A survey by Robert Half Technology found that a lot of tech executives are thinking about consulting as a way to ease from full-time work to full-time leisure. George Eldridge says that’s not a bad idea at all.

He used to be the senior vice president of corporate services at AmerUs Group Co., and now he’s a consultant with more job offers than he can handle. The money’s good; the independence is terrific.

In the Robert Half survey, 46 percent of chief information officers said they were “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to consider consulting or project work as a means to make the transition to retirement.

That school of thought is beginning to enroll students here in Central Iowa. “In this office, we’re seeing more and more of that,” said Chris Parker, Robert Half’s local technology division director. “I think the market has really changed over the past year; there’s a lot more opportunity, and people have a higher comfort level with being a consultant.”

They’re confident they can find work — and maybe they’re starting to convince themselves that their peers will approve, too. Or maybe even be a little envious.

At the CIO level, “most of them are used to 80-hour weeks,” Parker said. “A 40-hour consulting job looks good.”

After 14 years at AmerUs, Eldridge left in 1998 to become the CIO at Universal American Financial Corp. in Florida, then came back two years ago to be closer to his children and grandchildren. “I’m 62 and didn’t want to retire, so I thought I could pick up some consulting,” he said. Not a problem. “I’ve been working practically full time,” he reports.

His first thought was to specialize in providing advice about that pesky Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Unfortunately, “most companies think you have to have a CPA for that, so I went back to information technology,” Eldridge said.

He also found out that it’s better not to be too independent. “I thought because I knew people in Des Moines I could sell myself individually,” Eldridge said. “But Des Moines has changed a lot in the size of its companies, and big corporations have policies that say you have to be on the preferred vendor list.” So he signed up with Robert Half.

Since then, his new career has been a dream.

“There’s plenty of work out there,” he said. “Almost every time, I’ve had at least two projects to choose from.”

Most of what Eldridge does can be classified as project management. Right now he’s working on a project for the city of Des Moines, and he has consulted for insurance companies and manufacturers. The city job was projected as a two-year task; he expects to wrap it up in about five months.

“I was making really good money at AmerUs, and consulting doesn’t pay that kind of money,” Eldridge said. However, “if you’re a senior-level consultant, you can make well over $100,000.” On the downside, you have to pay for your own insurance and “you think you’ll get some time off between projects, but it kind of doesn’t happen that way,” he said. “You get another project and get hooked on that. Going from one company to another creates some stress, because you’ve got to prove yourself all the time. But that takes a surprisingly short time. I like meeting people, so that’s a big plus.

“I’ll keep doing this probably another five years, anyway; maybe more than that,” Eldridge said. “I really like it. When you work as a CIO, you’re never off work. I had a cell phone and a BlackBerry, and the damn things would ring all night. Now I can virtually leave the job at work.”