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Concurrent Roles on a Resume: 3 Formats With Examples

JobAlign··9 min read

Concurrent roles on a resume are two or more positions you held during the same period: two titles at one employer, or two jobs at different employers. You list them like any other experience, with one extra requirement: the dates have to make the overlap obvious, so that nobody reads it as a typing error or as a job you left.

This guide gives three formats with an example for each, then looks at the two situations that come up most: two roles at the same employer, and two employers at once. If your roles followed one another at the same company instead of overlapping, that is a promotion path, and it is covered in our guide to multiple roles at one company.

What counts as a concurrent role

A role is concurrent when its date range overlaps with another one on your resume. The usual cases:

  • A dual role at one employer: you kept your position and took on a second one, for example an operations manager who also acts as interim head of customer support.
  • Two part-time jobs held in the same months.
  • A full-time job plus freelance or contract work on the side.
  • A job plus a teaching post, a board seat or a substantial volunteer role.

Two titles held one after the other are not concurrent, even at the same company. The difference matters because the layouts are not the same: a promotion is shown as a sequence, a concurrent role is shown as an overlap.

Which format to use

  • Both roles at the same employer: one employer heading with two titles (format 1).
  • Two different employers, both relevant to the job you want: two separate entries with overlapping dates (format 2).
  • One main job and a smaller role on the side: the main job in the experience section, the other in a section of its own (format 3).

The company names, titles and figures in the examples below are invented for illustration. Replace them with your own.

Format 1: one employer heading, two titles

Use this when both roles were at the same organization. The company appears once, and each title gets its own line, its own dates and its own bullets.

Northgate Logistics | Leeds, UK

  Operations Manager | Mar 2021 to Present
  - Run daily planning for a 40-person warehouse team.
  - Cut late dispatches by reorganizing the evening shift handover.

  Interim Head of Customer Support | Sep 2023 to Jun 2024
  (concurrent with the role above)
  - Led a team of 8 agents while the position was being recruited.
  - Wrote the escalation guide still used by the support team.

The note in parentheses is what tells the reader that the second role did not replace the first. Without it, a recruiter may assume you moved to support and came back.

Format 2: separate entries with overlapping dates

Use this when the two roles were at different employers and both deserve space. Each job is a normal entry. The overlap is visible in the dates, and a short label says what kind of role each one was.

Marketing Coordinator (part-time, 24 h/week)
Riverside Arts Centre | Bristol, UK | Feb 2022 to Present
  - Plan and send the monthly newsletter and the season campaigns.
  - Manage the events calendar and the listings on partner sites.

Social Media Manager (part-time, 12 h/week)
Kestrel Books | Remote | Jun 2022 to Present
  - Schedule and write posts for three channels.
  - Report on reach and sales from social links each month.

Hours per week are optional. They help when two part-time jobs could otherwise look like two full-time jobs held at once, which raises questions you would rather answer on the page than in the interview.

Format 3: main role in Experience, secondary role in its own section

Use this when one job is clearly your main occupation and the other is smaller: freelance work, teaching, a board seat, a volunteer role. The main job stays in the experience section. The other goes under a heading that says what it is.

EXPERIENCE

Senior Accountant | Hadley and Moore | Manchester, UK | Jan 2020 to Present
  - Prepare monthly and year-end accounts for 30 client companies.
  - Supervise two junior accountants.

FREELANCE AND TEACHING

Bookkeeping Instructor (evening classes) | Calder Adult College | Sep 2022 to Present
  - Teach a 10-week introductory course twice a year.

This keeps the main timeline easy to read and still shows the second activity. Name the section after its content: "Freelance work", "Teaching", "Board and volunteer roles". If the side role is more relevant to the job you are applying for than your main job, use format 2 instead and put it first.

Same employer: two roles at once

  • Keep the official titles. Do not merge two roles into a title that never existed. "Operations Manager" and "Interim Head of Customer Support" are both checkable. "Head of Operations and Support" is not.
  • Keep words such as interim or acting. They explain why the second role has a short date range.
  • Give each role its own dates. If the second role ended and the first continues, the dates should show exactly that.
  • Write separate bullets. Mixed bullets hide which result belongs to which role, and the reader cannot tell what you did in the role that matters to them.
  • Say which role was the main one if there was one, with a label such as "20% of time" or "alongside main role", but only if you can state it accurately.

Two employers at the same time

  • Label the type of work: part-time, contract, freelance, seasonal. The label explains how two jobs fit in one week.
  • For freelance work, use one entry with a title such as "Freelance Translator" and your overall dates, then describe the kind of clients and projects in the bullets. Name clients only if you are allowed to.
  • Do not stretch or trim dates to remove the overlap. Employment dates are routinely verified in reference and background checks, and an honest overlap is easier to explain than a date that does not match.
  • Expect one question: will the second job continue? If you are applying for a full-time position, a label such as "evenings" or "ending on hire" answers it in advance. The cover letter is another place for it.

How to write the dates so the overlap is clear

  • One date format everywhere. Month and year for every entry. Mixing "2022" with "Jun 2022" makes an overlap impossible to read.
  • One title and one date range per line. Resume parsers used in applicant tracking systems generally look for an employer, a title and a date range for each entry. Two titles sharing one date range on one line are harder to read, for software and for people.
  • "Present" only on roles that are still ongoing. If both are, both say Present.
  • Order: the usual rule is most recent first. When two roles are both current, the rule does not decide, so put first the one that is closest to the job you are applying for.
  • Plain characters: write "Mar 2021 to Present", or use a simple hyphen. Arrows, slashes and special symbols between dates do not always survive copy and paste or file conversion.

Which role goes first depends on the job you apply for

With concurrent roles, you have a choice that a linear career does not offer: both roles are current, so either can lead. The posting decides. Read it, note the skills and tasks it repeats, and lead with the role whose bullets match them. The other role can then be shortened to two or three lines.

This means the same two jobs can produce two different resumes for two different postings. That is normal, and it is the principle behind a resume tailored to a job posting: same facts, different order and emphasis.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Listing two roles with identical dates and no label, so the reader has to guess how they fit together.
  • Merging both roles into one block of bullets.
  • Hiding one of the roles and leaving a period that your LinkedIn profile or a reference will contradict.
  • Giving the side role as much space as the main one when it has nothing to do with the job you want.
  • Using different date formats in the two entries.

How JobAlign fits in

JobAlign builds a resume from your LinkedIn profile for free, with no card required. When you apply to a specific posting, it tailors that resume to the posting: it extracts the keywords from the listing and rewrites your experience to match. Tailored resumes are a one-time purchase, with no subscription. The current prices are on the pricing page.

Whatever tool you use, check the result against the rules above: one title and one date range per line, a label on the overlap, and the most relevant role first.

Frequently asked questions

How do you list two jobs held at the same time on a resume?

Give each job its own entry with its own date range, in the same date format, and let the overlap show. Add a label such as part-time or contract where it applies. If both jobs are current, put first the one closest to the job you are applying for.

Should I write the word concurrent on my resume?

Only when the overlap could be misread. For two roles at one employer, or a side role next to a full-time job, a short note such as "concurrent with the role above" removes the doubt. When the dates are clear by themselves, the note is optional.

How do I show two roles at the same company at the same time?

Write the company once, then one line per title, each with its own dates and its own bullets. Keep the official titles rather than merging them into a new one, and say which role was the main one if there was one.

Do I have to list a side job on my resume?

No. A resume is a selection of your experience, so a side job that adds nothing to the application can be left out. Include it when it is relevant to the posting or when it explains what you were doing during that period. An application form that asks for your full employment history is a different matter and should be filled in completely.

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