Customer Reviews

Career anchors: Discovering your real values

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More than a detailed analysis of the book, this is about my experience with it.

Having taken various aptitude and interest tests, personality type tests, and career counselling, I was still without a clue as to what work would be satisfying for me. I have been told that with my broad range of aptitudes, broad knowledge, and variety of skills, that I "could do anything". I have been told that my abilities are both a "blessing and a curse" because the ones I'm not using will demand expression. So, I've had this tortured search for satisfying work. Meanwhile, I've done a bit of everything: technical writing, designing and building computer hardware and software, systems analysis, I even ran a factory for 5 years! But I've always wondered "where is this all getting me"? "Career Anchors" was recommended to me as a way to answer my question, and I got the book without expecting much.

But to my surprise and delight, I found that the author is the ONLY writer I've found who sees the most important factor in finding one's work is your own internal motivators. His point is that you do best what you have the most motivation to do. In my own words: when you get up in the morning, what is it that you look forward to? What gets you up and going? (He's not so informal.)

I found that my motivation is Pure Challenge!! Did anyone ever identify that anywhere else?! Now I understand why my "career" has been all over the map - everything I've tackled has been deemed by others as impossible - and I've enjoyed tackling and overcoming these challenges. That's been the thread and my motivator. Knowing this makes it much easier to evaluate opportunities and decide whether or not to tackle them.



This is not a difficult book - you can read it in two hours - but what is explained in it is so clear and easy to understand that I'm sure there is value to everyone. And nobody else that I know of is looking at careers this way. It is truly refreshing.

The worksheet exercises are comprehensive, and if you do them carefully, could take 4 to 6 hours. But the value and the benefit will be a permanent help in your job search.

Don't expect this book to solve everything, but DO expect to gain valuable insight about yourself not offered by other writers.

After reading this book and taking its quizzes, I found that it provided a good start for insight into one's career anchor. Unfortunately, the journey ends at "discovery". It failed to address how to maximize one's "career anchor" or how to further develop oneself within the anchor. This book will help you determine what your career anchor is (what motivates and stimulates you) and then it will end there. You are left in the dark with how to develop your career around your anchor. The book, however, is true to its subtitle "Discovering your real values"-- but doesn't delve into what to do after this discovery.

This is the earlier version (2000) of Career Anchors which was updated a few years ago. For the lay person, probably not a big difference between the two. You will likely find the materials and self-awareness that results from using this tool similar. The newer version is also available here on Amazon and, again, highly recommended: Career Anchors: Participant Workbook (Pfeiffer Essential Resources for Training and HR Professionals)

Have you ever wondered if you're in the right career? Well I am a trainer in a 13,000+ staff company & 10% of them don't really know why they're not satisfied with their job. Well, it's because they're in the wrong job. This book gives you exercises to help you understand more about your values and gives suggestions on how to change that. If you're in career consultant business, this is a classic book to read and adopt to your existing tools.

I ordered this book on the 9th of January and I have not received it yet, nor have I got notification of its current status. So I will be requesting my money back and will order all of my future text books from other online sellers. I will also tell the several hundred classmates that use amazon about my experience.

Thank-you,