I’m talking about those job offers that come via email or perhaps an offer to improve your website.  Here’s a tip for you:

I’ve been getting a few ‘prospecting’ emails of late from people wanting to offer me work or a job, or help me with my website. There are things I look for before even bothering to respond, otherwise I just block and delete.

• Do they have a signature block, with their name, phone number and website? If no, ignore immediately. If they can’t represent their business on a professional level, do you really want to work for them? Especially if they seem to be representing a corporation or large business.  Small soloproneur businesses might not necessarily do so and should be considered carefully.
• If they do have a sigblock but the email address they’re sending from doesn’t match the website and/or is gibberish, a series of letters with a gmail or other address, again, I block and delete. I sometime might check out the domain they say they’re from but often they aren’t live.
  
• If they do have a web address included hover your mouse over the link you’re about to click on to see if the real web address matches what is written in the email – if it doesn’t, again block and delete.