There’s little downside to landing a promotion. Except, well, figuring out how to list it on your resume.
When you’ve moved from a position at Company A to a new position at Company B, structuring your “Experience” section is pretty straightforward. But if you’ve moved up in your department or switched roles within your organization, it’s not as clear.
The good news? If you can show off your advancement the right way, you’ll get a gold star in the eyes of a hiring manager. Read on for a super-quick guide to showcasing your experience in the best possible light—and landing that next big opportunity.
Here are your options for listing a promotion or multiple jobs at the same company on your resume:
1. Stack your position titles together and combine bullet points.
If two or more of your jobs were very similar in nature (e.g., you were promoted from associate editor to editor, but your overall job duties pretty much stayed the same), use can list the job titles one after the other under your company header, like this:
The Green Company, Los Angeles, CA
Editor (January 2021–Present)
Associate Editor (January 2019–January 2021)
- Bullet 1
- Bullet 2
- Bullet 3
The bullets you include should describe your most high-level and impressive accomplishments during your tenure at both of these roles combined—not each individually. As you decide what to include, remember that your resume is a marketing document selling you as the perfect person for the job, not a comprehensive list of your career history. In other words, even if your duties slightly shifted when you changed positions, it’s more important to highlight your best work than to spell out all of your daily tasks in those early days.
Before you choose this option, consider whether your resume will be passing through an applicant tracking system (ATS), which is software that companies use to parse and organize resumes. If you stack your titles like this, ATSs may attribute all your bullet points to your earlier, more junior title rather than the later, more senior one.
While there’s not a surefire way to prevent an ATS from getting confused if you use this method, there is one thing you can do to make it easier for human readers to quickly make sense of the double title. Simply include a bullet that expands upon the accomplishments that led to your promotion (for example, “Promoted to Senior Account Manager within 12 months for exceptional client relations and leadership skills”). This will make it clear to any human reading your resume that your accomplishments apply to both positions—and that your move wasn’t just a matter of happenstance, you earned it.
2. Separate your position titles and bullets under one company heading.
If the jobs you’ve held at your company were in different departments (e.g., you moved from the marketing team to the content team) or your accomplishments and duties changed significantly after a promotion, list the company once but break out the job titles, treating them like two different positions:
The Green Company, Los Angeles, CA
Associate Editor (January 2021–Present)
- Bullet 1
- Bullet 2
- Bullet 3
Marketing Coordinator (May 2019–January 2021)
- Bullet 1
- Bullet 2
- Bullet 3
Again, for each position, you’ll want to describe your biggest accomplishments and the experience that most relates to the positions you’re applying for. And if the new role was a step up, rather than a lateral move, be sure to make that clear, saying something like: “Promoted within company because of demonstrated project leadership skills,” under the more senior position.
While hiring managers may need a moment to figure out what company your earlier position was for, your accomplishments and duties will be attributed to the correct roles.
3. Create entirely separate experience entries.
If your positions weren’t one after the other—for example, you went to work for a different company and then returned—you’ll want to create standalone experience entries for each. That means listing the company more than once. But that’s OK. Even if it’s repetitive, the hiring manager will see that you’ve moved up within the same company.
You can also use this method if you want to be extra sure there’s no confusion when your resume passes through an ATS—even if the jobs were consecutive.
So this might look like:
Editor, The Green Company
January 2021–Present | Los Angeles, CA
- Bullet 1
- Bullet 2
- Bullet 3
Associate Editor, The Green Company
January 2020–January 2021 | Los Angeles, CA
- Bullet 1
- Bullet 2
- Bullet 3
Like with the previous methods, you can list your promotion or the accomplishment that led to it as one of your bullet points under the job you were promoted to.
Moving up at a company shows that you’re a high performer, you achieve results, and you’re a loyal and dedicated employee. Make sure your resume tells that story—and you’re bound to land an interview.
Regina Borsellino also contributed writing, reporting, and/or advice to this article.