The increasing popularity of online video CVs for job applications is opening up candidates to new levels of discrimination, it has been said.

Chairman of the Recruitment Society Steve Huxham said that whereas a paper CV acted as a much more neutral piece of documentation, less photogenic individuals could be open to visual discrimination when employers look at video CVs.

"The danger is that you introduce a new form of discrimination [with video CVs], where people who are not necessarily the most photogenic people are being discriminated against," he continued.

Mr Huxham added that the level of discrimination is not restricted to racial prejudice as age, gender and a number of other factors could be seen through the lens of a video CV.

According to research by the Department for Communities and Local Government, the most frequently specified reason that people believed they were turned down for a job was age-related.

According to a recent survey by Connect, the two biggest IT headaches for businesses were 'everyday hassles with IT' (37 per cent) and 'security concerns' (32 per cent).