You’ve seen all the stories about high-ranking government officials making the leap to the private sector after careers in public service.

It’s easy to conclude that they do it for the money—that visions of fat paychecks, stock options, perhaps access to a corporate jet and other perks, lead them to forgo retirement and cash in on their experiences in government.

But what frequently goes unnoticed is that, in many cases, they don’t stay in those jobs. After a brief time, a year or less, they move on to another company. And sometimes, another company after that. Or, after trying to fit into a corporate environment, they decide to go into business for themselves, often as

Renato DiPentima, President and Chief Executive Officer of SRA

consultants.

Trying to find the right role at the right company is hard work, especially when there is such a vast difference between government and corporate cultures. And a big paycheck won’t make up for those differences.

A lot of companies want to hire high-ranking government officials when they retire. But many of them are salivating over those officials’ Rolodexes, rather than the particular skills the executives have.

Retired Coast Guard Adm. James Loy knows this from personal experience.

“There is a shelf life to a public servant departing for the private sector,” Loy said. “If a company was interested in me for the doors I could open or the meetings I could get them, after three to five years I would be” out of date.

Loy, now 62, spent 40 years in the Coast Guard, rising to commandant of the service. He had already begun to look ahead to retirement when the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, occurred, when Transportation secretary Norman Mineta convinced him to take the helm of the new Transportation Security Administration. A year later, TSA was moved into the new Homeland Security Department and Loy was promoted to deputy secretary of the fledgling organization.

Early in 2005, after helping get DHS off the ground, Loy decided to retire from government service. His opportunities were significantly different and far more vast after playing such a key role in homeland security.

“It made my decision harder. There was a menu of things” to choose from, he said, but “I had not interviewed for a job for 40 years.”

Many companies courted him. Some he eliminated immediately, such as those where he would be expected to bill by the hour.

“I’d recoil from those, not that they were repulsive,” he said, “but just a turnoff.”

He built a matrix, listing the offers he was most interested in and the employment factors he considered most important.

“I was interested in making money; I do not apologize for that,” Loy said. “It was not the firm that offered the most money, but the best package.”

He wanted the job to contain plenty of variety; after all, he had just come from running a $40 billion department with a wide array of responsibilities. He wanted something that would be less than a full-time position, “so I’d have time to do the other things I’d put off for 40 years.”

And he considered the people he’d be working with, their ethics and personalities. In April, Loy joined the Cohen Group, a Washington consulting company founded and led by William Cohen, former senator and secretary of Defense, and someone he’s known his entire career.

“I played basketball against Bill [in college],” he said. “It was Bowdoin College against the Coast Guard Academy, the Christmas season of '62.

Now Loy is senior counselor with Cohen’s firm, which provides consulting to U.S. and international clients. The transition to private industry has had its challenges.

“For me, the most traumatic thing was accepting my role as a helper rather than a doer,” he said. “The business here is to help others succeed at their goals and ambitions. That’s a bit foreign to me.”

The business side of consulting also is daunting, Loy said. He doesn’t negotiate contracts with clients because “I don’t have the skill set,” but he knows that’s not what he was hired for.

And there are things he misses from his years in government service, such as his twice-a-day briefings at the White House Situation Room.

“Not being in the loop is something I really have to work at getting used to,” Loy said.

According to the Office of Personnel Management, 62 percent of Senior Executive Service professionals are projected to retire within 10 years. Many of them may be planning to move into the private sector.

Carol Bonosaro, president of the Senior Executives Association, has seen first-hand the challenges facing government employees who want to establish a second career in business. One of her responsibilities at SEA is to arrange transition seminars that give soon-to-retire executives some guidance on making the move a successful one.

“We cover all the things they really need to know if they’re thinking about moving on to the private sector,” she said.

SALES IS OFTEN PART OF THE JOB. Many companies are looking for “business development” help—bringing in sales. For government folks, who have spent years being drilled in ethics requirements, this is a huge change, she said.

“Companies say, ‘Look, you’re expected to bring in business,’ and if you can’t do that you’re in trouble,” Bonosaro said. “Many [former government] executives aren’t used to or haven’t been in situations where they’ve had to be entrepreneurial.”

The seminars cover the money question—“If you’ve spent 30 years in the government, you never had to negotiate a salary,” Bonosaro said. But they address seemingly mundane topics, as well, that can be quite important.

“One of the real surprises [for government retirees] has been how companies offer so very little in terms of support services,” she said.

As a result, many high-ranking officials have to master such tasks as making their own travel reservations or filling out their own expense reports. One executive told her, “I never knew how to load paper in the copier before.”

SEA offers an online job bank, where subscriber companies can post open positions and scan resumes. In addition, executives can get help in composing their resumes—another task they have little experience with.

“Once you get the information in, it formats it,” Bonosaro said. “It will also set up your own little Web site for you.”

Retiring executives may not have a clear understanding of how their skills can translate into a business environment—or companies may not know how a career government professional can fit into their culture.

“I initially thought to pursue career opportunities outside the government contractor space, in particular CIO opportunities,” said John Gilligan, former CIO of the Air Force. “What I found, though, was difficulty on the part of private-sector firms when they tried to relate to my experience and what I would bring. It surprised me, [but] the companies were uncomfortable.”

At 54, Gilligan wanted a position that held the potential for a true second career. That was another hiccup in his hunt—many firms he interviewed with had fixed ideas about what he would do and made no plans for his professional growth.

That discovery marked the end of phase one in his job hunt, Gilligan said. Phase two meant accepting that he would stay in the government sector. The upside was that he knew, for at least a short time, that he had leverage because of his former position.

“In the federal contractor space, what I found was that it was much easier. People knew me,” he said. “As word got out [that I was leaving the Air Force], I got more unsolicited calls, but the earlier ones were more serious.”

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"Not being in the loop is something I really have to work at getting used to." —Adm. James Loy

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Gilligan spent a few months weighing offers. To help clarify his thinking, he solicited advice from friends.

“I began having lunches with former colleagues who’d gone to private industry. After three or four, you get a pretty good idea of what to expect,” he said. “It’s invaluable, and they’ll each have their own story.”

In the end, Gilligan opted to join SRA International Inc. of Fairfax, Va., (see sidebar) as vice president and deputy director of the company’s defense sector. He started work in August 2005.

MAKING THE TRANSITION. “They understood the government environment, understood my transition concerns,” Gilligan said. “SRA has brought folks in [and] helped them learn the business, but then moved them into meaningful jobs.”

The biggest adjustment he’s had to make since joining the company has been losing the ability to pull together representatives from throughout the industry to discuss issues.

“I have much less direct influence. With peer contractors, you have to convince them” to take a particular course of action, Gilligan said. “I miss the ability to leverage my authority.”

Charles Ingersoll is a senior client partner with Korn/Ferry International of Los Angeles, an executive search firm with offices all over the world. He heads up the company’s federal practice and has seen many of the pitfalls that government executives fall into when they move to the private sector.

“Understand why people are really hiring you,” is Ingersoll’s first bit of advice.

“I think that a lot of government executives have spent a whole career in public service trying to serve the public, so there’s a sense of doing good, and ... they may pick a company because they think they can continue the good work they’re doing,” he said. “But they’re sometimes naïve. Have your eyes open.”

Finally, it’s important to remember that in the private sector, it is usually all about the money, he said.

“I can’t tell you how many generals, how many admirals have told me, ‘They offered me this great package and all they want me to do is use my reputation to make money,’ ” Ingersoll said. “They feel very unsatisfied.”