Companies that avoid using online resources to recruit contractors and other professionals will go out of business in three years time, according to new research.

Ochre House recruitment outsourcing firm said that if the firms still using more traditional recruitment methods did not enable the process online they will go out of business soon.

Paul Daley, director of human resources consulting and services at the company, compared non-online recruitment to "thrashing around in the dark ages".

He added that a non-online service not only disadvantaged the business, but also the candidates.

"If you're not online you'll probably be out of business pretty quickly because I don't know how you'll find anyone, and if you're not moving to using more forward-thinking online methods you're going to go out of business in three years time," he added.

This comes after retail giant Primark announced it was to recruit staff exclusively online for its new Scunthorpe store.