Over the years, I have received hundreds of messages very similar to this one:

Hi,

This is a Direct Client opening – QA Manager – Saratoga Springs, NY – Permanent Position

10 Positions Open

Job Responsibilities:

• Develop standards and processes for accepting and scheduling test requests.
• Insure the proper development and use of testing methodologies.
• Report test results in quantitative and qualitative forms, providing insight into developer quality as well as useful feedback to problem resolution.
• Report current status on release testing efforts, including defect detection rate and completion progress.
• Train QA Engineers in performing test automation and system performance tests.

Required Skills:

• Quality Assurance management experience.
• Experience building quality testing programs from inception through refinement stages.
• Experience with automation tools.
• Web and SQL application testing experience.
• Experience with load testing of Web based applications.
• Experience in general QA statistics reporting and program implementations such as Six Sigma and/or CMM.

Desired:

• Web application development experience.
• Strong SQL script and test data development experience.
• Retail application experience a plus.

Experience/Education/Training/or Equivalent Combination:

• 3+ years of experience in a team development environment
• Bachelor’s Degree in Technology Field or equivalent experience Compensation Base Salary, 4 weeks paid time off, Health Care/Dental Benefits/Flexible Spending Account, 401K, Stock Options

Please forward your resume along with the below requested details:

Full name:
Degree Major:
Total IT exp:
Total Quality Assurance management exp:
Total Quality testing programs exp:
Total Web and SQL application testing exp:
Total load testing of Web based applications exp:
Total Six Sigma and/or CMM exp:
Current Salary:
Expected Salary:
Are you US Citizen/GC?
Day Tel#:
Eve Tel#:
Cell #:

Best number to reach you anytime:
Availability:
Current City / State

They are usually signed with names from overseas, although sometimes not. The few times I have followed up on one of these, the pay was about half of what I was used to. And most of them are not for permanent positions; they are for six months contracts in the most non-Silicon Valley places. Gary, IN. Bethlehem, PA. Bentonville, AR (OK, so that’s Wal-Mart).

There is no job security here. Their pay is terrible. And they expect you to be able to move around the country on a moment’s notice. They always talk about visa status.

They also don’t actually interview you. You express interest and fill out their little forms, and they call or email and ask you when you can start. Way to build a lasting team and product, people.

I suspect that there are a large number of immigrants doing this kind of work who just go all over the place for a few months a time, and that a lot of times, the recruiter hires the same people, likely family or friends. This is part of a hidden software sweatshop industry, and it is pretty awful. I had one employee who was a refugee from this system. Their previous company had one US citizen (the president) and forced their employees to work very long hours with bad quality, or he would see to it that their visa was revoked and they would be deported. They came to work for us, because we sponsored their H1B. Since he had no official days off, he pretended to be sick to interview for us.

Bottom line: If you see this kind of solicitation, send it to spam. You can do better.