Improving living conditions along with the development of modern medicine caused a rapid increase in the proportion of retirement age persons in the whole world, and in the structure of the Russian population, including the civil service. This process makes it necessary to find ways of effective using the professional potential of older offi cials. However, the modern human resource management in the public service does not take into account well enough the age and psychological characteristics of senior civil servants and, as a consequence, does not create the conditions necessary for the effective implementation of their capacity, knowledge and skills accumulated over the years of service. The article analyzes the characteristics of senior civil servants’ career on the basis of the results of a research conducted in collaboration with the faculty of evaluation and development of management training HSPA Russian Presidential Academy. Results of the survey allow revealing personal and professional qualities of senior offi cials which both increase their demand at the labor market and produce the opposite effect. It has also been revealed the demand for public servants over 60 years at various levels of government and spheres in which the current government employees over 60 years and retired civil servants can prove themselves well. The paper concludes with presenting some proposals that would allow to solve the problem of realization of social and laboring potential of career civil servants of the senior age group.