With Philly hiring managers struggling to find the right people for their open jobs in tech, job seekers and companies are constantly trying to find common ground.

On Tuesday, at our fifth annual NET/WORK jobs fair at The Fillmore, some 500 attendees were handing out their resumes, getting fresh headshots taken and chatting with potential employers from over 50 tech companies.

But some of those job seekers made a lasting impression on hiring managers and staffers. Right as the event was wrapping up, we did a quick sweep of the room to ask what lines made them listen up and make a special mark on candidate’s resume.

The smart suggestion

Beth Perkins, Senior Manager of Employee Experience at customer experience firm Hero Digital (formerly Delphic Digital) was just trying to add a candidate to the company mailing list when lightning struck.

“The list is called ‘Friends of Hero,'” said Perkins. “I told someone today I was going to add them to the list and he said ‘Well, maybe it should be called ‘Sidekicks,’ get it?”

The play on words (Hero/sidekicks) worked. Perkins, impressed by the clever pun, took special note of the project manager candidate.

“He seemed like a great fit for our environment,” Perkins said. “The people that really stood out today were the people who were confident about who they were, and I really like those conversations.”

The open ask

While many came to NET/WORK with a shopping list of possible job titles, one candidate’s frank question made Archer Group’s Paige Temos listen up.

“He came up to me we had a good conversation,” said Temos, an associate project manager. “He gave me his resume and asked me to review it and then asked me where I thought he’d be a good fit for the organization. It ended up working out because he was interested in project management.”

Hundreds of tech job seekers connecting to 50+ local tech companies hiring RIGHT now pic.twitter.com/QprOg4y1OJ

— Technical.ly (@Technical_ly) February 27, 2018

The company homework

All candidates that impressed Azavea Manager of People Operations Karissa Justice did their homework before approaching the mapping firm’s booth.

“People who stood out had very specific questions about the company,” Justice said.

This also rang true with Stitch People Operations Director Sam Glasberg, who noticed an uptick in that attitude this year.

“In general, I was impressed by the number of folks who had taken the time to do their research prior to coming to our table,” said Glasberg. “Folks usually just show up at the table and ask to hear about Stitch (which did still happen). But a large portion of this audience clearly took the time to prepare. They had thoughtful questions ready to go, which was impressive to me.”