Every candidate is punctual, responsible and gets on well with people. To avoid blending in with the crowd, highlight unique elements of your personal brand.

In my time as a recruiter, I’ve rarely seen a candidate land a job by being focused on how great the job will be for them. It’s always about how they can add value to the company. Read on for some well-worded advice from Ann Latham, president of consulting and business-services company Uncommon Clarity.

If you were to get resume advice from anyone who would it be? How about Google’s Director of Talent, Kyle Ewing?

The company receives literally millions of resumes a year, and a real, live person reads every single one. Here’s what Ewing says are the four most important points to writing “a killer resume”.

It might be, depending on your approach.

Let’s face it. Sales is about interrupting people. That can be uncomfortable, not only for targets but for salespeople. Surprise! Nobody likes to be interrupted or rejected. So, what turns sales into the hardest easy job in the world?

The answer is prospecting.

Nobody likes a troublemaker, right?

When employees bring up uncomfortable topics or point out room for improvement, the urge is often to shush or ignore that person. Yet, without a willingness to look at your company through a critical lens, you’ll never achieve innovation.

Love him or hate him, Elon Musk is an attention-getter.

Recently, the innovative made waves with a series of tweets calling for AI help at Tesla. “A PhD is definitely not required,” tweeted Musk.

Tesla is well known for being anti-establishment even in the progressive vanguard of tech. While other companies are desperate to find expert data scientists with advanced degrees, Musk just wants smart, intelligent people with vision, passion and a great work ethic. He doesn’t care so much about their credentials.

We all love to hate Mondays.

But in your devotion to scorning the first day of the work week, are you perhaps missing an opportunity to do great things? Dan Zadra thinks so. Author of the motivational “The 5 Book: Where Will You be Five Years from Today?,” Zadra advocates for changing your mind about Mondays.

Being a job seeker can sometimes be degrading.

You’ve taken the time to weed through job listings. You’ve proofed your resume so many times you’re cross-eyed. You’ve crafted what you think is the perfect cover letter, cleverly linking your professional experience to this particular role. And you’ve sent it off.

Then, crickets.

What makes a choice hard, according to TED Talker Ruth Chang, is the presence of two equally weighted options. If one choice were clearly better than the other, the decision would not be hard at all.

You'll hear a lot of entrepreneurs say, "being good at failure is the key to success."

Take Sir James Dyson. After 5,126 failed prototypes and 5 long years, he was still determined to invent a better vacuum cleaner.

Patent 5,127 on his list became the best-selling bagless vacuum in the US.

When you’re looking to fill a challenging role, finding the right candidates to interview is only a fraction of the battle.

Recruiters like those of us at The Source and Recruit Co. have world-class sourcing skills and insight into candidates, of course. But we can also help with other valuable elements of the candidate search.

Yes, you need to hire the best people. Even more important, though?

Hanging onto them.

A masters in business from an Ivy League school is a great way to get started on the entrepreneurial path.

So is surfing.

You know Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech? It was the work of an incorrigible procrastinator. Of course, the bulk of the speech was started way in advance. And this, says Adam Grant, is the mark of an original thinker.

All things equal, it’s the candidate who sends the thoughtful follow-up note who scores.

A recent write-up cites recent flare ups as a reminder of the importance of the concept of geopolitical readiness.

Whether or not you’re a major film buff, it's Oscar season and there are always a few notable movies that carry with them life lessons about getting the job done right.

A recent piece from Industry Week takes a look at one Oscar favorite, “Ford vs. Ferrari,” from the perspective of systems thinking and process improvement.

The best leaders are good at humble listening. They admit when they don’t know and they tap into ways to learn.

This is a playbook by Brazilian entrepreneur and author Bel Pesce. Her advice for reaching your dreams? It’s pretty simple: enjoy your journey. (And, do the opposite of this list!)

Your favorite employee is acting funny. She’s calling in sick, wandering in late, and the notion of pleasing you seems to have faded from her repertoire.

Brace yourself, because she may be about to quit.