How To Show Promotion on a Resume: Tips and Strategies
Moving up the corporate ladder is not only great for your career, but it’s also crucial to showcase this progression to potential employers.
Firstly, kudos to you for getting promoted! You’ve reaped the benefits of all the hard work you’ve been putting in for months. Moving up the corporate ladder is not only great for your career (more responsibility and more money 💰), but it’s also crucial to showcase this progression to potential employers, as it will significantly enhance your resume. In this blog post, I’ll show you how to properly show your career progression on your resume.
💡 Supporter Notification
This blog post is supported by ItsMyResume, but more on it later in the post.
What will you gain from reading this blog?
Unspoken tips on formatting your resume, used by the top 1%
Strategies to show off your promotion on your resume
Must reads on career success and championing at work
Must Reads to have a Mindset for Career Success
The Third Door: The Mindset of Success 👉 here.
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World 👉 here.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People 30th Anniversary Edition 👉 here.
Formatting Is Key
Who reads your resume? Primarily it’s hiring managers and recruiters. Hiring managers, in particular, are keen on seeing how you've showcased promotions or multiple roles at the same company, as it speaks volumes about your career dedication and growth. One of the key things they look for, apart from your skills and experiences, is growth. There are various indicators of growth in your resume. Here are a few popular growth indicators they look out for:
Career Progression
Getting promoted or taking on different hats at the same company shows you’re a quick learner and that you’re capable of professional development. If you’ve stayed on the same role for 10 or more years without moving up the career ladder, most recruiters and hiring managers would want to know why. No growth in your career is a major red flag. Including a job title change in your resume is crucial for demonstrating career progression, especially when promoted within the same company with similar responsibilities.
Stability
On the opposite end of the spectrum, recruiters or hiring managers also don't want to see if you're a job hopper, meaning you jump roles too often e.g. once a year. If you've done that, it's all about presenting your roles in such a manner that you don't look like a job hopper.
💡 Pro Tip
If you've held several different roles at different companies in the past few years, it's best to present these as advancements rather than as completely separate roles. This will allow you to show your experience in the best light.
Increased Capabilities
Showing off your promotion on your resume doesn't always have to be a linear escalation of job titles. Most recruiters also want to see the new skills you've picked up along the way. So make sure you list your new roles, responsibilities and achievements to demonstrate your career growth.
Formatting Tips For Career Growth
Progression in your Job titles
If your titles show a clear career progression, bold them so your promotions are clear to recruiters and hiring managers. Here are some popular career progressions:
Analyst 👉 Senior Analyst 👉 Manager
Developer 👉 Senior Developer 👉 Lead Developer
Use Vocabulary that show Increased Responsibility
Language is key, and leadership-centric language is something I prefer to use to highlight my current and new responsibilities. Here are some examples:
Led a team to ...
Drove XYZ project to ...
Slice led marketing team to ...
Increased throughput of ...
Bullet Point Everything
Think from the shoes of a recruiter who is sifting through hundreds of resumes every day looking for the right candidate with skills and experiences, reading through paragraphs and looking for the right keywords is tedious and mind numbing. Bullet points are quick eye-catchers, and can highlight your impressive achievements like promotions. Here is an example of using bullet points to highlight a promotion:
Promoted within 9 months due to organisational impact and strong project delivery – ahead of schedule by 3 months.
Promoted to Senior Developer in 2 years (1 year in advance); the only member in a cohort of 45 developers to be fast-tracked.
Ranked top of the class and offered an early promotion to Senior Analyst after two years.
Reverse Chronological Order
Always list your most recent experience first. Although you may find that a functional resume that highlights your skills is more tempting, but a straightforward chronological resume works best.
Include Dates of Employment
Many people leave off the dates from their resumes, but recruiters and hiring managers would at the least need to see the year of employment at your specific roles. From my experience, I have seen the best results when I include the month and the year in my resume. Exact dates aren't normally required.
Demonstrate Growth Without Promotion
If you've held the same job title for a long time at your company, it's important to highlight your accomplishments to show a sense of progression. It can be learning new skills, getting new certifications, taking on additional responsibilities, or shadowing another role.
Examples Of Demonstrating Promotion
You can use any or all strategies mentioned above to demonstrate promotion or career growth on your resume. Most of the times the way you present your promotion depends on the similarity of your previous and current role.
Different Roles At The Same Company
If you’ve been promoted to a significantly different role within one company, the best strategy to use then is to list them as separate entries on your resume. You’re treating them as different jobs, but listing it under the same company name to make it clear that it was an internal promotion rather than a series of isolated jobs. Here is the template below:
Company Name, Location
Job Title 2 (Date from - Date to)
Bullet points in the format [action verb] + [what you did] + [outcome]
Job Title 1 (Date from - Date to)
Bullet points in the format [action verb] + [what you did] + [outcome]
Check the example below:
Acme Industries, Sydney
Product Manager (Jun 2023 - Present)
Spearheaded a major pricing restructure by redirecting focus on consumer willingness to pay instead of product cost; implemented a three tiered pricing model which increased average sale by 35% and margin by 12%
Implemented a return policy which reduced the return rates by 10% and customer satisfaction by 20%.
Promoted within 9 months to a new job due to organisational impact and strong project delivery – ahead of schedule by 3 months.
Business Analyst (Oct 2022 - Jun 2023)
Decreased uninstall rate of the electron app by introducing an interactive tutorial at app install.
Analysed data of 25k active users and used that to improve marketing spends and to increase average app usage by 25%.
Similar Roles At The Same Company
If you've been promoted to a similar role, it's much easier. List the company first, followed by each role and the dates on a separate line, and then you can group the bullet points together as they are similar roles describing your roles, responsibilities and achievements for both the roles. Here is the template below:
Company Name, Location
Job Title 2 (Date from - Date to)
Job Title 1 (Date from - Date to)
Bullet points for both roles, in the format [action verb] + [what you did] + [outcome], focusing on career progression
Here is an example below:
Acme Industries, Sydney
Senior Business Analyst (Jun 2023 - Present)
Business Analyst (Oct 2022 - Jun 2023)
Promoted within 9 months due to organisational impact and strong project delivery – ahead of schedule by 3 months.
Spearheaded a major pricing restructure by redirecting focus on consumer willingness to pay instead of product cost; implemented a three tiered pricing model which increased average sale by 35% and margin by 12%
Implemented a return policy which reduced the return rates by 10% and customer satisfaction by 20%.
Decreased uninstall rate of the electron app by introducing an interactive tutorial at app install.
Analysed data of 25k active users and used that to improve marketing spends and to increase average app usage by 25%.
💡 Quick Word From Our Supporter
This blog is proudly supported by ItsMyResume, the world's most Open and Free ATS-compliant Resume Builder. No account or credit card is required, and it's completely free—no strings attached. ItsMyResume can help you stand out in your job search with an ATS Optimised resume, increasing your chances of getting hired.
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Show Off Previous Promotions
Understanding the concept of 'resume promotions' is crucial for effectively showcasing your career progression and the skills you've developed through various roles. If you want to show off your previous promotions without dedicating too much valuable real estate to an older role, here is a strategy you can use. Simply list each role with the corresponding dates on each line under a single company header and omit all bullet points. Here is an example below:
Prior Professional Experience
Company Name, Location
Lead BA (Date from - Date to)
Senior BA (Date from - Date to)
BA (Date from - Date to)
Thank you for taking the time to read the blog. I hope you were able to learn something from it.
Sanjay.
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