So you've been promoted or changed positions with an employer, and you're unsure how to present this on your resume. There are two ways to format your positions: stack the job titles under the employer's name, or create separate position descriptions.

Approach 1: Stack the Job Titles

This strategy is good if you would like to emphasize your highest-level position and show promotions within the organization. Include the overall date range for your employer next to the company name and location, followed by a list of positions in reverse chronological order (most recent first). For example:

COMPANY NAME - City, State, 2/01 to present
Store Manager, 8/03 to present
Assistant Manager, 5/02 to 8/03
Clerk, 2/01 to 5/02

To emphasize your promotional advancement, lead your position description with something like: “Promoted to store manager to...” and then describe the challenges and responsibilities that you assumed with your promotion. Be sure to include a bulleted list of achievements, which can reflect your contributions from any of your positions.

On your Monster resume, you can keep one employment listing by including your highest position in the “Formal Title” field, and then explaining that you held other positions in the “Work Description” section.

If you held numerous positions (five or more) with one employer, the above list of job titles will start to take up valuable space on your resume. Summarize your early job titles using one line of text. For example:

COMPANY NAME - City, State, 2/01 to present
Store Manager, 8/03 to present
Assistant Manager, 5/02 to 8/03
Early Positions: Student Intern, Clerk and Retail Sales Rep, 2/01 to 5/02

Approach 2: Create Separate Position Descriptions

If each of your positions is strong and relevant, separate the job titles and provide individual position descriptions. This approach is a great way to reveal your achievement history according to position and time frame. Pay attention to how you format these jobs so that you don't appear to be job-hopping. By keeping the overall date range next to the employer's name and indenting the job titles, the reader will easily see that you moved around within one organization. For example:

COMPANY NAME - City, State, 2/01 to present

Store Manager, 8/03 to present
Describe responsibilities and achievements…

Assistant Manager, 5/02 to 8/03
Describe responsibilities and achievements…

Clerk, 2/01 to 5/02
Describe responsibilities and achievements…

On Monster, simply provide a new employment entry for each position.

Draw Attention to Promotions

Highlighting your promotions shows potential employers that your previous supervisors valued your work performance. Even lateral moves suggest you were able to handle diverse responsibilities. Here are a few ways to describe your promotions:

• Repeatedly recognized for top performance through fast-track promotions and selection for high-priority initiatives.
• Earned promotion following superior performance and demonstrated ability to quickly learn and master complex concepts.
• Established an accomplishments-driven career highlighted by rapid acceleration to increasingly responsible positions.
• Achieved promotional advancement from earlier positions as and .