I mentioned Career Anchors in a previous post on the free career resources that can help when you’re applying for jobs. In this post, I explore Schein’s questionnaire in more detail.
I’m a fan of any questionnaire that develops self-awareness. Knowledge is power. The more you understand yourself and what you need to be fulfilled, the better informed your career choices will be.
Edgar Schein’s Career Anchors questionnaire is one such tool. Schein developed a series of 8 Career Anchors, which feature in a wide range of occupations. The questionnaire requires you to respond to 40 statements. Scoring these reveals your career anchors. Your anchors are a combination of your abilities, values and motivations. Without understanding your career anchors, you risk ‘drifting’ into roles that don’t suit you or feel right. Here’s a link to a FREE version of the Career Anchor questionnaire.
If you can appreciate what you need to be fulfilled, it’s easier to understand why you may not be happy in your job and what kind of work you’re more likely to find fulfilling.
Definitions of the 8 Anchors
1. Technical/Functional Competence.
Excelling in an area of expertise allows you to thrive, with your technical prowess potentially paving the way for a promotion into management roles. However, transitioning to management may come with the risk of distancing yourself from your technical expertise—the aspect of your work which provides you with the greatest fulfilment.
2. General Managerial Competence
You excel at making a meaningful impact on the broader organisation at a higher level. You’d achieve satisfaction from applying your skills in a wider role where your contributions can drive strategic initiatives.
3. Autonomy/Independence
The ability to define your role and determine how you execute your work is fundamental to your identity. Individuals for whom this resonates often gravitate towards self-employment.
4. Security/Stability
Job security and financial stability are priorities for you, with financial certainty more important than the specific role requirements.
5. Entrepreneurial Creativity
You possess a strong drive for success and are willing to take calculated risks to achieve your goals. You embrace challenges and view failures as stepping stones to success. You’re more inclined towards running your own business than working for someone else.
6. Service/Dedication to a Cause
Fundamentally you’re motivated by the desire to achieve meaningful impact through your work, whether collaborating with others, advancing scientific knowledge, contributing to environmental sustainability, or pursuing other significant endeavours.
7. Pure Challenge
You’re motivated by tackling seemingly insurmountable challenges. This may be intellectually through research, or through the application of political, strategic, scientific or interpersonal skills.
8. Lifestyle
Work-life integration plays a crucial role shaping the decisions you make. Your choices will be influenced by the ability to maintain this balance. For instance, you might turn down a promotion or relocation if it negatively affects your lifestyle or the well-being of a partner/ family members.
The Career Anchors questionnaire
The aim of Schein’s questionnaire is not to ‘match’ you to an ideal job. However, if you’re aware of the elements that contribute to your personal and professional fulfilment, this may help inform the career decisions you make.
In this short Youtube clip, Schein suggests asking yourself about the career decisions you’ve made to date.
- What decisions did you make and why?
- Is there a pattern?
- Do these point to a specific career anchor/anchors?
- Which anchor would you be most reluctant to let go of?
- Which matters least?
Reflecting on these questions led me to understand my own Career Anchors of Autonomy/Independence, and Service/Dedication to a cause.
My first ever job, in retail, delivered to a limited extent on Service/Dedication to a cause but not on Autonomy/Independence.
My next job, working for an Employment Agency delivered precisely none of these- and led me to move into careers work-which delivered on Service/Dedication to a Cause.
Where I’ve been denied Autonomy/Independence in roles, I literally feel suffocated. When I look back at jobs I’ve left, this has been a key reason for moving on. Where I was denied Service/Dedication to a cause, my job meant that, as one friend put it, I was ‘hitting the target but missing the point.’ Again, I needed to move to rediscover both autonomy and meaning in my career.
While General Management Competence was my third Anchor, I’ve never had the same degree of enthusiasm for this as for the other two. My recent move into self-employment has enabled me to focus solely on Autonomy/Independence and Service/Dedication to a cause.
Discover your Career Anchors
You can access a FREE version of the Career Anchor questionnaire. The book, ‘Career Anchors: The Changing Nature of Careers Self-Assessment‘ by Edgar Schein and John van Maanen includes a paper version of questionnaire.
Take time to reflect on your current/next role. How will your Anchors inform your career decisions?
It’s not the days in your life, but the life in your days that counts.
Brian White