Fast-growth companies are benefiting the most from an increasing number of high-wage earners entering the gig workforce, writes Jody Greenstone Miller, CEO of Business Talent Group. While most large, established businesses lack the flexibility required to assimilate these employees, quick access to high-end talent allows growing firms to fill positions that are critical to sustained growth.

Fake profiles abound on LinkedIn, and requests to connect are usually nefarious attempts to build lucrative e-mail lists, writes Kerry Flynn. Users should change their privacy setting to disable the ability by others to download the user's e-mail address.

Networking is less stressful when we think of it as a start to a relationship rather than a race to gain approval, writes Monisha Toteja, CEO at Dynamic Speaking. She explains how to introduce yourself, join an ongoing discussion, depart from one tactfully and ask questions that reveal bond-building shared interests.

Today is Tax Day, with the average federal refund of $3,163 and Connecticut the highest state on the list, according to SmartAsset. We all know it's not really getting free money, but it feels good nonetheless. What is the highest federal refund you have ever received? Poll results on Friday.

Amazon raised its minimum wage to $15 per hour and challenged other retailers to do the same thing. Walmart exec Dan Bartlett tweeted, without naming Amazon specifically, that retailers should also pay their taxes, citing an article that says Amazon paid nothing in federal taxes on more than $11 billion in profits in 2018.

Hiring managers ghost job seekers by failing to follow up, no matter how far into the hiring process applicants are or how much sample work is submitted, writes Ludmila Leiva. Reasons recruiters give for this practice include having too many positions to fill at once, fearing claims of discrimination and not wanting to be the bearer of bad news.

People whose jobs demand long periods of forced positivity that's related to interacting with the public are more at risk for heavy drinking, according to a study. "The relationship between surface acting and drinking after work was stronger for people who are impulsive or who lack personal control over behavior at work," says the study's lead author Alicia Grandey.

Since the conclusion of World War I, the government in Switzerland has maintained mandatory stockpiles of essential foods and supplies to prepare for national emergencies such as war or natural disasters. The agency that oversees these supplies has announced that they will no longer stock coffee because it "has almost no calories and subsequently does not contribute, from the physiological perspective, to safeguarding nutrition."