A Comprehensive Guide to Listing Multiple Jobs From One Company on Your Resume

John Krautzel
Posted by in Career Advice •


Listing multiple positions from one company on a resume is tricky for several reasons. You must convey these jobs succinctly without taking up a lot of space on the page. Plus, you need to make sure applicant tracking software picks up on the fact that you spent 10 years with one company at three different positions. On top of that, the resume should look great, with the right amount of bullet points and white space. Take the guesswork out of multiple positions with this comprehensive guide to showing your promotions and positions within a single organization.

Why Showing Promotions and Multiple Jobs Is Important

Your resume should show the narrative of your professional life. Listing promotions or multiple jobs is important because it gives your future boss a way to look at your experience. Did you start as a sales associate and then move to the marketing department? That's one part of the story your resume needs to explain clearly.

Did you earn a promotion to team leader after you came in as an entry-level computer programmer? This shows you have leadership qualities that a future employer needs to see if you apply for a managerial job. How you show these incremental steps becomes important because you want an employer to see a logical progression from one job to another.

Chronological Order

You do not want your resume to appear as if you spent less time at a company than you really did. You also want your highest level achieved to appear first on the page. Therefore, it becomes important to list jobs chronologically, starting with the most recent.

Within the time you spent at each employer, you also need to show the months and years you spent at every position. The time at each position should add up to the overall time you spent at the employer. This is where clear formatting comes into play.

Stacked Entry Format

Viable formatting is crucial for two reasons. First, you want to make sure the applicant tracking software knows that you spent a certain amount of time at one firm. Second, humans’ eyes need to scan the resume quickly.

A stacked entry format creates one area that shows the entire time you spent at one company. Start with the company name and location first on a single line. Below that, list the most recent position you held with that company and the dates you held that job. Go to the next line and list the position you held at that firm previous to the most recent one.

After you list all of your positions, it's time to list your greatest achievements and experiences at the company. Four or five bullet points should suffice. One entry for the same company works well if your job duties remained similar during your time there.

If you worked at a company for a long time further back in the past, consider placing a stacked entry into a separate section, but without the bullet points. This shows your employer that you moved forward in your career awhile back. If the HR manager wants more information, he can discuss that job with you in person.

Separate Entries

Separate entries illustrate that you obtained two distinct positions. These positions had different duties, responsibilities, achievements and accomplishments. Separate entries allow you to go into more detail with each position. However, they take up more space on the page.

Each separate entry lists the name and location of the employer on one line. The line below that has the job title and the dates you held that position. The next line starts three or four bullet points about what you accomplished. The very next entry on the page looks just like it, except you input a different job title and different achievements from the entry right above it.

For example, the most recent position you had with Acme Brick was the head of marketing for three years. This job entailed overseeing a team of eight people, developing relationships with the media, planning regular outreach events and creating a monthly newsletter. Previous to that, you were a copywriter in Acme Brick's marketing department for five years. You worked within the team as opposed to leading it. You wrote press releases, edited the company's website, called the media to arrange interviews, and pitched articles for the company newsletter.

These two jobs at Acme Brick should show how you progressed from one to the other. List the most recent one first, but include the accomplishments and duties of the previous position to show you have a wide range of experiences.

The most important aspect of multiple positions to get down involves showing that you spent many years at one firm. Make it clear that you spent 10 years at one company instead of fewer years at three different jobs. This illustrates promotions, lateral moves to a different department and loyalty to one company. Clear explanations of multiple positions helps an employer talk to your supervisors when someone calls for references.

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  • Nancy Anderson
    Nancy Anderson •

    @Jason thanks for your comment. So very true. Job titles can be very misleading. I think it's great that things are changing, yet again, in the job world and we can actually write a story to send as our resume. I haven't tried it yet but I plan to do so - very soon - to see if it works. Personally I dislike job titles but they have to have some way of identifying us - thus titles. And to add to the confusion, titles don't always mean the same thing from one company to the next! Companies are getting creative on their job titles now which will only add more confusion! Hopefully, over the next few years, this will all settle down but I think that the newer, more creative titles will stand. So be thinking about that - come up with your own creative job title and take it for a spin. I figure that if a company can have a Happiness Engineer, anything goes!

  • Jason C.
    Jason C. •

    I have thought about finding a way to show my progression. The job titles tell the story but if you broke those out it may be clearer for those interviewing. Jason C

  • Nancy Anderson
    Nancy Anderson •

    @Erica that's a judgment call. Stacked entries might cause some confusion - especially considering that there's 5 years in between. In that case you might want to consider separate entries to avoid that confusion.

