A Brief Stroll Through the History of the CV
🕵️‍♂️The old CV is slowly dying in the information age, and we're helping to speed up to process. It is only right that we pay a tribute to the time-tested CV by examining where it came from.
The humble CV - yes, that document we all regularly sweat over when applying for jobs. You might not realize it, but the CV (short for curriculum vitae, Latin for “course of life”) has been around for centuries. It’s had quite the glow-up since it first showed up in history.
🎉It all started back in anno domini 1482 with none other than Leonardo da Vinci. That’s right - da Vinci, the Renaissance man himself, is widely credited with crafting the first known CV. He wrote a letter to the Duke of Milan detailing his skills in engineering, architecture, and even weapons design, hoping to land a job. Talk about setting the bar high. No pressure!
For a long time after that, CVs weren’t really a “thing” for most people. Jobs were often passed along through word-of-mouth or personal connections. It wasn’t until the early 20th century that CVs started to become more standardized, especially as more people entered the workforce and competition increased. By the 1950s, having a typed CV became pretty standard practice for professionals.
💻Fast forward to the digital age, and things really took off. With the rise of computers and the internet in the late 20th century, job seekers started typing up and emailing their CVs, and job boards popped up online. Then came LinkedIn in 2003, and suddenly your professional history wasn’t just on paper - it was part of your online identity.
Today, CVs are not just typed - they’re tailored, formatted, sometimes designed like works of art (thank you, Canva), and even scanned by AI before a human ever sees them. Some industries even prefer a video résumé or a personal website. After all, YouTube launched in 2007, making that option as easy as it ever was. And while the core idea - summarizing your skills and experience - hasn’t changed much, the expectations around how you present yourself definitely have.
Which brings us to today, and Niky.AI! The future of CVs will focus on personalized, data-driven content beyond the bullet points on your piece of paper.
We're building on the core of your CV to surface skills, experiences and strengths you may not even be aware of - through the power of AI!
Head on over to Niky.AI and see how you score in our our mock interviews!