HR managers have warned graduates not to email CVs to employers as millions of online job applications are clogging up company inboxes.

One in three graduate job applications is now dismissed as spam because of the huge numbers of speculative applications now being sent to companies, according to findings by PR and marketing firm Lewis.

Half the applications to firms sent were disregarded because they had been mass-mailed to 20 or more employers at once.

And one-third failed because they had no covering letter, were addressed to the wrong company or were littered with spelling errors, the research found.

Commenting on the findings, Lewis’ HR director Toni Castle, who analysed student applications, said: “Spamming employers has to be one of the worst ways to find a job, but it seems to be on the increase.”

Yet this kind of approach virtually guaranteed disappointment for candidates, she added.