Skip to content
Career Anchors Test · Edgar Schein's model

The motivations behind your career decisions

A guided pause to recognize which values, motivations, and capabilities carry the most weight when you choose, sustain, or change a job.

When a career decision does not quite add up

You may be facing a change, an opportunity, or a period of strain and still be unsure which criterion should guide your next step. Sometimes an option makes sense on paper but does not feel consistent with what you currently need from work.

This test helps you look beneath the immediate decision: what you seek to preserve, which conditions support your engagement, and which motivations deserve attention before you choose.

What career anchors are

Edgar Schein proposed career anchors as a way to explore the combination of perceived capabilities, motivations, and values that takes shape through professional experience. The model includes eight possible orientations, all of which may be present with different relative weight.

The result does not put you in a box; it offers a map for asking better questions about your journey.

What can it help you understand?

The interpretation offers practical criteria without turning them into a prescription.

Core motivations

Recognize what supports your engagement beyond a job title or industry.

Working conditions

Notice which environments help you use your capabilities more fully.

Decision criteria

Compare alternatives using priorities that are clearer and more personal.

Signs of strain

Identify which parts of your current experience may be receiving too little space.

Questions for moving forward

Turn your result into reflection and exploratory next steps.

A snapshot of your current professional moment

Answer from what you think and feel today. Priorities can shift with experience and context; this reading records the moment in which you complete it and remains available in your profile.

What you will receive

  • A ranking of all eight anchors in the model.
  • A detailed reading of the motivations with the greatest weight.
  • Reflection questions connected to your result.
  • An optional connection to your current professional situation.
  • The option to revisit the result from your Senda profile.

Before you begin

Pause and resume anytime

10–15 minutes

Individual feedback

Protected result

One attempt per account

Your account can complete the test once. You may pause, resume, and review answers before confirming; afterward, the saved result remains available, but the test cannot be restarted.

This test does not replace a consultation with a qualified professional.

Sign in with Google to continue

To protect the single attempt, progress, and result, you need to sign in with your Google account.