Having an updated LinkedIn profile is crucial for career development and job searching in the modern age. With LinkedIn being the world’s largest professional networking platform, it serves as an online resume and portfolio for many professionals. Therefore, accurately reflecting your work experience on your LinkedIn profile is vital.
A common scenario many people face is having held multiple positions at the same company. LinkedIn allows you to list each position separately under the same company name on your profile. Doing so accurately depicts your career progression and range of responsibilities within that organization.
Here are tips on how to best add multiple positions with the same employer on your LinkedIn profile.
Should You List Each Position Separately?
The first decision is whether you should list out each role individually under an employer. Here are some key factors to consider:
- Length of time in each position – If you held a role for multiple years, list it separately from short transitional roles.
- Significantly different responsibilities – Separate out positions that had very different core functions.
- Job title changes – If your title changed, that likely reflects progression so list each title.
- Promotions – Major promotions at the same company warrant separate position listings.
As a general rule, if you were in a certain position for at least one year, held responsibilities that differed from other roles, or earned a promotion, list that out individually.
How To Add Multiple Positions
Here are the steps to add multiple positions with a single LinkedIn employer:
- Go to your LinkedIn profile and click on “Add profile section” near the top.
- Select “Experience” and then click “Company”. Type the name of the employer you want to add multiple positions for.
- Fill in the title, employment dates, location, and description for the earliest or most relevant position you held at that company.
- Click “Save” to add that position.
- To add another role, click the “+” icon next to that company listing.
- Fill in the unique details for the next position – make sure the date ranges do not overlap.
- Repeat steps 5 and 6 to add additional positions as needed for that employer.
Following these steps allows you to cleanly add multiple job titles and responsibilities under one company name on your profile. Just make sure the positions are in reverse chronological order.
Listing Position Details
When entering details for each position, follow these tips:
- Job Title – Use your precise formal title at that time.
- Employment Dates – Month and year is sufficient. List start and end dates without gaps.
- Location – The city and state/country where you were based in that role.
- Description – Use 3-5 concise bullet points summarizing your major responsibilities and achievements. Quantify results where possible.
Keeping position descriptions clear and impactful gives viewers key insights into your experience at that company. Use active voice and vary wording across entries.
Why Listing Each Position Matters
Some people wonder why they should take the time to list out each position at an employer on LinkedIn. Here are key reasons why it’s worth doing:
- Demonstrates your career growth and promotion history.
- Highlights the expanding skills you developed.
- Shows adaptability by changing roles within a company.
- Displays the full breadth of your experience and responsibilities.
- Provides more keywords and details for recruiters searching profiles.
- Prevents underselling yourself by summarizing positions.
In addition, if you only list one position per employer, your profile may look more stagnant or have large resume gaps, even if you were actually promoted internally. Breaking out each role presents your experience more accurately.
Example of Multiple Positions at One Company
Here is an example of how to list multiple positions with a single employer on a LinkedIn profile summary:
ABC Company, New York, NY
Director of Marketing, March 2019 – Present
– Lead annual strategic planning for $50M division with 25 direct reports
– Launched automated targeted email campaign resulting in 20% increase in conversion rate
– Manage P&L and forecasting delivering 35% revenue growth in 2 years
Senior Marketing Manager, December 2016 – February 2019
– Headed integrated campaign for new product line generating over 100,000 leads in first year
– Built and led team of 10 marketing specialists improving productivity 32%
– Collaborated with sales team to create and execute national level events
Marketing Manager, May 2014 – November 2016
– Planned and executed all email marketing initiatives reducing unsubscribes 22%
– Implemented new social media presence improving engagement by 40%
– Managed $5M annual budget delivering all programs on time and under budget
This example provides a concise yet detailed overview of the different positions, responsibilities, and achievements in reverse chronological order under one employer name. This level of detail gives LinkedIn viewers great insight into your career progression and range of experience with that company.
Tips for Descriptions When Roles Overlap
Sometimes job duties may overlap across positions at the same company. Here are tips to describe overlapping roles:
- Focus on the core objectives that were unique to that position.
- Emphasize different skills you developed or improved in each role.
- Tailor keywords and achievements to match each job title.
- Note which teams you interacted with or lead in each position.
- Describe how responsibilities scaled with promotions.
Even with some overlap in day-to-day work, you can highlight how each position built on the last to showcase career growth.
Should You Combine Any Similar Positions?
It’s best practice to list out positions separately whenever possible. But in some cases, combining similar short-term roles may make sense:
- Internships – Combine multiple internships under one entry.
