Main Points for Showing Your Career Steps
Group all your job titles under one company name to clearly show how long you have been loyal and how much you have achieved at that one place.
List the exact dates for every job change to prove you were quickly recognized as a strong leader with great potential.
Spend the most space describing your current or most important role. Use fewer, shorter points for older jobs to highlight what you can do now.
Explain how your duties got bigger with each new title, like managing bigger budgets or more people. This proves you can handle more difficult work.
What is a Stacked Resume Format for Promotions?
List promotions on your resume by grouping all roles under one company heading, with titles stacked newest to oldest. Include dates for each title, write your strongest bullet points under your current role, and add a one-line "promotion bridge" explaining what achievement earned each jump. This stacked format lets recruiters see your growth instantly.
A stacked resume format groups all your job titles at one company under a single company heading, listed from newest to oldest. Instead of repeating the company name for each role (which makes it look like separate jobs), stacking shows a clear upward path. This format helps recruiters see your growth at a glance and is the preferred method recommended by career experts for anyone who held two or more roles at the same employer.
Separate Entries vs Stacked Format
| Factor | Separate Entries | Stacked Format |
|---|---|---|
| Company name | Repeated for each role | Listed once at top |
| Visual impression | Can look like job-hopping | Shows clear career growth |
| Recruiter scan time | Requires mental math to connect roles | Growth visible in seconds |
| ATS parsing | Each role parsed individually | Works if each title has its own dates |
| Space on page | Takes more resume space | Compact, leaves room for detail |
| Best for | Very different roles in different departments | Sequential promotions in the same track |
Bottom line: Use the stacked format when your roles show a clear upward path. Use separate entries only when the jobs were unrelated enough that stacking would confuse the reader.
Resume Speed: Making Internal Promotions Look Great
Most people write their resume like a simple list of everything they ever did, listing the same company name and location over and over for every promotion they got inside that company. This is a common mistake that makes a fast-moving career look boring and repetitive. When you treat every promotion like a totally new job, you don't show how loyal you are; you make a busy recruiter do extra thinking about your career path, and they probably won't bother. According to a Ladders eye-tracking study (2018), recruiters spend an average of 7.4 seconds on their initial resume scan. If your promotion history isn't obvious in that window, it won't get noticed.
For top leadership jobs, getting promoted internally is the best proof that you are a safe bet who can also achieve big things. LinkedIn's 2024 Workplace Learning Report found that employees who make internal moves are 40% more likely to stay at their company for at least three years, which is exactly the kind of stability hiring managers want to see. When you don't show off these promotions correctly, you aren't just messing up the look of your resume; you are losing out on higher salary offers. You might look like someone who just stayed put, instead of a top worker who kept getting promoted to handle bigger and more important company issues.
"External hires are paid approximately 18-20% more than internal promotes, yet they receive lower performance evaluations for their first two years on the job."
Matthew Bidwell, Management Professor, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
That research flips the script. Companies pay more for outside talent and get worse results. Your internal promotions prove you delivered without the risk or the premium. That's the story your resume needs to tell.
To fix this, you need to change from a simple list to a "Grouped Growth Story." When you organize your time at one company under one main heading and show your titles as steps going up, the message changes. You stop looking like someone who just held a few different jobs and start looking like the person who was constantly asked to take on more work because you got results that others couldn't match. (Once your resume shows this growth, use it as the foundation when you create a target company list for your next move.)
How to Tell Your Career Story Well
Before you write anything, figure out the "Difference": what specific new job duty or company problem you solved that caused your promotion. Promotions aren't just nice rewards for staying put; they are the company betting on you to handle bigger challenges. When you point out the exact moment you became more valuable, you go from "listing jobs" to "writing down your growth."
Draw a line down a piece of paper. On the left, write your old job title; on the right, write your new job title. In the middle, write down the one important thing you fixed that made your boss give you the new title (like "Made shipping faster" or "Kept our most important customer").
"Promoted to [New Title] specifically to lead [Project/Team] after successfully fixing [Problem from Old Job]."
We look for "Speed." If your resume shows you moving up every year or two, we see you as a "High-Potential" hire. If you list each job separately, we have to figure out your speed ourselves, and often, we are too busy to do that math.
You must make it easy to read by grouping your history under one company name. If you list the same company name repeatedly for every job, your resume looks messy and might even make you look like someone who changes jobs often. Stacking your titles shows a clear path of success.
Format your resume so the Company Name and your total years there (like 2018–Now) are at the top and in bold. Under that, list your different job titles in order from newest to oldest, with the specific dates in parentheses. Only use bullet points for the most recent or highest-level jobs so the resume stays clean.
