Autonomy/ Independence 
The key motives for this anchor are freedom from organizational constraints in order to pursue professional or technical/functional competency. Organizational life is experienced as too restrictive, irrational and/or intrusive into one's personal life. There is a need to be on your own, setting your own pace, schedule, lifestyle and work habits. There is little conflict about missed opportunities for promotion and little sense of guilt or failure about not aspiring higher.
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Security/ Stability
People anchored in security tend to do what is required of them by their employers in order to maintain job security, a decent income, and a stable future in the form of a good retirement program, benefits, etc. These people will, more than others, accept the organization's definition of their career and will have to trust the organization to do the right thing by them.
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Technical Function
The primary concern in this area is the actual technical or functional content of the work being done. The self-image of people in this group is tied up with their feeling of competence in the particular area they are in. They are therefore not interested in management per se, though they will accept management responsibility within their technical or functional area of expertise. But it is the area of work that really turns them on and career growth means continued advancement within that work area only.
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General Management Competence
The anchor is a combination of three competencies: Analytical Competence: the ability to identify, analyze and solve problems under conditions of incomplete information and uncertainty Interpersonal competence: the ability to influence, supervise and lead people at all levels of the organization toward the more effective achievement of organizational goals Emotional competence: the capacity to be stimulated by emotional and interpersonal crises rather than exhausted or debilitated by them, the capacity to bear high levels of responsibility without becoming paralyzed, and the ability to exercise power without guilt or shame.
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Entrepreneurial Creativity
This anchor is characterized by the overarching need to build or create something that is entirely your own product. People with this anchor find that none of the other anchors completely matches with their key motives and values, but that there is a degree of overlap with several of the anchors, ie. Autonomy, managerial competency, freedom to exercise special talents, and a desire to build wealth for security.
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Service Dedication to a Cause
The people in this group feel the need not only to maintain an adequate income, but to do something meaningful in a larger context. They are actively service oriented and interested in careers that provide solutions in areas such as product safety, overpopulation, discrepancy between rich and poor and the environment.
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Pure Challenge
People in this group define their careers success by overcoming impossible odds, solving the unsolvable problem, winning out over the competitors.
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Lifestyle
These people want and need to integrate their personal and family concerns into their career. They look for an integration of work/play/social life. People who anchor in lifestyle also value their autonomy and have in many cases also a high concern for independence
Career Anchors Revisited: Implications for Career Development in the 21st Century
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