In the days just after some 9 million people watched them on “60 Minutes,” James Jordon and Carl Sobocinski got wildly different responses to their appearance.
Jordon, founder and president of JCC Construction Co., says the Jan. 9 broadcast opened the floodgates for hundreds of resumes to pour in from all over the country, the Middle East, Africa and beyond.
“Our HR team and the folks in our office have just been processing the emails as quick as we can, when they come in, and trying to respond to everybody,” he says of his appearance on the CBS newsmagazine’s segment, “The Great Resignation: Why more Americans are quitting their jobs than ever before.”
Meanwhile, Sobocinski, founder, owner and president of Table 301, says his email inbox and cellphone immediately blew up — with 90% of messages from friends. The other 10%? Salespeople pitching workforce and IT solutions and restaurant and real estate development opportunities.
Still, Sobocinski says he expects to see his restaurants blink brighter on Greenvillians’ radar screens — “we’re going to see a few extra butts in seats,” he says — since his interview with correspondent Bill Whitaker.
“I can’t say that we track what impact a story on ‘60 Minutes’ has on a business or community,” Whitaker tells the Greenville Journal, “but I do think that it just sort of opens people’s eyes to a place that perhaps they were not aware of.”
Producer Rome Hartman says “60 Minutes” chose Greenville over other middle-market cities like Miami and Austin because they found the interviewees easily accessible, personable and resonant.
That is, they were ready for primetime, each putting a face to the newsmagazine’s story about geographic, attitudinal and statistical shifts in today’s COVID-churned labor market, he says.
“The city was appealing because it seemed to be a manageable size,” Hartman adds. “I didn’t know much about Greenville, but I had a sense that it had a kind of a cohesive business community.”
Likewise, Whitaker adds: “And you’ve got programs to help small businesses and starting-out, young entrepreneurs. And it’s welcoming and comfortable. Greenville hits all the sweet spots.”
At the start of the segment’s six-week process from conception to broadcast, Hartman says the Greenville Chamber of Commerce pointed them to Jordon. They then came across Sobocinski and two other local entrepreneurs. For Jordon and Sobocinski, filming took place at Table 301’s Lazy Goat restaurant in downtown Greenville.
Jordon told Whitaker his exploding business needs 40 employees to supplement his staff of 26. Sobocinski says his four full-service dining establishments and other ventures would need a 10% increase in line cooks, front-of-house employees and others to reach full service; Table 301 already employs some 400 full- and part-time associates,
And as for the story’s main character — Greenville — Hartman says, the city provided an efficient and effective place for “60 Minutes” to do its job.
“I’d say that everybody that we reached out to was open and willing to talk to us and help educate us,” he says. “And that’s what we’re about.”
Sound Bites from “The Great Resignation”
“We doubled our revenue year-over-year. We don’t have a work problem at all. Now it’s just a matter of finding the individuals to be able to perform the work.” — James Jordon, president JCC Construction Co.
“The quick answer people say is we’re still providing too many benefits, and too many people can sit at home and get a check. I personally disagree with that. Our associates that didn’t come back, they’re not sitting at home. They found other careers, other opportunities, that fit their lifestyle better.” — Carl Sobocinski, owner, Table 301
Source: “60 Minutes,” CBS News
What’s the story?
“60 Minutes” provided this synopsis of the segment (edited for length):
Correspondent Bill Whitaker and “60 Minutes” traveled to Greenville after seeing it on a LinkedIn data map showing trends of geographic migration — lots of workers leaving big cities like San Francisco and Chicago — and lots of workers moving to places like Austin, Miami and Greenville.
For what you’d pay to rent an apartment in San Francisco, you can buy a nice house in Greenville. The city has attracted big employers like BMW and Michelin, but also tries to nurture small businesses and startups. Still, you see all the same “help wanted” signs on Greenville’s main street as you would in any big city.
Whitaker also spoke with Melissa Williams, who walked away from a marketing job in early 2021, and Kenzie Biggins, who moved to Greenville in 2017, a few years after she founded her own company, Worxbee, which pairs remote assistants with executives and companies that need administrative help.
Source: “60 Minutes” producer Rome Hartman
