Despite the extensive literature on career development and project management, there is no standalone systematic review examining the career paths of project managers based on academic studies. To fill this gap, we summarize a sample of papers selected from a systematic literature review (SLR), involving research papers published from 1985 to 2019. Based on a review of this literature, we: (1) Characterize three stages within the careers of project managers, namely start-career, interaction-career, and end-career; (2) Use Selye's general adaptation syndrome (GAS) model to link stages and intra-stage periods with learning and growth opportunities for project managers. We enhance our study through a focus group of 18 senior project managers in order to obtain a richer picture of the career path landscape. Our study adds a new theoretical dimension to career path planning for project managers. It can also benefit organizations in designing their talent management structures for project managers and serve the academic community by providing valuable insights into research on the careers of project managers over time.

尽管有大量关于职业发展和项目管理的文献，但并没有基于学术研究来检验项目经理职业道路的独立系统评价。为了填补这一空白，我们总结了从系统文献综述 (SLR) 中选取的论文样本，涉及 1985 年至 2019 年发表的研究论文。 基于对这些文献的回顾，我们：（1）描述了职业生涯中的三个阶段项目经理，即开始职业生涯、互动职业生涯和结束职业生涯；(2) 使用 Selye 的一般适应综合症 (GAS) 模型将阶段和阶段内时期与项目经理的学习和成长机会联系起来。我们通过一个由 18 名高级项目经理组成的焦点小组来加强我们的研究，以便更全面地了解职业发展道路。我们的研究为项目经理的职业道路规划增加了一个新的理论维度。它还可以帮助组织为项目经理设计人才管理结构，并通过提供有关项目经理职业生涯研究的宝贵见解为学术界服务。