[devs1010]

After dealing with the nonsense from potential employers, recruiters, etc for a little while now I think I've become a bit more seasoned and can spot the BS quickly, this is an important skill to develop so that you don't waste precious time with dead-end leads.

If someone emails you regarding a job, immediately press for details (if there weren't many in the email). I occassionally get emails from idiot recruiters who think that secrecy is the best way to go and won't tell me which companies they are representing but want to get me on the phone 'just for a few minutes' to talk about these amazing opportunities. I usually give them one more chance and email them to explain that its important for me to research potential employers before spending time on any sort of application process and that I would need the company info to go any further. If they don't comply, I blacklist any further communication from them.

Basically, you need to know what a company is all about before wasting any time, once you have at least the name of the company, go to their website, read any reviews you can find from past employees, etc, 'google map' their offices to see if its a dump or if it looks like a viable place of employment. There's no shame in blacklisting communication from people who are wasting your time, I now make it a regular part of sorting through the emails I get regarding 'opportunities'