Success and satisfaction in our careers often stem from a deep understanding of our career goals and motivations. Edgar H. Schein, a famous American career guidance expert and professor at MIT Sloan School of Business, proposed the Career Anchors theory through 12 years of research. Personal career planning provides a powerful framework. Through long-term follow-up research on 44 MBA graduates from the Sloan School of Business, the career anchor model proposed by Professor Shien has become a widely used career assessment tool around the world, helping individuals and organizations better understand career motivations, decision-making and development paths.
What are Career Anchors?
Career anchor, as the name suggests, refers to the stable self-perception and career orientation formed by an individual during his or her career. It determines our understanding and choice of career goals, roles, and career development directions. Career anchors reflect an individual’s core values and motivations and help individuals make decisions consistent with their own values during career development.
Professor Shien believes that career anchors occupy an important position in an individual’s career, are usually formed in an individual’s early stages, and are relatively stable over time. Once individuals identify their career anchors, they are able to make more fulfilling and successful career choices.
Eight types of Shi En career anchors
Schein divides career anchors into eight major types, each reflecting different career motivations and preferences. The following is a detailed analysis of each career anchor to help you better understand your career positioning:
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Technical/Functional Anchors
This type of people pays attention to the improvement of professional knowledge and skills, likes to become experts in a certain field, and achieve personal achievements through the improvement of technical abilities. They seek satisfaction in professional work. -
Managerial Anchors
People with managerial career anchors pursue leadership and management positions, enjoy organizing and guiding others, and achieve their goals by influencing the work of others. -
Autonomy/Independence Anchors
People with autonomous career anchors value independence and freedom, tend to start a business or engage in freelance work, and avoid any form of restrictions and constraints. -
Security/Stability Anchors
For those who pursue security and stability, they prefer positions with stable income and job security, and usually prefer traditional work environments and positions. -
Creativity/Entrepreneurial Anchors
People with innovative career anchors pursue creativity and challenges, like to solve complex problems, develop new ideas and methods, and usually adapt to rapidly changing industries or entrepreneurial environments. -
Service/Dedication to a Cause Anchors
People with career anchors closely connect their career goals with social values and the welfare of others, and are willing to contribute to society. -
Pure Challenge Anchors
This type of person seeks continuous challenges and growth, likes to face difficult tasks, and obtains a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction by overcoming challenges. -
Lifestyle Anchors
People with lifestyle career anchors pay more attention to work-life balance and choose careers that provide time flexibility and good work-life integration.
Why is it important to understand career anchors?
Understanding the types of career anchors you have can help you make better career choices, leading to greater career satisfaction and fulfillment. When an individual’s career anchor does not match the job or organizational environment, one may feel unsatisfied or unmotivated. Therefore, career anchor theory not only has a guiding role for individuals, but is also of great significance to the talent management of enterprises and organizations.
How to discover your career anchor?
To help you explore your career anchors, Professor Shien developed the Career Anchors Assessment, a simple and effective career assessment tool that uses a series of questions to help you understand where you are in your career. preferences and motivations in .
The Shien Career Anchor Test contains 40 descriptions of career goals, motivations and career values, and participants answer based on their true thoughts. This test is suitable for professionals who already have certain work experience. It is recommended that the work experience is about 1 to 3 years so that the test results can be more instructive.
Test calculation method:
After the test is completed, calculate the score of each career anchor and find the top 3 career anchors with the highest scores based on the scores. Through these scores, you will be able to clearly understand your main career anchors and make career plans accordingly. It should be noted that some descriptions may be particularly consistent with your daily thoughts. At this time, you can add points to these descriptions to reflect your special preference for certain career anchors.
Career anchor and career planning
Understanding your career anchors is critical to developing career development strategies and choosing the right job. It can help you:
- Identify the career direction that suits you: Choose an industry, position or work environment that matches your career values and motivations based on the type of career anchor.
- Improve career satisfaction: Avoid career fatigue and dissatisfaction by matching personal interests and work content.
- Set long-term career goals: Set clear career development goals based on the direction provided by the career anchor.
Participate in the career anchor test for free
Career anchor theory not only helps individuals understand the motivation and direction of their careers, but also provides organizations with a powerful tool for optimizing talent management. By understanding career anchors, you will be able to make more informed career decisions and increase your career satisfaction and success.
Now, you can take the Career Anchor Test for free to explore your career niche. Through simple questions, the test will help you identify the type of anchor that best aligns with your professional values and guide your career choices and development. Click the Start Test button below to discover your career anchor!
