Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
Finding Your Theme
John Sullivan is a working project manager who writes and speaks on project and career issues.
As organizations get flatter and work assignments become more “projectized,” the traditional career path is becoming increasingly self-defined. When projects finish, the team often disbands and members either return to old jobs (if they remain) or find new ones. That means finding the next assignment is an important part of your current project and it means you will have a larger role in planning your career.
A key to sustaining employment and professional growth is finding ways to use the same skills in different jobs, and that requires looking at your skills in a broader way. Experience and credentials still count, but you can supplement them by recognizing the themes in your work assignments.
A theme is a term or phrase that uniquely defines you and brings together your skills, past jobs and major accomplishments. A theme can help you sell yourself for the next assignment by setting you apart from other candidates who may follow the traditional approach of presenting only experience and credentials.
Themes provide insight: insight for you as to what you’ll be good at doing and insights to any prospective employer as to what the job is really about. Employers know job descriptions and credentials fall short of qualifying candidates or else they would never ask the question, “What would your ideal job be?” Next time …
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"Life is what happens to us while we're making other plans." - John Lennon |