The study, which covered a range of work environments from offices to restaurants and shops, sent out four fake job applications, two for each sex, to six different job sites in Cyprus, with covering letters and CVs containing almost identical qualifications and experience, from both male and female fictitious applicants aged 30.

A total of 9,062 applications were sent out. In the ‘interests’ section of the CVs, one fictitious applicant had been a volunteer for an environmental charity while the other had been a volunteer member in the Cypriot Homosexual Association.

Dr Nick Drydakis of Anglia Ruskin University, found the probability of gay men receiving a job interview was 39 per cent lower than their straight counterparts, while lesbians were 42 per cent less likely to receive an offer of an interview.

Drydaki acknowledged that the hiring process is an important part of the employment relationship, saying “What is clear is that people who face biased treatment in the hiring process must spend more time and resources finding jobs, and at the same time firms are missing out on potential talent as a result of biased hiring”.

In a previous study in 2010, the Equality and Human Rights Commission discovered sexual orientation can result in wage discrimination, failure to promote a gay member of staff and even job dismissals deemed to be as a result of sexuality.