Career Anchors Reimagined, 5th Edition

4The Eight Career Anchor Categories

Dr. Seuss:

“I'm afraid that some times

You'll play lonely games too.

Games you can't win

'cause you'll play against you …”

Inverting Dr. Seuss' caution, you can win this game because one of you is going to win. And winning means getting a better sense of who you are. From the original research in the 1970s to now, this has been the common thread—understand your anchors to understand your career trajectory.

One very important point is that the anchors do not correspond precisely to particular occupations because in most occupations, such as business, medicine, or the trades, it is possible to be in that occupation with different anchors. For example, in any sample of doctors, lawyers, or even police officers you will find successful occupants with different anchors because in these occupations it is possible to pursue that line of work for different reasons. When you look at the descriptions and examples, think about your competencies, motives, and values in general terms, not necessarily in terms of what you are doing right now in your present work.

To familiarize yourself with the eight anchor categories, read the descriptive paragraphs and the example stories associated with each of them. For each anchor think of the description relative to yourself: Is it “Totally me,” “Sort of like me,” “Not so much me,” or “Definitely not me.” After the description, we provide two hypothetical examples, not real people, simply prototypical examples ...