By Adam Geller
The Associated Press

Dick Grasso

NEW YORK - He's out of a job, but don't worry about Dick Grasso combing through the want ads.

Despite the scandal that forced Grasso to resign the top post at the New York Stock Exchange, other companies and organizations could soon be eyeing him for a prominent role, corporate recruiters said Thursday.

Grasso, of course, doesn't need to work, thanks to the $139.5 million lump payout of accumulated pay and benefits that cost him his job. At 57, there's nothing to prevent him from settling into a long, and very comfortable, retirement. There's speculation he'll write a book.

But if he chooses to take another job - and some headhunters have trouble imagining the bulldog-like Grasso sitting still - much of his integrity remains intact.

Grasso's connections to the powerful and insider's acumen, his ability to command an organization and record of accomplishment will probably make him prized.

Perhaps a politically connected private equity firm or law practice, some headhunters and consultants suggested. A Wall Street banking firm or a not-for-profit organization.

"I can't possibly imagine that someone of that level of energy and that level of ability is just going to go away," said Barry Honig, president of Honig International, a Tenafly, N.J., executive search firm.

"It's one of the few times where somebody takes a fall without being tabbed either for lack of performance or unethical (behavior)," said Jkhn Johnson, a partner with executive recruitment firm Korn/Ferry International.