Global Tech Solutions | 2016 – Now
•Senior Project Manager (2021 – Now)
•Project Coordinator (2018 – 2021)
•Junior Analyst (2016 – 2018)
According to Select Software Reviews (2025), 97.8% of Fortune 500 companies use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). If you list the company many times, the system might only count the years from your last job, making it look like you only have 2 years of experience instead of 10. Grouping your jobs ensures you get credit for all your time and loyalty.
Use a "Promotion Link" to explain the jump between roles. This is one sentence that connects what you did well before to what you had to do next. It changes the story from "I was given a new job" to "I was specifically chosen for more work because I fixed a clear, expensive problem for the bosses." (If you held concurrent roles instead of sequential promotions, see our guide on describing a portfolio career with multiple concurrent roles.)
For every promotion, make the very first bullet point a "Link Sentence." Use strong action words like "Chosen," "Selected," or "Brought in internally" to show that the company deliberately decided to keep your talent.
"Hand-picked by the VP of Operations to lead the [New Project] after making the team 15% better as [Previous Title]."
Internal promotions are the best sign that you are a low-risk hire. Hiring someone new is a guess, but a promotion proves that people who know your work decided you were worth more money. When we see a "Promotion Link," it tells us you are a "Safe Choice" who handles pressure well.
How Our Tools Help Your Promotion Plan
Step 1: Check the Difference
Journal ToolMaster the Difference Check. The AI Coach helps you write down your daily wins so you don't forget them, making sure every success is recorded as career progress.
Step 2: Growth Story
Resume ToolCreate Your Grouped Growth Story. Smart design removes confusion and proves your career "Speed" using professional, ordered lists.
Step 3: Promotion Link
Career Advice ToolWrite the Promotion Link. The Mentor helps you find things you missed, showing you how to explain why the company leaders "picked" you for that next job.
Common Questions: Taking Control of Your Next Step Up
Does stacking job titles look confusing to recruiters?
Stop worrying about being "too much" and start worrying about being ignored. Stacking your titles isn't a trick; it's a clear map of your value. When you list the same company four times, you look like someone who can't stay put. When you stack them, you look like a rising star the company couldn't let go. If you were in the senior job for only six months, that's great. It shows Speed. It means you learned the previous job so fast they had to promote you to keep you. Be proud of the speed; don't apologize for it.
How do I show a promotion without hard numbers?
"Doing a good job" is too general. In business, you get promoted because you Fixed a Problem or made things safer. If you don't have a number, think about the situation before and after. Were you asked to take over a team because the old manager left? Write: “Chosen to steady a team with high turnover and get deadlines back on track.” Did you get a bigger budget? Write: “Promoted to manage a $500k budget after finding $50k in yearly waste.” Your link sentence isn't about boasting; it's about explaining what "emergency" the company trusted you to handle.
Will ATS get confused by grouped resume formats?
The computer system is a tool, not the final judge. Your main goal is to pass the "Six-Second Human Test." If a recruiter can’t see your growth in six seconds, how the computer ranks you doesn't matter because your resume is already tossed out. The Grouped Growth Story puts your trajectory front and center so the human reader sees a "Top Worker" right away. For the computer, make sure each job title has its own dates listed next to it, but keep them all under the main company heading. The software parses the dates while the human sees a proven success who keeps earning more responsibility.
Should I list a lateral move the same as a promotion?
Lateral moves and promotions tell different stories. Lateral moves show breadth: you learned new skills in a different department. Promotions show depth: you mastered your area and earned more responsibility. For lateral moves, still use the stacked format under one company heading, but write your link sentence around what new capability you gained. Example: "Transferred to Product team to apply customer insights from 3 years in client-facing roles."
How far back should promotions go on a resume?
Show promotions from the past 10-15 years in full detail. For roles older than that, condense them into a single line with just the title and dates. The exception: if an early promotion is directly relevant to the job you are applying for, give it more space regardless of age. Your most recent role always deserves the most real estate on the page.
What if my job title changed but my pay didn't?
A title change without a pay increase still counts as career growth. Recruiters care about expanding scope, not paycheck size. If your title changed because you took on more people, more projects, or a harder problem, write it as a promotion. Frame your link sentence around the new responsibility: "Elevated to Senior Analyst to oversee cross-team reporting after streamlining the quarterly review process."
Change How You Talk About Your Career
Stop acting like a standard job applicant asking for a chance and start presenting yourself as the valuable asset you are. Companies aren't just looking for workers; they are looking for partners who talk with the confidence of an expert. If you slip back into the old habit of long, messy lists, you are hiding your own success and reducing how much money you can earn over your career. A single, grouped growth story turns a confusing history into a clear path showing your success. You already did the hard work of earning those promotions. Now, go rewrite your resume to get the professional respect you deserve.
Demand Professional Respect
