RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Why would job seekers want to join a startup? If those at the Big Top reverse job fair Tuesday night are typical, they’re looking for meaningful, interesting work where they can make a difference.

“The work has to be interesting and avoid rote,” said software development engineer Ed Howard. Howard’s first concern, because he has a family with young children, “is a balance between family and work,” he said.

The Nebraska transplant who came to the Triangle for work added: “Money matters, but it’s not the most important thing.”

Trying to appeal to workers’ desire for more than pay, seven startups explained to job candidates why they would be a great place to work during the course of the Big Top event,

Doug Greene, an electrical engineer who worked for IBM for 21 years and several other high technology firms, including semi-conductor makers and in embedded systems, has been in the Triangle since the 1970s.

He’s traveled the world and worked for RTI and again for IBM for a time.

“I want to do something that requires you to use your brain,” Greene said. “Something satisfying.”

Jean Tam, who is seeking a marketing position, said: “I want to be in a company where I can be excited.” Although her undergraduate degree is in biology, she’s worked in marketing.

Doug Schepers, said that while he “wants a market salary,” he’s looking for something he cares about. “Unless I’m passionate about it, I’m not going to do a good job,” he said.

He admitted, “I wouldn’t be in software if I didn’t care about money, but a job has to be intellectually satisfying.”

Schepers also has a startup of his own in the works called Fizz Studio. It is developing a way to make data visual analytics tools accessible to the blind. If that takes off, it might derail his job search.

Bob Koncelik, a transplant from New York City looking for a sales position, does care about the money. “I’m looking for a startup that can afford me,” he said. “I’m not working for $40,000.”

But apart from that, he echoed others interviewed. “I want a job where my work matters, where I can build something with them and share in the spoils.”

Koncelik added that he loves the culture and people in Durham.

Sarah Taylor, 27, who is currently employed, said, “I want to feel I make a difference to the company and overall.”

A primary concern for her, however, is to “Do something where I am better utilized.”

Also, she would like a position where she isn’t necessarily “Easily replaced, but where I can step away for a week without burdening others.”