How to Show a Promotion on a Resume? Examples & Tips

There are many things you might want to show your hiring manager on your resume. Amazing work experience, outstanding education, mind-blowing skills, and relevant hobbies are always great. But there’s one more thing that can make your recruiter go “Wow, that’s a pro right there!”. And that thing is showing promotions on a resume.

But how can to show promotions on a resume in a way that’s not only very clear and eye-catching, but also consistent with the resume format and ATS-friendly? Let’s find out!

This guide will show you:

• Examples explaining the best ways to show promotions on a resume.
• How to show promotions on a resume to impress the recruiter.
• How to put promotions on a resume and describe new responsibilities.

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Having an amazing resume template is great, but showing that in the past, you’ve got promoted is something that you simply can’t skip on a resume! By doing that, you position yourself as a reliable employer, not a job-hopper. So let’s find out how to list promotions on a resume. 

Best Ways to Show Promotions on a Resume

On average, only 20% of applicants get invited to the job interview. And let’s be honest here: the ones that performed well in their previous jobs probably have bigger chances of grabbing recruiters’ attention. 

Showing a promotion on a resume differs from showing multiple positions. It shows not only your consistency but, more importantly, your amazing performance. Your previous company wanted to appreciate and gratify you with a more important position, responsibilities, and, obviously, more money. This is a shred of perfect evidence that you're an ambitious, hard-working employee. And that's something every company wants!

But listing promotions on a resume also shows you’ve remained loyal to the company. That tells two significant things: you’re a reliable worker and not a job-hopper. Every recruiter adores the first one. The second one is someone they try to avoid at all costs! 

Now let’s see how to include promotions on a resume! 

On your way to an interview? Get ready for a question about your current job by reading our guide: Job Responsibilities: How to Describe Your Current Duties [+Examples]

1. Stack Your Positions to Show Promotions on a Resume

Sometimes, after the promotion, only the job title changes, while your job responsibilities remain pretty much the same. Think of progressing from an Intern to a Junior, from a Junior to a Regular, and from a Regular to a Senior position. In this case, stacking your positions seem like a great idea, as it gives the recruiter a clear view of your promotion. 

Let's see what stacked entries look like when showing promotions on a resume!

How to Put Promotions on a Resume (Stacked Entries)

See how clear the progression is in this example? There are key achievements and a list of positions, which are placed in a reverse chronological format, that shows a clear path of this employer. It is obvious that this accountant was focused on the goals and kept improving, growing from an intern to a full-grown professional. Kinda brings a tear to the eye, how fast they grow… 

But what about a promotion in which the responsibilities have diametrically changed? You’ll find out in the next chapter.

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2. Show Promotions on a Resume With New Responsibilities

Let’s think about the growth of the accountant from our first example. It is clear that a person like that is going places! An obvious career path would be to become an Accounting Manager soon and, after that, whoa! A CFO!

These positions, however, hold different responsibilities, which must be clearly shown on a resume.

There’s an eye-tracking study revealing that recruiters look at resumes only for 7 seconds. That 7 seconds must be enough to convince the recruiter to look closer at your resume. And it’s hard to impress them if your resume is hard to read. That’s why separating entries about different positions is a good idea. It gives a recruiter a clearer view of your accomplishments and your career path while highlighting that you’ve remained in the same company. 

Let’s take a look at how to put promotions on a resume if the responsibilities have changed!

How to List Promotions on a Resume (One Company)

As you can see, there is also a way of saving space for other entries while highlighting the entire history within the same company. Simply create a prior experience section to show that you started at the bottom and climbed all the way to the top!

However, this particular accountant might not be that lucky and, at one point, decided to look for an external promotion. That means getting promoted by applying for a higher-level job at another company. In that case, showing promotions on a resume is even easier, as you just follow the basic resume structure. It can look like this:

How to Show Promotions on a Resume (Different Companies)

Doing it that way is how you impress the hiring manager. It also how you create an ATS-friendly resume, a document that will pass the scan for relevant keywords.

Which means it’s ready to send!

Pro Tip: Take your time to write a resume that's impressive and think it through. Listing your positions as if they were held at different organizations will allow you to emphasize both your accomplishment history and the time you've stayed in one company. However, it’s not necessary to do so if you feel it’s taking too much space on your document.

Plus, a great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:

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Key Takeaways

There are two proper ways how to show promotions on a resume:

• Stack your promotions on a resume: this works well if your responsibilities haven’t changed that much.
• Separate your promotions on a resume: this works if your responsibilities are very different from one another.

Having an incredible experience section is good. But having a long history of promotions within one company and showing these promotions on a resume can work real magic in your recruitment process!

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