The History of the CV: From Leonardo to the Six-Second Skim

Quick answer: The CV is much older than most people think. The best-known early example is a letter Leonardo da Vinci wrote around 1482 to win work at the Milanese court, and it reads more like a sales pitch than a modern CV. What has changed most is not the format but the reader. Recruiters today spend only a few seconds on a first pass, according to a 2012 eye-tracking study, so the history matters less than what the first page shows.

Ask most people where the CV came from and they will shrug. It feels like a permanent part of working life, but it has been reshaped many times, and the way it is read has changed even faster than the way it is written.

An early pitch: Leonardo’s letter

In around 1482, Leonardo da Vinci, then in his early thirties, wrote a letter to Ludovico Sforza, the ruler of Milan. It is preserved in the Codex Atlanticus at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan. The letter set out his skills to win a role at the court. It leads with military engineering and mentions his civil and artistic work near the end. It led to a position he held for almost twenty years.

Some sources describe it as the earliest known curriculum vitae. That label is a judgment rather than a settled fact, because it depends on how you define a CV. Its purpose and structure look like one, though: a list of what the writer can do, written to persuade a specific person to hire him. Whatever the label, the core job of a CV has not changed in five centuries.

From letters to documents

For much of the next few hundred years, a job application was a letter, usually written by hand and sent to a single employer. The idea of a standard, reusable document came later, as working life became more formal and employers began to receive applications from many candidates at once.

The format that most people would recognise today, with a summary of experience, dates and education in a fixed order, became common through the 20th century. You can trace its shape in the way careers were presented: a chronological list that a reader could scan quickly. That scanning habit is what matters most now.

The six-second skim

The most useful piece of modern research on how CVs are read comes from TheLadders, a job-matching service. In 2012 it released an eye-tracking study, which it described as the first formal look at how recruiters behave on the job. The company said recruiters spent just six seconds on a resume before deciding whether the candidate was a good fit.

That figure should be read with care. The release does not give an exact sample size, only “dozens of professional recruiters” over ten weeks, and it comes from a company that sells job-search services. But the finding that stands out is the gap between how recruiters said they read CVs and what the tracking showed. Recruiters in self-assessments said they spent at least four minutes on a resume. The eye tracking suggested something much quicker.

The same study found that almost 80% of the review time went to a small set of details: name, current and previous titles and companies, dates in each role, and education. That is useful because it tells you where the reader’s eyes go first.

What this means for candidates

The history shows a document that has always been a pitch, and the modern reader is in a hurry. A few practical points follow:

• Put the essentials where the eye lands. Your current role, your previous role and your dates should be easy to find in the first few lines.
• Lead with the outcome, not the duty. Leonardo led with what he could do for his patron. A line such as “cut onboarding time from six weeks to three” does the same job today.
• Write for a scan. Clear headings, short lines and consistent dates matter more than fancy layout. An unusual design can make the reader work harder, which rarely helps.
• Tailor the top half for each role. If the first page doesn’t match the job, the rest may never be read.

For a fuller picture of how recruiters use CVs today, see our article on whether recruiters still read resumes. Once you’ve got a strong CV, our interview checklist for candidates covers what happens next.

What employers should take from this

If a recruiter’s first pass is fast, your job advert and your application process need to work in the same way. Candidates decide quickly whether a role is worth the effort, so the first screen of your careers page should say clearly what the job is and who it is for. A long, unclear advert produces the same six-second skim, only with the candidate leaving instead of staying. Our guide to employer branding covers how to make that first impression work for you.

Frequently asked questions

Who wrote the first CV?

Leonardo da Vinci’s letter to Ludovico Sforza, written around 1482, is often cited as the earliest known example. Whether it counts as a CV depends on how you define one, so the claim is best described as an early example rather than a proven first.

How long do recruiters spend reading a CV?

A 2012 eye-tracking study by TheLadders reported six seconds on a first pass. The study was commissioned by a job-matching company and does not give an exact sample size, so treat it as a useful signal rather than a precise measure.

What do recruiters look at first on a CV?

According to the same study, almost 80% of the review time went to name, current and previous titles and companies, dates, and education. Make those easy to find in the top half of the page.

When did CVs become standard?

There is no single date. The format became common through the 20th century as employers started receiving applications from many candidates, and it has continued to change since.