Career anchors are distinct patterns of self perceived talents, abilities, motives, needs, attitudes and values that guide and stabilise a person’s career after years of real world experiences and feedback.

To determine your career anchors give a response (SA= Strongly agree, A=Agree, D=Disagree, SD= Strongly disagree) that best describes your feelings about each statement below.

1. I would leave my company rather than be promoted out of my area of expertise.
2. Becoming highly specialized and highly competent in some specific functional or technical area is important to me.
3. A career that is free from organization restriction is important to me.
4. I have always sought a career in which I could be of service to others.
5. A career that provides a maximum variety of types of assignments and work projects is important to me.
6. To rise to a position in general management is important to me.
7. I like to be identified with a particular organization and the prestige that accompanies that organization
8. Remaining in my present geographical location rather than moving because of a promotion is important to me.
9. The use of my skills in building a new business enterprise is important to me.
10. I would like to reach a level of responsibility in an organization where my decisions really make a difference.
11. I see myself more as a generalist as opposed to being committed to one specific area of expertise.
12. An endless variety of challenges in my career is important to me.
13. Being identified with a powerful or prestigious employer is important to me.
14. The excitement of participating in many areas of work has been the underlying motivation behind my career.
15. The process of supervising, influencing, leading and controlling people at all levels is important to me.
16. I am willing to sacrifice some of my autonomy to stabilize my total life situation.
17. An organization that will provide security through guaranteed work benefits, a good retirement, and so forth is important to me.
18. During my career I will be mainly concerned with my own sense of freedom and autonomy.
19. I will be motivated throughout my career by the number of products that I have been directly involved in creating.
20. I want others to identify me by my organization and my job.
21. Being able to use my skills and talents in the service of an important cause is important to me.
22. To be recognized by my title and status is important to me.
23. A career that permits a maximum of freedom and autonomy to choose my own work, hours and so forth is important to me.
24. A career that gives me a great deal of flexibility is important to me.
25. To be in a position in general management is important to me.
26. It is important for me to be identified by my occupation.
27. I will accept a management position only if it is in my area of expertise.
28. It is important for me to remain in my present geographical location rather than move because of a promotion or new job assignment.
29. I would like to accumulate personal fortune to prove myself and others that I am competent.
30. I want to achieve a position that gives me the opportunity to combine analytical competence with supervision of people.
31. I have been motivated throughout my career by using my talents in variety of different areas of work.
32. An endless variety of challenges is what I really want from my career.
33. An organization that will give me long run stability is important to me.
34. To be able to create or build something that is entirely my own product or idea is important to me.
35. Remaining in my specialized area as opposed to being promoted out of my area of expertise is important to me.
36. I do not want to be constrained by either organization or the business world.
37. Seeing others change because of my efforts is important to me.
38. My main concern in life is to be competent in my area of expertise.
39. The chance to pursue my own lifestyle and not be constrained by the rules of an organization is important to me.
40. I find most organizations to be restrictive and intrusive.
41. Remaining in my area of expertise, rather than being promoted into general management is important to me.
42. I want a career that allows me to meet my basic needs through helping others.
43. The use of my interpersonal and helping skills in the service of others is important to me.
44. I like to see others change because of my efforts.

Scoring Key

Score your responses by writing the number that corresponds to your responses. (SA=4, A=3, D=2, SD=1) to each question in the space next to the item number. Then obtain subscale scores by adding your sore on the items indicated and then divide by the number of items in the scale.

The types of career anchors are:-

Technical competence: You organize career around the challenge of the actual work you are doing.
Autonomy: You value freedom and independence.
Service: You are concerned with helping others or working on an important cause.
Identity: You are concerned with status, prestige and titles in your work.
Variety: You seek an endless variety of new and different challenges.
Managerial competence: You like to solve problems and want to lead and control others.
Security: You want stability and career security.
Creativity: You have a strong need to create something of your own.

Ask yourself ..On which anchor did I receive the highest score? What jobs fit best with this anchor? Use your analysis to select the right job and career for you. You will function best when your job fits with your career anchor.

Source: Robbins, SP, 1994, ‘Organizational Behavior’, 6th edition, Prentice Hall of India, New Delhi

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What are your Career Anchors? : Quiz; March'08

Scoring Key

The HR Practice