There are distinct patterns of self-perceived talents, attitudes, motives and values that guide and stabilize a person’s career after the initial years of earning real-world work experience and feedback. These patterns are called as Career Anchors.
Career Anchors
There are distinct patterns of
self-perceived talents, attitudes, motives and values that guide and stabilize
a person’s career after the initial years of earning real-world work experience
and feedback. These patterns are called as Career Anchors. These anchors
provide a growing area of stability within the individual’s attitudes, which
anchors the interpretation of career and life options. Typical career anchors
include those of technical competence, managerial competence, security and
autonomy. These anchors affect considerably the way individuals see themselves,
their jobs and their organizations. For example, some employees using a
technical competence anchor get concerned mainly with technical tasks. They
refuse to become involved in aspects of managerial tasks.
Career Stages
There are four major career stages
according to experts on career management. During the first stage there is
considerable exploration. The young employee searches for an identity and
undergoes considerable self-examination and role tryouts. This stage usually
results in taking a number of different jobs and is in general, a very unstable
and relatively unproductive period in the person’s career. At the end of the
phase, a career statement emerges based on the crystallization of an
individual’s views of themselves. For example, Human Resource Management
aspirants begin to view themselves as sound in human relationships, labour laws
and recruitment practices.
In the second stage, establishment, the employee
begins to settle down and indicates a need for intimacy. This is usually a
growing productive period in the employee’s career. The third stage of
maintenance occurs when the person levels off at a highly productive but plain
period with little growth. At this stage the person has a need for
generativity, which is nothing but a concern to leave something to the next
generation. This need often leads the person to assume a paternalistic or
mentor role with younger subordinate. The person may either have a growth spurt
or become stagnant and decline during this career stage. The final stage is
decline, when the person gradually gives up his active participation in
official life.
Tags : Human Resources Management - Career Development
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