Motivated by an urge to help his sons find suitable career paths, a Cassville man has launched a biweekly podcast focused on jobs.
Tim Hendrix, producer of The Jobs Podcast, grew up in the four-state area and went to college in San Diego, met his wife in Colorado and moved to Blue Eye in 2004, then Cassville 6 years ago.
A fireman by trade, Hendrix said he was looking to do something as a creative outlet when he stumbled on a Youtube video about podcasting.
‘I started talking with my oldest son and helping him try to figure out what he wants to do at the end of high school,’ Hendrix said. ‘He’s a junior now, so I started asking some friends about their careers and different jobs and family members that had unique careers, and I just kind of found that I enjoyed talking with people. It’s interesting.
‘You can tell when someone is passionate about what they do, and it’s kind of contagious. It’s really enjoyable to see someone share their passion for their career or what they do with you. And, I like to have conversations with people. I don’t like to talk about politics and stuff like that. And, from a selfish standpoint, I get to soak up all of this knowledge for free.’
Launching in November 2024, Hendrix has 26 podcasts available on Apple Podcasts, Youtube and Spotify, and the subjects have a wide range of expertise.
‘I’ve talked to a Navy seal,’ he said. ‘I’ve talked to a guy that makes high-end furniture. I talked to a occupational therapist just today about his career, and it’s just so much information that I get to soak up, and it doesn’t cost me a dime. So, it was just a win across the board. I had to buy a few things too get my computer up to speed, and I had to get a microphone, some speakers and little bit of software, but it was a pretty small investment for a hobby.’
Hendrix’s podcasts are longform interview, where he discusses not only the subject’s career path and keys to success, but also the subject’s background and goals.
‘I chose long form content because I didn’t want to just do snippets,’ he said. ‘I think there’s an audience out there, and there’s a lot of famous podcasters that are proven that if the content is acceptable, people will spend time to listen to an hour, an hour and a half, or two hours or more, and most of my podcasts are an hour to an hour and a half on the long end.
‘I’ve got formula to see who this person is. It’s human interest and career based. It’s neat to see a glimpse into the people behind the career, but I also want to talk about the education, the pay and the pros and cons of the job. I really want to provide a realistic snapshot of what a career is like.’
Hendrix said in the few months he’s been live, the reception has been surprisingly good when it comes to finding subjects.
‘I actually had to reschedule a couple of interviews,’ he said. ‘I have to factor in the research of the guest, the emailing, the calling, and the scheduling working around my family schedule because I live in a home where I’m recording, so I can’t just expect everybody to go hide in the garage. I had to kind of slow it down a little bit because I was getting really good response, and I’m out now looking to schedule stuff in April already.
‘I think people are more willing when they see I don’t ask ‘gotcha’ questions. I’m not out to make someone look bad. I don’t sugarcoat over things, but I’m also I’m having an adult conversation that’s respectful of my guest and their time, and I think when people listen to what I do, they’re more willing to sit down and talk with me. I think people want to help other people, especially if you can help someone who wants to be a police officer or a doctor or whatever.’
When it comes to finding subjects, Hendrix said recommendations from previous interviewees have been helpful, but it can be tough to find the right kind of personality to participate.
‘It’s a delicate balance to find someone who can carry on a conversation and speaks well that would be a good example for their profession,’ he said. ‘And, someone who also has a unique story or had success in whatever their profession is. That’s nothing against someone who’s been doing it for a year or two; we were all new once, so it’s not a slam on them at all, but the folks that I’ve been doing it for 15 or 20 years, they’re the ones that can give you some really solid advice to make a career out of it.
Hendrix said when he began the podcast, he made a list of over 100 occupations, then spent hours looking in Southwest Missouri to wanted to keep it close to home at the start. Between calls and emails, Hendrix said about half of his original contact attempts were returned.
‘I don’t have a particular vein of careers, whether it’s blue collar or white collar,’ he said. ‘I want to talk to anybody and everybody because there’s all kinds of jobs. I want to talk to a plumber. I want to talk to the guy that drives the garbage truck because if you’ve lived in the city that the garbage truck doesn’t come by, it gets to be a mess real quick. Those guys are really important. Doctors, surgeons, lawyers, whatever — I’ll talk to anybody.’
As for his listeners, Hendrix said he hopes his podcast helps people see there is a person behind the position, no matter what occupation it may be.
‘I think we forget sometimes that there’s people on the other end of that name tag, the badge, that uniform or that lab coat, and I’m specifically thinking about law-enforcement,’ Hendrix said. ‘I interviewed a gentleman and retired from the police department after 25 years, and sometimes law-enforcement gets a pretty negative rap because maybe one cop does something wrong, but we forget there’s tens of thousands of other police officers that are making a positive influence on their communities. They just want to go home like you and I do at the end of the day, and it’s the same thing with say a plumber. Most aren’t showing up to rip you off — they want to make a living and they’re trying to help. It’s the same with doctors.
‘I want to show that there’s real people out there, not just the number or title, but I also want folks to know if this is a career that you’re interested in, there’s some tangible information from someone who’s been doing it and has success doing it. It’s tough sometimes when you take an online personality test or you go to a school counselor and they want to help, but they may give you a very generic point-you-inthe- right-direction kind of deal. You don’t walk away with some actionable information. It’s like, OK that’s great, but what I wanted to do is a deeper dive into the nuts and bolts, more realistic information and more actionable information so you kind of know what to do next.’
Hendrix said he plans to keep the podcast running as long as he can, whether it runs its course or continues to grow.
‘I enjoy the entire process from start to finish,’ he said. ‘And, I’ve made a career out of helping people in the fire service. My parents modeled helping other people as a ministry team, and we didn’t grow up with much. It just feels right to help other people because I want to help my boys find a career that can be happy in and make it a good living. If somebody else can listen to it and get some information that propels them into a successful career, that’s a win. I don’t I don’t see a drawback in any area, so I’ll just keep going.’
People can listen to The Jobs Podcast on Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/ us/podcast/the-jobs-podcast/ id1781727638),Youtube(https:// www.youtube.com/channel/ UCfectyo7mvYVaPK8xay43bQ), or Spotify (https://open.spotify. com/show/180JD4qFpNMzUn -pi0IvhT0?si=51517966a12449 af).