  • Hema Zahid
    Hema Zahid •

    I prefer to list all the positions I held within a company on my resume and I’ve found that the stacked entries format allows me to highlight my achievements without taking up too much space. A hiring manager should know just by glancing at my resume that I was promoted within the same company, she shouldn’t have to read through multiple entries to find that out.

  • Erica T.
    Erica T. •

    Seven years ago, I worked for a publishing company as a fact checker. I left about five years ago to work in HR for another publishing company. About 10 months ago, I returned to the first publishing company to work in their HR department. When putting together my resume, which would be more effective: stacked entry or separate entry formatting?

  • Nancy Anderson
    Nancy Anderson •

    @Lydia absolutely! You should never put a person down as a reference without first discussing it with them. There's nothing worse than getting a call out of the blue for a reference from someone who has been gone for a long time or for someone who left under other than optimal circumstances - such as quit so they wouldn't be fired. You should always ask first.

  • Lydia K.
    Lydia K. •

    This article mentions the issue of reference checks. In today's business world, business structures change fast, and supervisors are often rotated out of their positions. A prospective employer might not be able to contact multiple former supervisors from the same company. I think it's a good idea to ask former supervisors if you can list them as a reference even if they no longer supervise you. You could also ask them if they'd be willing to write a letter of commendation before they move on to their new positions.

  • Jacqueline Parks
    Jacqueline Parks •

    I agree that stacked entries are a great way to list different but similar positions within one company. This shows growth without taking up a lot of extra resume space. When listing bullet points after the stacked entry, I focus on the accomplishments that most relate to the position for which I am applying.

  • Nancy Anderson
    Nancy Anderson •

    @Duncan typically we list different positions in the same company to show our growth - to show how we moved from an entry level position to a position where we might even manage one or more employees. If you have worked in positions that are not relevant to the one you are seeking, then you could just do a quick line entry for it. If you moved from the mailroom to the boardroom, wouldn't you want to show that progression?

  • Mike Van de Water
    Mike Van de Water •

    Abbey, I would try my best to eliminate something somewhere else before removing multiple jobs from the same company. I think that even simplifying your skillset is a better option than leaving off a promotion or job shift within a company. That's like leaving off a relevant job!

  • Duncan Maranga
    Duncan Maranga •

    I need some clarifications on why I should actually want to list several different positions that I held in a company on my resume, when am only using it to apply for a specific position elsewhere. Why would I not just outline the single positions that are in the direct line to the one I am currently applying for?

  • Nancy Anderson
    Nancy Anderson •

    @Jane here at Beyond we offer a free resume critique to all new members. It's a great way for them to see how it would score going through an ATS. @Abbey great advice!

  • Abbey Boyd
    Abbey Boyd •

    I have held three separate positions with my current company, and I see this as personal and professional growth that I want to highlight on my resume. However, I also have education and other skills and qualifications that I don't want to omit. If the position I am seeking requires me to list more information on my resume, I will clump all positions with my current company together. I then touch on this in my cover letter, to make sure that any potential employer sees that I have made progress in my career.

  • Jane H.
    Jane H. •

    I have a couple companies where I held multiple positions listed on my resume that could use retooling, based on this advice. Looking back on it, I'm wondering now how many times I've been overlooked because of applicant tracking software. Does Beyond have a tool or does anyone know of an online tool where I could anonymously submit my resume and get a report showing how computer programs see it?

  • Jay Bowyer
    Jay Bowyer •

    Excellent point about promotions. What could be better than to show prospective employers that our previous employers thought so highly of us that they chose to promote us? I also like the points made about formatting — specifically the ones about making the resume easy to scan. A lot of recruitment professionals and HR team members don't have much time to spend on initial applicant screening, so it's vital to get that part (formatting) of the process right.

  • Shannon Philpott
    Shannon Philpott •

    I agree that listing multiple positions with one company is a positive move. You can show potential employers that your skills and abilities were worthy of promotions. In addition, it also gives applicants the opportunity to list additional skills and experience, especially if one position was drastically different from another.

  • William Browning
    William Browning •

    Separate entries for one job seems to take up too much space. Although that's less of a consideration because of applicant trackers, I want to jam more stuff on the page aside from listing the same company twice. Every line is vital when you consider submitting a one-page resume for your job search.

  • CATHERINE S.
    CATHERINE S. •

    I've never considered how important it would be to bring attention to the fact that you have had multiple positions or duties within a company. I can see how this would be a positive attribute for job applicants because it shows dedication and reliability, as well as flexibility and being able to transfer knowledge and skills from one position to another. I think that most people make the mistake of making only one entry for all of their time at one company, when distinct entries better communicate your progression in your career.

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