Retirees Often Get Back To Work At VARs

In Washington, the "revolving door" dance is a familiar one when it comes to elected lawmakers. As soon as a congressman retires or gets voted out of office, he or she can expect a flood of offers from lobbying firms for far, far more money than they made as public servants.

But there's a lower-profile revolving door routine that's benefiting longtime government agency IT workers. As soon as they become eligible for retirement, many immediately land in more lucrative jobs with VARs. The situation is repeated as well within the ranks of state and local agencies.

"They're valuable for several reasons," said Mark Amtower, an author/consultant and founder of Web sites such as governmentexpress.com. "They know the agency, office and mission," Amtower said. "They know who makes the decisions. They know if an upcoming project is funded. And they can get their new company in the door. Their Rolodex carries them at first, and they can pick up the skills they need on the outside very quickly."

Reston, Va.-based InScope is among the VARs that have gained from the recruitment of retirees. "The immediate benefit is that we pick them up as subject-matter experts on our staff," said Brian Stucky, vice president of decision management. "We've yet to work a federal project where we were not pointed to critical or 'key' personnel to serve as our subject matter experts. These have nearly always been older, seasoned veterans of the agency. They're the ones who know and can answer the hard questions that nobody else can."