Lucas Group

I had a great experience working with Lee Cohen from Lucas Group. He took the time to find out what I wanted from my next career and to train me on the finer points of interviewing. I also had the pleasure of working with Eric Stagliano, a truly dedicated advocate for my job search. The training and pointers from Eric were spot on. I found my dream job because of them.

I’ve dealt with Lee Cohen at Lucas Group in Irvine for several years. Even though he’s apparently been in the recruiting business for many many years, he’s always treated me with extreme professionalism and passion. Between his extensive knowledge of the Navy, his knowledge of Corporate America, and his connections via Lucas, I’d trust him with my career search.
John M
Former LT, USN

August 14^th — I’m (un)pleased to announce, I’m getting more spam from Shawn Jen!
Here’s what he says:
— — — — — — — — — — —
Hi Mike,
Hope your week is going well. Do you have a few minutes to chat?
I specialize in placing Big Data, Software, Cloud, Mobile and Business Intelligence candidates within architecture, development, QA and infrastructure engineering roles. My clients have found it difficult to locate talented IT/​technical staff in this changing market. Let me know if you have time to speak, I promise I won’t waste your time.
Cheers,
Shawn Jen
Senior Executive Search Consultant | Information Technology | Lucas Group
— — — — — — — — — — —
Dude, let’s just break up already. It’s not you, it’s me. Wait… it’s you.
(that means, please stop spamming me every 30 days, acknowledging my requests, and sending more spam)

With Glass Door, Linked in, etc these Clowns are useless. Do NOT even waste your time. I created and found my own opportunity and negotiated a higher salary since my employer did not have to pay a commission. All were thrilled. I rank «recruiters» as useless and outdated as «pay phones».

I was not impressed my the way I was treated by these folks. Having left the Marines, they were a good way to actually meet potential employers. However, when I tried to be selective in career fields, they dropped me from list until I pressed them to put me back on. They did not fight for me at all at the conference and never pursued my interest. They had me interview with the wrong person, cut my time in half for an interview, and did not advise me when a company who wanted to fly me to a second interview cancelled he position due to restructuring. They can be quite disorganized, and they care about their process, not the candidate.

A box of cornflakes. That’s all you are.
You are inventory. They are salesmen. Their job is to sell you to their customers. That is how they make money. But the box of cornflakes does not get to say to the customer what it wants to be. The salesman goes to the customer and says, look at all these boxes of cornflakes. See, this one here has all of these wonderful qualities. And the customer chooses a box. If the box wants to highlight a different set of qualities, tough. The box has no say. The box is ignored.
I was that box, when I was getting out of the Navy. I was set up with many many interviews. I was taught what to say, how to say it, and how to present myself to the customer. I was told what to expect in salary, and what not to expect. I was told that there were no jobs for me in San Diego, where I wanted to live. I was told I would get a low-​paying job.
Here’s what I told them:
— I don’t want shift work (I had just finished 7 straight years of that and was ready for a normal 9-​to-​5 job)
— I don’t want engineering, but rather operations or training (I had experience in all 3)
— I don’t want to be working in an industrial environment
I was paraded past an endless string of customers at «hiring conferences» like a piece of meat. And who was I interviewing with? Industrial companies who wanted me to manage their graveyard shifts in their factories.
When one wanted me to come in for a second interview, I declined, and said that is exactly what I told them I did NOT want.
For the record, I did get a job, but without the help of Lucas Group.
It wasn’t in an industrial environment
It was paying $ 20K more than they said I could possibly earn
It was a 9-​to-​5 job
It was as an operations program manager
And it was in San Diego.
How about them apples?