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Having promotions on your CV can give you an edge over other job applicants.

But the way you should show your career progression in your CV’s work experience section depends on the types of promotions you’ve received. So here’s how to show a promotion on your CV depending on your situation.

A good example of a CV.
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1. When your promotion changed your duties

If your promotion resulted in significant changes to what you do at work, then you need to highlight the differences on your CV. Showing how your role changes emphasises your versatility to employers. This is how to do it:

Underneath your job entry header (company name and location), write your job titles and the dates you held them, starting with the most recent and working backwards. Then write a few bullets explaining your duties and results under each job title.

To ensure the employer sees that you were promoted, you can also explain the reason you were promoted in the first bullet under your first job title, like so:

An example work experience entry that demonstrates how to show a promotion on a CV, using black text with a bolded header and 2 bulleted lists, each under a subheading with a job title and dates the role was held.

Also follow the example above to highlight a lateral move at the same company on your CV.

A lateral move is a move from one job to another at the same level. Typically, this type of move happens when you take a job at a new company. But if you moved to a new role without getting bumped up to a new level, that’s a lateral move that shows your adaptability.

2. When your promotion didn’t change your responsibilities much

Did you progress to a more advanced version of your job (e.g., from Researcher to Senior Researcher)?

You don’t need to make separate lists of responsibilities for your job titles when you write your CV in this situation, because your bullets would become repetitive. Repetition wastes space on your CV and makes you seem less accomplished to employers.

So, in your work experience entry, just stack the most recent title on top of the older one, each with the dates you held them. Then write a bullet to explain why you were promoted, followed by 2–4 more bullet points detailing your accomplishments from both roles.

Here’s this CV writing tip in action:

An example work experience entry that demonstrates how to show a promotion on a CV, using black text with a bolded header, italicized dates in the stacked subheadings, and 3 bullet points.

But if you do have different duties and achievements to highlight on your CV for your different roles within the same company, do make multiple lists. The next section covers how to do that:

3. When you returned to a company with a different job title

Did your previous company bring you back in a more senior capacity? This is how to show that on your CV in a way that clearly outlines your career progress:

  1. Make separate work experience section entries for each of your positions, and list them in chronological order
  2. Write your job titles as headers to make your career progression stand out

This is how a promotion that took you back to a previous employer should look on your CV:

An example work experience section that demonstrates how to show a promotion on a CV using black text with on a white background. There are three bolded job titles as headers, followed by the company name and dates in a subheading.

Samuel Johns
Written by

Samuel Johns

Samuel Johns is a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) and Senior Editor on the CV Genius team, with 6+ years of experience in the careers space. He has helped countless job hunters craft high-quality CVs and cover letters, exceed expectations at interviews, and obtain their dream jobs. Born and raised in County Durham in the beautiful North East of England, he graduated with a BA (Hons) in French Language and Literature from the University of Bristol in 2013 and has worked in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, London, Paris, and Taipei as a French–English translator. He’s determined to use his native English and fluent French skills to help UK and French candidates get the jobs they deserve. In addition to the British and French versions of CV Genius, Samuel’s job-hunt advice has been published on numerous websites, including Careers.org, the University of Warwick, the Enterprisers Project, and HR.com. If you’d like to collaborate, please reach out to Samuel through LinkedIn. Please note, we don’t accept guest posts and won’t reply to such requests.