A study carried out by The Survey Shop for the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) found that more than one in five applications contained such mistakes.

The most common error was the confusion between 'they’re', 'there' and 'their'. Almost one in five employers also found words such as 'gonna' and 'ain’t' in written applications, GMTV reported.

Firms in the financial services sector were hardest on applications containing errors, with 77% of employers saying that such mistakes would put them off an applicant. On a regional level, businesses in London were most likely (at 58%) to reject applications because of mistakes.