarily in general management (16%) and admin/secretarial (14%). The average salary of Times Online users was £48,400.

The survey found that TipTopJobs' 170,288 unique users are employed in the engineering/manufacturing (10%) and IT (12%) sectors. Their average salary is £32,800.

Tim Elkington, managing director of Enhance Media, which manages NORAS, said: "Online recruitment is more successful than ever before. More people are applying for jobs and getting interviews, and of these, over half are now going on to get a job. Analysis of the results shows the market is maturing and job seekers are becoming more familiar with the job boards that best suit them. Employers are also becoming more adept at knowing where to place their vacancies online.

"It's interesting to see the large number of jobseekers who have mobile phones with internet access. The next challenge for employers will be to make sure they keep in touch with these jobseekers by taking advantage of the latest technology."

NORAS collects demographic data detailing the audience profile of each site and unique user data from leading online recruitment sites. This year it gathered information from 37,617 online questionnaires on 27 online recruitment sites.