Studies show that four general individual characteristics influence how people make career choices:

• Interests: People tend to go after career that they believe match their interests.
• Self image: A career is a reflection of a person’s self image as well as a molder of it.
• Personality: The factor includes a person’s personal orientation (whether one is adventurous, outgoing, passive’s submissive artistic etc) a personal need (including affiliation power and achievement needs).
• Social backgrounds: Socio economic status, education and occupational status of a person’s parents are covered in this category.

Career Anchors:

Career anchors are distinct patterns of self perceived talents, attitudes, motives and values that guide and stabilize a person’s career after several years of real world experience and feedback.

There are 7 career anchors are identified as it is:

1) Managerial competence: People having this drive seek managerial positions that offer opportunities for higher responsibility decision making power etc.

2) Technical competence: People, who have a strong technical or functional career anchor, seem to make career choices based on the technical or functional content of the work, such as engineering or accounting.

3) Creativity: These people are driven by a great desire to do something that is entirely of their own making. For them starting a new venture working in a research Lab. may be exciting alternatives their idea of a creative vocation.

4) Autonomy: These people seek a career that offers freedom of action and independence.

5) Dedication to a cause: If this is our anchor we focus on a cause that we believe is important (ending starvation deaths, bringing about word peace, cure for a diseases etc).

6) Pure challenge: If this is our career anchor we seek to meet and overcome difficult barriers or obstacles (scaling a mountain, reviving sick companies etc). We basically seek novelty and variety in our work.

7) Life style: if this is our career anchor, we seek to integrate personal, career and family goals. We choose jobs that enable to fit all parts of our life together.

Career planning is the process by which on selects career goals and the path to these goals. The major focus of career planning is on assisting the employees to achieve a better match between personal goals and the opportunities that are realistically available in the organizations.