At this point the situation is moot, but I am going to post this just in case anybody is faced with a similar situation.

I emailed a resume and cover letter in response to an advertisement I found in the on-line section of my city' s Sunday paper. Three days later I received a phone call asking me to call a particular number. I had to listen to the message at least 1/2 dozen times because the caller slurred words, mumbled and I think there was another call coming in because I heard a loud beep in the middle of the company' s name. Anyway, I called the number and the phone just rang and rang with no answer. Finally, after the entire morning of not being able to get even an answering machine or voice mail at that number, I searched the yellow pages.com for that number and it came back as a private cell phone. I figured I heard the number wrong and so I went into my CKA file (Cover Kelly' s A$$) and came up with an email I had sent with the name of the individual who called. I looked up the company on the Internet and, entered the "contact us" section for their phone number (which was drastically different than the number left on my answering machine) and called the company. The receptionist informed me that the individual did not work at that company any longer. (Huh?) She then provided me with his cell phone number which was the same as what I had. I called it again and this time I did get a voice mail. I left a message.

Fast forward to 7:00 that evening. The phone rings and I notice on the caller ID that it is the individual I have been trying to get in touch with. He explains that he received my email and that he is impressed with my experience and so forth. We set up an interview for the next morning.

I showed up for the interview and we went into his office. He explained that it is just him in the office and that I would be secretary, legal assistant, office manager, supply ordered, in short, everything except receptionist because he shares a receptionist with the other three attorneys in the house. (In the downtown area a lot of the older houses have been turned into office buildings). He then further states that he received 128 resumes and he and his wife read each one and picked the top ten and left them a message to call him. He stated that he deliberately left it cryptic and hard to decipher to determine who would be the most interested to research and contact him. He said that he received eight return calls. His cell phone has caller ID and he counted how many times the person actually called before giving up. He stated only 5 people kept calling. Then, after lunch, when he switched his phone to voice mail, only three people left messages. I was one of those three people. I asked why, if he was a solo practitioner, he had a law firms email address. It is a family business and he keeps his email address there for practical purposes.

So, he stated that he appreciated and was impressed by the fact that I had gone so far as to contact the company of the email address and inquire about him and that even after being told her didn' t work there, I called the cell phone again anyway. He said that he would be in touch in a couple of days.

Fast forward to a couple of days, he calls me, again around 7 or 7:30 at night, and states to me that he just left a friends office and wanted to let me know what his friend said. His friend' s secretary had just up and left that morning and was complaining that now he would have to advertise, interview, train, etc. Well, said the guy I interviewed with, there is someone who he thinks would be a great addition to his friend' s office. He blah blah blah my virtues and his friend told him to have me call him.

My story ends here for various reasons, but my point is that even if you feel that your string is being yanked, by researching and following up, good things can happen, good friends can be made and good leads can result.