Melbourne, Feb 22 : Job seekers, desperate for a new role this year, are turning to their mobile phones in record numbers to avoid the prying eyes of their boss and save time, it has been revealed.

New figures from CareerOne. com. au show visits and job applications through the mobile jobs site jumped by more than 70 percent in January, the Courier Mail reported.

CareerOne marketing director Ben Foote said that there has been a dramatic shift in jobseeker behaviour over the last few years.

"With the realisation that the holiday season is over and people heading back to work, we''ve seen a surge in the number of Australians jumping on their mobile phones and tablets to find their next career move," he said.

"People are increasingly reaching for their mobiles and putting their search into the palm of their hands because it's discrete, immediate and enables them to search for roles at anytime, anywhere," he added.

Workers are most likely to look for jobs Monday-Friday either during their commute or on lunch breaks.

The site has also seen a boom in job searching in late January-February compared to the end of last year.

Compared to the September-December period downloads of the CareerOne mobile apps grew by 65 percent.

Foote said that this spike in job hunting activity is caused by a variety of different reasons, from simply getting time to evaluate their job satisfaction over the holiday period to having a desire for fresh challenges in the New Year. (ANI)