Retirement may look very different
for baby boomers who are
approaching an age at which the previous generation was already playing golf and moving into retirement
communities.
According to a new survey by Robert
Half Technology, a leading provider of
information technology professionals on
a project and full-time basis, nearly half
(46 percent) of chief information officers (CIOs) say they are likely to consider consulting or project work as a way to
transition to retirement. The national
poll included responses from more than
1,400 CIOs from a sample of U.S. companies with 100 or more employees.
“Leaving full-time work, especially for
information technology professionals,
does not mean checking out of the work
force entirely,” says Brandon Riley, division director of Robert Half Technology
in Houston. “The bridge to retirement
for these IT professionals is consulting
work.”
Smart Business spoke with Riley
about the implications of the impeding
legions of baby boomers moving out of
full-time work, and what the consulting
trend means for both workers and
employers.
Was this a surprising trend — that CIOs
prefer easing into retirement with consulting work rather than leaving the work force
altogether?
No, this was not a surprise to us.
Particularly since many IT managers
who are not even near retirement are
doing consulting work. The fact is that
this is a very good market — and a lucrative one — for being in the IT field, and
that includes professionals taking on
consulting work.
Why would CIOs, or executives in general,
be interested in consulting work?
Becoming a consultant can leave room
for a lot of flexibility. For example, an IT
consultant can choose to work with the
specific technologies he or she prefers.
This is attractive, particularly to CIOs
who stepped out of technology over the
years and had become more of an
administrator dealing with staff management and company politics.
Consulting provides a great opportunity for these people to become more technical again — which is often what they
love in the first place. They can also pick
and choose the projects they find most
interesting, which may also allow them
time for other personal or professional
interests. It can be an ideal set-up to
work from a home office, set your own
hours and have all the flexibility that
goes along with that.
What kind of benefits can companies reap
from this trend?
The IT consulting trend gives companies an opportunity to have an informal
mentoring or succession planning program, passing on knowledge from the
experienced, retired IT workers to those
at entry level. It helps to mentor entry-level workers about the company’s big
picture because with heads-down, dayto-day activity, it may be difficult for junior workers to understand what their job
means to the company. A more experienced consultant can help broaden that
scope.
Companies are also turning to this
group for help in managing legacy systems. If a company has legacy computer
applications in operation, it can be beneficial to hire an experienced consultant
who is familiar with these operations,
such as previous ASP and VB6 applications. These were precursors to dot-net
technology, which many entry-level IT
professionals have experience with or
are striving to get into. However, these
professionals may not be familiar with
older applications. Not all companies
have upgraded to dot-net applications
yet, which puts these companies at a disadvantage when trying to find IT workers.
Are companies receptive to hiring retired
workers or those nearing retirement?
Companies realize the value seasoned
workers bring to a firm. A semi-retired
IT consultant requires little or no training, understands legacy applications,
and can be a mentor to other employees.
There are benefits all around. In fact,
many companies are offering incentives
to attract these professionals, including
offering flexible work arrangements,
telecommuting and work/life balance
programs.
How can companies find qualified retired IT
workers for consulting?
They can look inside their own company for CIOs or IT directors who are
approaching retirement age and suggest
doing consulting work with the company
upon retirement. Another option is to
contact a staffing company that specializes in placing high-quality, experienced
IT consultants.
BRANDON RILEY is the Houston division director for Robert
Half Technology (www.rht.com), a leading provider of technology
professionals for initiatives ranging from Web development and
multiplatform systems integration to network engineering and
technical support. Reach Riley at [email protected] or (713)
623-4700.