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I have an issue with my resume that is confusing lots of people.

I worked for a small company for a long time. I was responsible for many different things at the same time. Online I see lots of mention on how to format if you held multiple position concurrently, however I can't seem to find any thoughts on displaying positions you've had at the same time.

For example, in a small company I was responsible for both Programming and Database Development.

Right now I have my formatting is as such:

Company Name                           Start Month/Year - End Month/Year
  Job Title one
     - nth Desc.
  Job Title two
     - nth Desc.

This seems to be missed by most resume parsers.

I was thinking I could do something like

Company Name                           01/2000 - 07/2007
  Job Title one
     - nth Desc.
Company Name                           01/2000 - 07/2007
  Job Title two
     - nth Desc.

Where the dates overlap each other, is that a good idea?

Duplicate doesn't solve this problem as the duplicate answer displays dates that go with transition to job title, but this is not the case here. I had different responsibilities that fall under different titles simultaneously.

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    Did you really have multiple job titles, or multiple responsibilities? Because I only see you name responsibilities (Programming and Database Development) in your question. Make sure you use the job title that you were given when hired (or promoted to), and then list the responsibilities under that title.
    – HorusKol
    Nov 21, 2017 at 3:24
  • If that's the case, once I list all the things I've done, it becomes overwhelming for the reader to differentiate all the things I've done which is a big complaint I'm getting. And my responsibilities at the company covered such a horizontal scope that a lot of items can be further categorized under a number of other titles such as Programming, Database Developer and so on... in order to remove the burden off the reader. I'm still not sure the best way to tackle that issue.
    – Mallow
    Nov 21, 2017 at 3:46
  • 1
    cull and target the responsibilities to match the positions you are applying for - but don't make up multiple job titles in order to "arrange things better" - this will be more confusing to the reader, and could cause problems if security checks are needed later down the line. There's also a risk that a such wide range of skills and technologies may indicate very shallow knowledge in each category.
    – HorusKol
    Nov 21, 2017 at 4:46
  • 2
    Possible duplicate of Best way to display added responsibilities in same company on resume
    – gnat
    Nov 21, 2017 at 7:33

3 Answers 3

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I'd recommend you to consolidate and narrow down your bullet points for the job at hand. When applying to a developer position, list the responsibilities related to development. A software engineer hiring manager wouldn't be interested in your sales skills. In other words, customize your resume to the job at hand.

At the interview, you are more than welcome to elaborate on your additional experience when you discuss your resume.

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  • Targeting resumes is the way to go - even within the scope of software development - a front-end job may be interested that you've done some SQL database work, but not that you've done nth order normalisations on complex geodata cross-linking to an ERP...
    – HorusKol
    Nov 21, 2017 at 4:48
  • So would that mean that If I'm applying to front end developer I change my job title to front end developer, and when applying to Database Admin I change my title to Database Admin, or would I leave it as my official title of Programmer and then just enumerate database administrative work?
    – Mallow
    Nov 21, 2017 at 17:24
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When you work for a company, you only hold a single position at a time.

Unless you had a formal promotion, or reassignment, or job title change, then your employment span only consists of one job title. That job title might be "Jack-of-all-trades wizard", but it is still a single position. That is what you list as your job title on your resume. (For help on what that title should be, see this question and this question and this question.)

It sounds like you covered a lot of roles while you were at that company, but you list those in your description of your job responsibilities. In the end that will be more important than what you actually list as your job title.

Company Name                           01/2000 - 07/2007
  Job Title
     - Role 1 description
     - Role 2 description
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  • This isn't always true. I used to work for a (very big) company that officially assigned multiple job titles to one person. I had three or four at one point. I did have a "primary" title and the others were "secondary", but that was just to determine pay (so your primary title was the lowest paying one, obviously). I often went months without spending a minute doing my "primary" job.
    – Kat
    Nov 25, 2017 at 8:01
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Just do this:

Company Name                           01/2000 - 07/2007
  Job Title one, Job Title two
     - nth Desc.

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