One Eye On The Exit.

• Author: THOMPSON, NICHOLAS
• Position: How presidential aides can survive

A guide for moving from the West Wing to the real world

WHEN YOU WORK IN THE WHITE House, everyone returns your calls. You make decisions that are broadcast on the six o'clock news. You get there early in the morning; you leave late; you probably chain-drink cups of coffee. You bear the burden of breaking scandals, possible wars, and whether the President has the right make-up on. Your family and friends envy the glorious life they think you live because they've watched NBC's "The West Wing" It's a great job, but there's one problem: Most White House aides don't last very long.

From the chief of staff to the most obscure policy advisor, White House staffers show up with bubbling idealism, great expectations, and seemingly unlimited vigor. Then, usually within 18 months, they're out. Although a few stick around until a new president has been elected and the moving vans roll up, most others call it quits much sooner--after they lose a power struggle, burn out, or just decide they need some more time at home or money in the bank.

Those who came from law firms or academia usually glide right back to an enhanced version of whatever they left. Others face a grimmer task. Once you've been in the White House, that old job in the ad agency or in the house minority leader's office doesn't look so appealing. You've been in the center of the world for too long with too much influence. There are some good jobs available--Washington rain-makers, insightful pundits, non-profit chairmen--but it's not easy to get one and many former executive-branch aides stumble and end up simply outlining books that never get written and sinking into careers that never get kicking.

What can you do to make sure you succeed and don't drift into oblivion? You've got to figure out the elaborate courtship rituals practiced by ex-executive aides and their employers, learn the rules of the Washington reputation game, and dodge the many landmines scattered outside the White House gates. None of this is easy; but none of it is impossible. So read on and study the following ten Washington Monthly commandments for navigating the post-White House world. We can't guarantee that all readers will exit this great Washington mating game with a perfect partner; but we can guarantee that you won't end up forced to spend the next decade as a fading lobbyist arguing that refrigerator coolants really don't harm the ozone layer.

Commandment # 1: Plan ahead while you're in.

If you've worked close to the president, you don't have the most directly employable skills. You've learned how to spin, you can probably rattle off the names of dozens of foreign leaders and the chairmen of assorted congressional subcommittees, and you can probably make great cocktail-party arguments for or against free trade (or both). These aren't useless talents; but they don't guarantee smooth sailing into another career. Remember, as former Bush speech writer Tony Snow says, "You're far more interesting when you're in the White House than when you're out."

How do you get around this? The best way is to plan your transition out in two steps. First, move to a related job in the government, a little further from the White House but where you can actually be in charge of something--a great boost for your resumed. Clinton Communications Director Mark Gearan first moved over to run the Peace Corps and then moved from that leadership position to the presidency of Hobart and William Smith colleges. James Baker made the transition internally: engineering a switch out of the job as Reagan's chief of staff to head the Treasury Department and, in due course, the Department of State.

If, however, you only have a chance to think one step ahead, find a specialty while you're in the White House--something that people on the outside care about. If you spend two years restructuring the internal presidential mail system, you're apt to spend the next two years expediting the invoice electronics at WalMart. If, however, you work as the president's domestic policy advisor for communications, you'll be handed a sack of generous and exciting offers the minute you're out the door.

This lesson seems to have been at least partly learned by the Clinton crowd. On February 15th...