- Rotational programs – List separate programs under one role.
- Temporary assignments – You can group together under one title.
- Very short transitional roles – If under 3 months, combine with the prior role.
Use judgment in summarizing appropriate short-term positions to keep your profile concise. But list major permanent roles individually.
How Many Positions Should You Include?
As a rule of thumb, try to keep your LinkedIn profile to 3-5 positions for the last 10-15 years of your career. Very long profiles with excessive role details and overlap may cause viewers to lose interest.
If you have other significant roles from earlier in your career that are relevant, you can include a summary “Previous Experience” section with employer names, titles and dates only to capture your full work history.
Tools To Manage Multiple Positions
Managing details across multiple positions per employer can be challenging. Here are some helpful tools:
- LinkedIn Resume Chrome Extension – Auto-populates your profile from a resume document.
- LinkedIn Profile Organizer – Creates an outline format for editing experience and other profile sections.
- LinkedIn Open Profile Editor – Provides more space for editing the full profile vs. the condensed view.
Using these tools can help streamline transferring position details as you add roles and make profile updates.
Customizing Your Profile URL
With multiple positions per employer, customizing your LinkedIn profile URL is recommended so it’s easy to share. To do so:
- Go to the “Edit public profile & URL” section under your profile photo.
- Edit the custom URL field to create a unique LinkedIn URL using your name.
- Check availability and save the new custom URL.
This creates a clean URL like www.linkedin.com/in/yourname to include in email signatures, resumes, and anywhere else you share your profile.
Adding Media to Enhance Each Position
Including visual elements can help showcase positions on LinkedIn. Consider adding:
- Photos/videos of major projects or events.
- Graphs highlighting quantifiable achievements.
- Samples of presentations, publications, or other work outputs.
- Infographics summarizing accomplishments.
- Links to earned press coverage or company awards.
Relevant media elements make your experience come to life. Just be sure to have rights to use any content you include.
Best Practices for Multiple Positions
Here are some top practices when adding multiple positions for an employer:
- List roles in reverse chronological order.
- Break out positions held for one year or longer.
- Use exact formal job titles and consistent date formats.
- Summarize 3-5 key responsibilities and achievements per role.
- Focus on responsibilities that are unique to each position.
- Quantify results and accomplishments where possible.
Following these best practices will result in an accurate, compelling overview of your career progression and responsibilities gained under one employer.
Mistakes To Avoid
Be careful to avoid these common mistakes when adding multiple positions to your profile:
- Having overlapping or confusing date ranges.
- Listing too many short-term or temporary roles.
- Including excessive or repetitive details across positions.
- Using vague, generic, or passive descriptions.
- Letting position descriptions run on with large blocks of text.
- Having significant gaps between roles with the same employer.
Proofread carefully to catch any inaccuracies, formatting inconsistencies, or unclear progression across positions at an employer.
Updating Positions Over Time
As you take on new responsibilities and roles with an employer, continue updating your LinkedIn experience section. A few tips:
- Add new positions promptly when they start.
- Revise previous role descriptions to use past tense verbs for ended positions.
- Expand current role details with major new achievements.
- Reorder positions chronologically when adding or ending roles.
- Remove very old or irrelevant positions as you add new experience.
Keeping your LinkedIn profile updated over time ensures it accurately reflects where you are now in your career.
Customizing Position Headings
LinkedIn automatically shows employer names as the position headings. You can customize these headings to stand out.
For example, instead of:
XYZ Company
Consider using headings like:
Director of Operations – XYZ Company
Senior Project Manager – XYZ Company
Adding your specific job title makes the position details clearer to viewers.
Promoting Your Profile
Once you’ve added all your positions, promote your LinkedIn profile so it gets found:
- Craft an informative profile headline.
- Expand your connections list with coworkers and colleagues.
- Join relevant LinkedIn groups and engage in conversations.
- Follow target companies to stay on their radar.
- Claim a unique LinkedIn profile custom URL.
- Include a profile badge in your email signature and resume.
Promoting your LinkedIn presence with multiple detailed positions signals your professional capabilities to recruiters and connections.
Conclusion
Adding multiple positions at the same company provides a comprehensive overview of your career path on LinkedIn. Clearly showcasing your varied roles and advancement at one organization also makes your experience stand out.
With LinkedIn being such an important platform for recruiters and hiring managers, take the time to accurately reflect position changes and promotions with each employer. The investment will pay dividends in how your profile represents you professionally.