How often do you find yourself thinking about non-work topics when you’re on the clock? It’s likely that activities after-hours, family commitments, news events, or other parts of life make regular appearances in office conversations, and that’s more than OK. We are social beings, and our job-related skills are only a piece of what we bring to our careers.

Unfortunately, the organizations and spaces we operate in may not always reflect this as well as we’d like. This can stand in the way of success in the knowledge economy. Complex collaborative work rewards fuller engagement, which may partially explain why some firms are ditching the conventional resume in favor of methods that help them find out more about prospective hires.

To put it another way; if a company’s view of a worker is that they’re just their job, that’s all they’re likely to get. On the other hand, organizations that recognize their people as whole human beings enable them to bring more to the table.