One in three graduate job applications is now dismissed as “spam” by employers because they have been fired off in a scattergun approach.

Personnel managers, who would until recently sift through carefully typed and neatly folded letters to find recruits, complain about a barrage of error-strewn resumés.

Lewis, a public relations and marketing company, analysed thousands of applications from students seeking trainee positions. The vast majority had been sent by e-mail.

One third were dismissed immediately because they had no covering message, were addressed to the wrong company or were littered with spelling mistakes. Half were regarded as “junk” because they had been mass-mailed to 20 or more addressees.

The company says that students are the biggest spammers, well ahead of drug manufacturers and pornography sites. Managers spend hours sifting through applications that demonstrate computer literacy, but not the traditional kind. Toni Castle, human resources director at Lewis, said that the approach virtually guaranteed disappointment.

“If students think that by randomly sending their CVs to enough employers then someone will give them an interview, they are wrong,” she said. “Spamming employers has to be one of the worst ways to find a job, but it seems to be on the increase.”

The problem partly stems from the Government’s rapid expansion of university participation. The proportion of under-30s entering higher education has increased from 12 per cent in 1988 to 43 per cent now.

The number gaining a good degree has also risen sharply: 58.2 per cent of undergraduates achieved a first or upper second last year, compared with 49.5 per cent six years ago. Growing student debts have also added a feverish edge to job-seeking.

Employers claim that this apparent academic improvement is belied by the quality of the applications they receive. Nina Hampson, co-founder of Myla, the lingerie chain, said that the company was inundated with applications containing basic grammatical mistakes.

“Some of the applicants for marketing jobs have even used text style language saying things like, ‘I hope 2 hear from U soon’,” she said. “Do they think I would want someone like that promoting the company? It is crazy.”

Miss Castle said: “More students than ever are graduating with upper second or first class degrees, but are still failing to target employers effectively. Making a strong first impression is vital if students are to stand out from the crowd in this job market. The majority of people who apply to us have not realised that we have set the bar quite high.”

The average graduate starting salary rose above £20,000 last year for the first time, but employers have become increasingly discriminating about the candidates they accept. Over the past two years they have started to introduce computer selection that automatically rejects students who have not been to one of a select band of universities or were awarded at least a 2:1. Angus Farr, graduate recruitment manager at the accountants Moore Stephens, said: “We get a really large number of e-mails from people who have quite obviously adopted a scattergun approach.

“It is very frustrating. We have spent a lot of resources stating the minimum academic requirements but we still get applications from people who have less than we require.”

HOW TO WRITE THE PERFECT JOB APPLICATION

Carl Gilleard, chief executive of the Association of Graduate Recruiters, on writing the perfect CV:

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