How to List Promotions on Your Resume (With Examples)
Show, Don't Just Tell, Your Career Growth
Getting a promotion is a clear and powerful signal to future employers that your previous company valued your contributions and trusted you with increasing responsibility. It's one of the strongest forms of social proof you can have in your career. Therefore, it's absolutely crucial to display this progression clearly and effectively on your resume. Failing to do so can make it look like you've been stagnant in a role, while a well-formatted promotions section tells a story of growth and achievement.
There are two primary methods for listing promotions from a single employer: stacking* your job titles or listing them as *separate entries. For most situations, the first method is far superior.
Method 1: Stacking (The Preferred Method)
This is the cleanest, most efficient, and most common way to show your upward trajectory. You list the company name and location once, followed by the total duration of your employment there. Then, you 'stack' your job titles underneath, from most recent to least recent, each with its own date range.
This method is effective because it:
How to format it:
Use a single set of bullet points to describe your accomplishments across all the roles. You can either group them all together or, for more clarity, group them under each specific role. It's best practice to write your bullet points for your most recent (senior) role first, as this is what recruiters are most interested in.
Example 1 (Grouped Bullets):
Innovative Tech Corp, San Francisco, CA | June 2018 - Present
Senior Software Engineer (January 2021 - Present)
Software Engineer (June 2018 - January 2021)
>
* As Senior Engineer, led a team of 4 to develop a new flagship feature that increased user engagement by 20%.
* Architected and implemented a scalable microservices backend using Go and gRPC, improving system uptime to 99.98%.
* Mentored two junior engineers, providing code reviews and technical guidance that contributed to their successful onboarding.
* Initially hired as a Software Engineer, quickly mastered the legacy codebase and was promoted within 2.5 years for high performance and technical leadership.
* Developed and maintained front-end components in React, contributing to a 15% improvement in load time.
Example 2 (Role-Specific Bullets):
Innovative Tech Corp, San Francisco, CA | June 2018 - Present
Senior Software Engineer (January 2021 - Present)
* Led a team of 4 to develop a new flagship feature that increased user engagement by 20%.
* Architected and implemented a scalable microservices backend using Go and gRPC, improving system uptime to 99.98%.
Software Engineer (June 2018 - January 2021)
* Developed and maintained front-end components in React, contributing to a 15% improvement in load time.
* Refactored a critical API endpoint, reducing its response time by 50%.
Method 2: Separate Entries
This method involves listing each role at the same company as a distinct job entry, as if they were jobs at different companies. This approach can be useful if the roles were in vastly different departments or had completely different responsibilities, but it has significant drawbacks.
Drawbacks:
Example:
Innovative Tech Corp, San Francisco, CA
Senior Software Engineer | January 2021 - Present
* [Bullet points for Senior role...]
Innovative Tech Corp, San Francisco, CA
Software Engineer | June 2018 - January 2021
* [Bullet points for junior role...]
Recommendation for 2024:
Almost always use the stacking method. It is the modern standard and the most effective way to communicate your career progression to a recruiter in a quick, scannable format. It immediately highlights your upward trajectory and loyalty, which are two incredibly valuable traits in a candidate.