How to Show a Promotion on a Resume: Guide + Examples

Key takeaways

When exploring how to show promotions on a resume, different options present unique advantages based on your career circumstances.

• The stacked entries method is ideal when your job responsibilities don’t necessarily change, but your title does.

• In cases where your title and responsibilities change, creating separate sections is more suitable than stacked entries.

• You can strategically design your resume to optimize for applicant tracking systems. 

Discover three different ways to show a promotion on a resume. To help you further put together your resume, the Interviewing and Resume Writing Preparation in English Specialization from the University of Maryland can help you gain insights into several areas, such as job searching, building interview skills, and resume design tips.

How to show a promotion on a resume: 3 methods

A promotion proves that you’re a valuable team member whose work is noticed and appreciated by your employer. Putting a promotion on your resume can effectively highlight your professional accomplishments to future hiring managers.

The following three approaches for listing promotions on your resume will help you decide the best strategy for your circumstances. You’ll also discover how well each strategy responds to the ATS.

While you won’t find a one-size-fits-all solution, by reviewing these strategies, you can decide what approach works best for you. 

1. How to show promotion on resume: Stacked entries 

Stacked entries are job titles stacked on top of each other under one company header, with bullet points beneath that elaborate on your work experience.

Who is this approach best for?

This method is well-suited to promotions where your title changes, but your day-to-day activities remain the same. This might occur when an employer decides to adjust someone’s title to more accurately reflect their responsibilities and duties, or when an employee’s contribution to the workplace is acknowledged with a title change that doesn’t alter their daily work. 

How to do it

• Use one header for all the sequential positions you held at the same company.

• Organize the job titles in reverse chronological order, with the most recent at the top and the oldest at the bottom.

• In a single bullet point, describe the concrete achievements that led to your job title change.

• Use the rest of the bullet points to describe your duties and responsibilities.

Example of stacked promotion entries

How well do automated systems read stacked entries? 

Stacked entries are not always the best for automated tracking systems because the ATS can sometimes scan the postings inaccurately and mistakenly reformat them. Use this approach strategically when the benefit of stacking job titles outweighs the risk, such as when you are trying to keep your resume down to one or two pages.

2. How to show promotion at same company on resume

Another method for showing promotions on a resume is to create separate sections for each position with different headers for the same company. 

Who is it best for? 

This method is well-suited for promotions that include both a title change and a change in the duties and responsibilities performed. Typically, this promotion shows career progression. For example, a common scenario for this type of promotion is when someone moves from an entry-level to a low-level managerial position or from a middle to an upper management level.

This method is also suitable if you have made lateral moves to positions outside your normal wheelhouse, such as when a web developer at a tech company becomes a project manager in another department. 

How to do it

• Turn each job into a separate entry with the different company headers, titles, and years employed in the role.

• Describe why you got the promotion in a single bullet point, focusing on concrete achievements that led to your job title change.

• Use the bullet points to describe duties and responsibilities.

Example of separate sequential entries

How well does the ATS read it? 

This method is well-suited to automated systems because most systems find it easier to read separate entries than combined ones and will not accidentally reformat them.

When using this method, make sure to consider whether the benefit of potentially crowding your resume with titles outweighs the dangers of stacking them in one entry. 

3. How to show promotion on resume: Separate entries after returning to a company 

Separate entries can also be used for promotions if you left a company but returned.

Who is it best for? 

This method is best for people who leave one company for another but return to the first company later. For example, a junior copywriter who leaves their employer for another ad agency but returns to their former employer as a senior copywriter could use this approach. 

How to do it

• Turn each job into a separate entry with the different company headers, titles, and years employed in the role.

• Use the bullet points to describe duties and responsibilities.

Note: In this method, you don’t need to describe the reason for your promotion. The sequence of different positions will illustrate how you have advanced. 

Example of separate entries, non-sequential

How well does the ATS read it? 

Because it uses clearly differentiated entries, the ATS will most likely not have difficulty reading promotions listed in this way. 

Read more: 16 Top Resume Tips to Help You Land a Job

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