Marc Cenedella has excavated an old resume of da Vinci, the very definition of 'renaissance man' and  'genius'.  At the time, da Vinci was applying to work for the Duke of Milan.

Wired UK looks at his resume (Was Da Vinci the right man for the job?) and (being Wired) come to exactly the wrong conclusions.

"I doubt he'd get an interview in today's recruitment market. His CV is all I, I, I - no mention whatsoever of any teamwork, people management skills or teamwork. I can't believe he built all these wonderful things entirely on his own.

"And what about commercial awareness? No mention of any budgetary control, meeting financial targets or a good return on capital. Few companies can afford 'blue sky' stuff at any cost these days.

Locke2005 parodies this at ./ agrees, noting

Look at his track record: Never stays at one job too long. Doesn't have a clear career path, keeps jumping around from painting to architecture to mechanical design, seemingly on a whim. Does not play well with others; intentionally obfuscates his notes so that nobody but him can read them. The list goes on and on... this man is obviously not a team player, and would be a poor fit for our development team. -- HR

Wired missed why da Vinci was a genius-- and why he did get the job.  Marc's original article even states the simple truth, applicable to resumes of any era:

You'll notice he doesn't recite past achievements. [...] because those are [...] not about the Duke's needs.

Instead, he sells his prospective employer on what he can do for him.

And, of course, da Vinci got the job.  So there you have it, resume lessons from a genius.

Alex, the Daytime Astronomer


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