Career Anchors of Millennial Accountants

Abstract

Schein (1985) defines a career anchor as a person's perceived area of competence, values, and motives that he or she would not want to forfeit when faced with a career decision that might prevent him or her from fulfilling it. Hardin, Stocks and Graves (2001) utilized Schein's Career Orientation Inventory to determine the predominant career anchors of Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) and to investigate the relationship of CPA career anchor and job setting. This chapter builds on the Hardin et al. study and focuses on the younger professional accountant. This younger generation of accountants are part of the millennial generation, which prior research has indicated vary significantly in their wants, values, and desires for an employment situation. Based on the survey results, 46.1% of the millennials possess a Lifestyle career anchor, 18.0% possess a Security career anchor, and 12.4% possess a Service career anchor. Each of the other five career anchors were selected by fewer than 8.0% of the respondents. The results suggest the career anchors of today's millennial professional accountants differ from those of professional accountants some 15 years ago. In particular, the Security career anchor is far more prevalent than in the past, which suggests millennial accountants have an increased interest in job security. This research provides important information to organizations seeking to recruit and retain young accounting professionals. Similarly, young professionals should be aware of their career anchor, so they can manage their career choices, rather than conform to choices that others make for them.