When job posts say "No phone calls, please," does no really mean no?

When I see this in jobs postings, I usually get the sense that employers expect so many applicants, why bother. I'm not sure what I would do if I were a hiring editor, but I sure as hell don't want mousy reporters who are afraid to take risks. So, if anyone out there is a current hiring editor or deals with people in HR, your feedback would be much appreciated.

 

when doesn't no mean no?

 

They wouldn't put no calls if they didn't mean it.

 

I once worked for an SE who delighted in discarding every application from folks who ignored the rules and called when he put "no phone calls please" in the ad.

 

Ben Roethlisberger might want to answer that question.

 

Find out the contact e-mail for the non-HR person involved in the hiring (and that process isn't always easy) and send that person a note. He or she will let you know if a phone call, either way, would be an appropriate next step.

 

I've always found this to be kind of absurd in journalism. I don't want a reporter who won't call simply because the source doesn't want him to.

Nothing worse than the reporter who puts in a page or an email to someone and then waits meekly for the phone to ring.

 

I can't tell if you're being serious or not, but to me it shows a tremendous lack of respect for others' time that borders on arrogance (the notion that you're so much more special than the other 100 applicants).

It's 2010 and we have e-mail, which is a much less obtrusive way of making contact.