How to present promotions in work experience

Thanks for the answers,

cheetarah, I guess if you found enough space to describe 10yrs of experience, I should be able to input my less significant one.
Do you think they really pay attention to the resume though? For instance has it happened that the interviewer asks about something that is in your resume but not on your application form?

The resume is one of the most important pieces of the application. The resume is not just a repetition of what you put in the employment section of the application. They serve two very different purposes. Most schools do blind interviews (i.e. the interviewer has not seen your application) based solely on your resume. So yes, they pay attention to the resume and all of my interviewers asked questions based on mine.

You've piqued my interest, cheetarah. What would you say those two distinct purposes are?

Your resume is like a "Greatest Hits" page. Your resume should not focus on duties and responsibilities, but rather actions and achievements. The employment section of the application is where you state your day to day responsibilities. Here's an example of the descriptions I wrote for one job in my resume and in my application. Identifying details are omitted.

Application
Business Manager - Business Development Team - Nov 2010 - Present
1. Take a lead role in developing relationship with account's Vendor Partnership Group
2. Analyze and identify opportunities to accelerate total category/department/store performance
3. Develop tools and recommendations for "best in class" performance including distribution, merchandising, pricing and shelving
4. Support and develop the team
- Collaborate and share best practices within internal team
- Provide team reporting as necessary

Resume
Business Manager
Business Development Team, PA
November 2010 – Present
• Promoted to lead category management initiatives for Top 10 customer
• Influence the Breakfast Aisle by expanding Cereal section and implementing best in class Wholesome Snacks and Cereal shelf sets at retail stores
• Advanced company to leading vendor partner position with Shopper Insights Group
• Collaborated with Account and Planning Managers to execute category transformation that eliminated a key competitor at 1300 stores, increased distribution by 8 items, and enhanced the shelf set to the best in class model

Use option 1. Option 2 sounds quite illogical to me .

Just as you have, I have also worked in only 1 firm till date. In the work details / employer section, for all my apps, I only updated the job responsibilities in my last role. If they wanted a history of my work life, they had the resume for that.

Cheets makes great points about how the resume is extremely critical to the application process. I remember a Ross event from last year when one of the members of the ad com went on to say that they pretty much rank & order applicants based on the resume alone. Not to say that they don't read all the apps. But its only in rare instances when they actually shortlist folks for interviews who had sub-standard resumes but great overall apps.

Great advice guys!

Agree that option one sounds like the better one. In general, I think it is better to opt for the simpler, cleaner approach. Do whatever you can to not confuse the admissions committee. They might only spend a few minutes thinking about you and you don't want them trying to interpret what you wrote.