Career growth isn't dependent on working for a large or well-known brand, which might be good early in your career but not later as you move up, says CMO Rebecca Biestman. Moving to a smaller company might allow you to grow your skills and leadership much quicker than in the corporate world.

Create a sense of normalcy and connection for remote employees by providing virtual spaces to gather, tools to help them communicate and an abundance of formal and informal communication, writes Rashan Dixon of Microsoft. "Chitchat might seem like a waste of time, but don't underestimate its role in facilitating teamwork," he writes.

The first half of a career often focuses on a me-first mentality while the second half pivots "from profit to purpose," but this model is the reverse of how most women go from caregiving in their younger years to ramping up their ambition in the second half. "Business leaders need to understand that women's career shapes may be different than the up-or-out model still dominant in most talent management programs," writes Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, CEO of a gender consulting company.

All the career advice in the world won't help if you don't "reset your mindset to believe in yourself and have unstoppable faith that you will achieve your goal," both in job-hunting and career advancement, executive recruiter Jack Kelly writes. Professionals should remain upbeat and positive, and stay focused on their end goal, he advises.

Rescinding a job offer made to a candidate is a difficult task, and columnist Patrick Proctor explains the right way to approach the delicate situation. Start by consulting your attorney, to understand if the reason is compelling enough and you're taking an ethical approach, and follow these six steps to best communicate a rescinded job offer to the candidate.

First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits have hit 800,000 each week of the pandemic, with 840,000 filed last week, according to the Labor Department. "The decline in continuing claims is welcome, but initial claims offer a better read on the real-time state of the labor market, and the downward trend has stalled, more or less," said economist Ian Shepherdson.

Some of the large-venue gatherings for esports competitions have been put on hold by the pandemic, but the remote nature of the games means the industry should weather the pandemic fine. However, if you've never considered the role geopolitics might play in stifling the growth of the games, give this piece a read.