Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Career Anchors

2021; Elsevier BV; Volume: 19; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.mnl.2020.11.003

1541-4620

Beth A. Brooks,

Workplace Health and Well-being

Happy New Year! I don’t know about you, but I, for one, am relieved that we’re starting a new year. Last year was very challenging for so many reasons that we’re all familiar with, not the least of which being how our work lives became completely upended. Many continue to struggle with challenges such as the spillover effect, the phenomenon of when the work life spills over into the family life and vice versa, Zoom fatigue, or missing face-to-face interactions with colleagues, just to name a few. For the most part, we have adjusted (some more so than others) to working from home (WFH). But the jury is still out on whether WFH will become our new “normal,” or will we return to our offices, organizations, and campuses when a vaccine becomes widely available, and the pandemic begins to subside? But in the event WFH does become the new normal, does it also follow that new jobs for a number of us will also result? At the beginning of this new year, many may still be apprehensive about what the future holds for their current position, and they’re thinking it could be time for a job change. OK, so then what? Because everyone’s situation is unique, there is not going to be a “one size fits all” answer. But this month’s column will refer back to 2 of my earlier columns that are relevant to anyone thinking of engaging in a new job search, followed by my delving into the concept of career anchors, Edgar Schein’s seminal work from the early 1960s. An almost 60-year-old model may strike you as being woefully out of date, but as recently as 2016, it was demonstrated that the career anchors typology has successfully withstood the test of time. This is why I continue to use the Career Anchors Assessment with career coaching clients to explore and evaluate new job opportunities. My column in the February 2020 issue of Nurse Leader discussed hiring manager perceptions of “you’re overqualified” for a particular role.1Brooks B.A. Anticipating and managing the dreaded “you’re overqualified”.Nurse Leader. 2020; 18: 12-13Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (1) Google Scholar Recall that being perceived as overqualified also signals perceptions of a candidate’s lower levels of interest in, and therefore commitment to, an organization, meaning that the candidate automatically becomes a turnover risk hire because of supposed other job options. As if the job search isn’t already challenging enough! My column in the April 2020 issue of Nurse Leader reviewed the issue of “fitting” into an organization, and the idea there are concurrent interacting forces between individuals and environments—the individual influencing his or her environment, and the environment impacting the individual.2Brooks B.A. Will I fit in?.Nurse Leader. 2020; 18: 103-105Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (1) Google Scholar Fit has been studied at the organization, supervisor, and job-role level, resulting in understanding that value congruence can impact many work-related outcomes either positively or negatively. So, if you’re considering a new work role for yourself in this new year, you’ll need to carefully consider how your values align with those of the potential new employer. Tip: leave the luxury brands in your closet! Beginning in the 1960s, Schein studied ways to conceptualize an adult’s career.3Schein E.H. Van Maanen J. Career anchors and job/role planning: tools for career and talent management.Organ Dyn. 2016; 45: 165-173Crossref Scopus (20) Google Scholar Through feedback and refinement that continued into the 1980s, the resulting 40-item Career Anchors Self-Assessment4Schein E.H. Van Maanen J. Career Anchors: The Changing Nature of Work and Careers Self Assessment.4th ed. Wiley, San Francisco, CA2013Google Scholar helps adults articulate the goals and aspirations they have for their careers. Even through all the recent turbulent times of restructuring, rightsizing, and downsizing organizations and work roles have undergone, the same 8 career anchors remain to this day. For any who are unaware of the Career Anchors Self-Assessment, it is different from competency self-assessment, aptitude, integrity, emotional intelligence, behavioral, or personality tests, which each serve their own unique purpose, for example, providing insights to improve teamwork, communication, and leadership. The Career Anchors Assessment informs how you prefer to be managed, developed, and rewarded, and helps to guide the evaluation of a current or future roles that, as I like to say, “will make your heart sing.” Schein maintains we often begin our careers focusing on the Technical/Functional anchor (defined below) as we develop the skills required for the job. Some will find this anchor rewarding for their entire career, whereas for others, it is but the first rung on a career ladder. Some may find they have 2 anchors that are equally important, but what this really means is they are yet to face a situation where they will give up one anchor or the other.5Schein E.H. Van Maanen J. Career Anchors: The Changing Nature of Work and Careers. Participant Workbook.4th ed. Wiley, San Francisco, CA2013Google Scholar Our understanding of what work we “like” or are “good at” evolves as we experience different work. Typically, it takes 10 years before one has enough experience to identify and define their career anchor—that central value, key motive, and dominant set of competencies—the one you would not give up.3Schein E.H. Van Maanen J. Career anchors and job/role planning: tools for career and talent management.Organ Dyn. 2016; 45: 165-173Crossref Scopus (20) Google Scholar Although our dominant anchor is stable over time, we can also experience temporary deviations in a particular job when we don’t fit or are perceived as overqualified. Because of the way today’s jobs are structured within organizations, one’s job and one’s career anchor may not always match. Classic examples are the accomplished staff RN who is unable to perform in the nurse manager role, or the individual who doesn’t like a job but stays in it because it pays well. Each of the 8 career anchors (remember, what you would not give up) is briefly defined below. Technical/Functional is the opportunity to apply your skills in an area and to continue to develop those skills to an even higher level. General Managerial is the opportunity to climb to a level high enough in an organization to enable you to integrate the efforts of others across functions, and to be responsible for the output of a particular unit of the organization. Autonomy/Independence is the opportunity to define your own work in your own way. Security/Stability is not wanting to give up employment security or tenure in a particular job or organization. Entrepreneurial Creativity is the opportunity to create an organization or enterprise of your own, built on your own abilities along with your willingness to take risks and to overcome obstacles. Service/Dedication is the desire to pursue work that achieves something of value, such as making the world a better place to live, solving environmental problems, improving harmony among people, helping others, improving people’s safety, or curing diseases through new products. Pure Challenge is the opportunity to work on solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems, to succeed over tough opponents, or to overcome difficult obstacles. Lifestyle is a work situation that permits you to balance and integrate your personal needs, your family’s needs, with the requirements of your career. The self-assessment inventory can also be used at the organization level for talent management and succession planning, although the assessment is rarely used in this manner. For the most part, Schein believes jobs are designed to meet the needs of the organization, rather than being designed to fit the needs (read: career anchor) of the individual.3Schein E.H. Van Maanen J. Career anchors and job/role planning: tools for career and talent management.Organ Dyn. 2016; 45: 165-173Crossref Scopus (20) Google Scholar Conversely, there is no time like the present to create jobs within new organization forms—such as more decentralized, flatter matrix, or virtual organizations—that also fulfill someone’s anchor. An organization can ask the candidate about his/her anchor first and then explore available roles consistent with the anchor. The assessment can also be used by individuals for their own career planning. Imagine a job role that includes the types of responsibilities, accountabilities, and projects on which you thrive. Or consider how the work world is rapidly evolving into a “gig” economy. Can your dominant career anchor open doors to new possibilities that you have not yet considered? We might be tempted to stereotype nurse leaders to be of 1 or 2 anchor types (General/Managerial or Service/Dedication), when in fact nursing is an occupation composed of many types of work that successfully meets many different career anchors. This is why even among nurses who are doing the same job, different anchors appear. Consider the staff nurse on your team with the Lifestyle career anchor versus another who thrives on Pure Challenge. Their different goals and aspirations are reflected in their career anchors, which may in part explain the different ways individuals show up to work. Each of us has a dominant career anchor that can guide the evaluation of a current or future role. Understanding your career anchor will also inform how you prefer to be managed, developed, and rewarded. So why not use all of these data to find yourself a role in an organization that “will make your heart sing”?