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Why Recruiters Care About Your Last 2 Jobs (and Not Much Else)

Why Recruiters Care About Your Last 2 Jobs (and Not Much Else)
Why Recruiters Care About Your Last 2 Jobs (and Not Much Else)

Here’s something most jobseekers don’t realise: when recruiters read your CV, they’re not giving equal weight to every job you’ve ever had.

The truth? Your last two jobs carry the most influence by far.

That might sound harsh — especially if you’ve got 15–20 years of solid experience behind you. But from a recruiter’s perspective, what you did a decade ago matters a lot less than what you’ve done recently.

I’ve been in recruitment for nearly 20 years, and I can tell you exactly why this happens, what it means for your CV, and how to structure your career story so it hits the mark.

Why Your Last 2 Jobs Matter Most

Recruiters and hiring managers are trying to answer one key question: “Can this person do the job I need filled today?”

That means your most recent track record is the biggest predictor of whether you’ll succeed in their role.

Here’s why:

  1. Recency is relevance. Skills date quickly. A role you did in 2010 might not prove you’re up to speed with 2025 tools, markets, or challenges.
  2. Career trajectory tells a story. Your last two roles show where you are now and where you’re heading. They’re the clearest evidence of whether you’re growing, stagnating, or even stepping backwards.
  3. Hiring managers take shortcuts. They don’t have time to analyse your entire career. They look at your latest jobs to make a snap judgement: relevant or not.

This doesn’t mean your earlier career is worthless. But it does mean you need to understand how recruiters weight things — and structure your CV accordingly.

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What Recruiters Look for in Your Recent Roles

When recruiters open a CV, here’s how they process the last two jobs:

  • Titles: Do they match (or closely relate to) the role being hired?
  • Dates: Have you done the role recently enough to still be relevant?
  • Progression: Do your last two jobs show upward movement, or are you stuck at the same level?
  • Achievements: Have you made a tangible impact, or just listed responsibilities?

If these two sections of your CV tell a strong story, the recruiter keeps reading. If they don’t, it’s often game over — no matter how impressive your earlier career was.

Why Older Roles Don’t Carry Much Weight

Hiring managers don’t ignore your earlier career completely, but it rarely sways the decision. Here’s why:

  • Markets change. What worked in 2008 might not work now.
  • Technology evolves. Tools, systems, and methodologies move on fast.
  • Relevance fades. If you’re applying for a senior role, nobody cares that you were a star intern 15 years ago.
  • Time is limited. Recruiters are skimming. By the time they’ve read your last two roles, they’ve usually made a decision.

That’s why long, detailed descriptions of jobs from 10–15 years ago are a waste of space.

Common Mistakes Candidates Make

1. Overloading old jobs with detail
I see CVs where the 2006 role has 15 bullet points, but the current role has three. That’s backwards.

Fix: Strip older roles down to title, company, and dates. Add one line if needed, but keep detail for the last 2–3 jobs only.

2. Ignoring recency bias
Some candidates lean heavily on achievements from a decade ago because they sound impressive — but they don’t show recent impact.

Fix: Highlight fresh achievements, even if they feel smaller. Recency beats grandeur.

3. Hiding career progression
If you’ve been promoted internally, don’t lump everything into one role.

Fix: Show the progression clearly. Example: “Marketing Executive (2017–2019) → Marketing Manager (2019–2022).”

How to Structure Your CV Around What Matters

Here’s the format that works best:

  1. Professional Summary (2–3 sentences)
    • Tailored to the role. Clear about your current level and specialism.
  2. Key Skills Section (6–8 bullets)
    • Keywords that match the job description.
  3. Recent Roles in Detail
    • Last 2 jobs: 4–6 bullets each, achievement-focused.
    • Show scope (team size, budget, scale) and impact (savings, growth, improvements).
  4. Earlier Roles Condensed
    • Job title, company, dates. One-line summary if needed.
  5. Education & Certifications
    • Highest level or most relevant only.

That way, the recruiter sees your current value first, without drowning in old detail.

Practical Example

The Wrong Way:

  • 2008–2014: Detailed bullet points about achievements in a role that no longer exists in the same form.
  • 2019–2023: Two vague bullets about “responsible for managing projects.”

The Right Way:

  • 2019–2023: 5 bullets showing measurable achievements: “Delivered £2m digital transformation project 10% under budget.”
  • 2015–2019: 3–4 bullets showing progression and impact.
  • 2008–2014: Condensed into one line with role, company, and dates.

How to Make Older Experience Work for You

Just because older roles carry less weight doesn’t mean you should ignore them entirely. Here’s how to use them strategically:

  • Highlight patterns. If your whole career shows growth in leadership, innovation, or sales results, make that narrative clear.
  • Pull forward relevant achievements. If something from an older role is directly relevant to the new job, mention it in your professional summary instead of burying it in the timeline.
  • Show longevity. A solid work history builds trust, even if it’s not detailed.

The fix is simple

Recruiters don’t care equally about every job you’ve ever had. They care most about your last two roles, because that’s the clearest evidence of what you can deliver today.

If your CV puts more weight on decade-old jobs than your recent ones, you’re losing interviews for the wrong reasons.

The fix is simple: make your recent experience achievement-focused, detailed, and tailored — and push older roles into the background.

And if you’re not sure how your CV stacks up under a recruiter’s eye, my AI CV Reviewer will tell you in minutes. It’s trained on 20 years of recruitment experience and shows you exactly how to restructure your CV so the right parts shine.

Because in the end, your last two jobs decide almost everything. Make them count.

Start with these tools that thousands of jobseekers use every week:

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