The Golden Voice - Fair?

By now, many of you have probably read about Ted Williams, the "Golden Voice" - a homeless gentleman in Ohio, who was "discovered" by a producer. Williams would stand on the highway with a sign reading that he had a "God-given gift of a voice" and was desperate for another chance.

Here's the video of the discovery:



Since the video was shot, Williams has received offers for radio work. He received a two-year offer from the Cleveland Cavaliers (with an offer for housing). It's truly a rags-to-riches story.

And yet, I have mixed feelings. This has nothing to do with the allegations of criminal activity -- none of us can truly empathize with the feeling of homelessness, and who knows what any of us would be capable of, in such a situation. From what I can tell, all the crimes involve theft, etc., nothing violent.

It has a little to do with the way he got himself into the situation he's in -- by his own admittance, he turned to alcohol and drugs, which caused him to lose his last job in radio. To his credit, he's been clean for two years.

More than anything though, having just come from being unemployed, it just seems a little unfair. I know MANY extremely talented people who are still out of work; through none of their doing -- the companies they worked for saw decreases in revenue and cut staff. These people want to work -- I know, I was one of them.

And, although I was quite fortunate to have a number of interviews, many of my friends in those job-seeking groups are not as lucky. Yet, here is a story of a man, who semi-willingly threw away what he had, and now, he's the recipient of a near-dream job for himself.

Admittedly, the uniqueness of the scenario -- the viral video -- helped immensely. While I was out of work, I thought, quite often, about a way we (myself and my fellow job-seekers) could better use video to help us find work. Unfortunately, marketing and public relations doesn't lend itself particularly well to engaging video (I'd had some ideas for creating something like a "Marketing Idol" or "Iron Marketer" show, where various marketing problems would be presented to teams or individuals. The problem there, though, is how do you vote people off, and still have them come out looking 'hire-able?' I struggled with that).

I still think video can pay off dividends to those looking for work. The world has changed, and video and social media are keys (not only to marketing efforts for companies and products, but for marketing efforts for individuals looking for work!)

My unease with this situation has more to do with the companies leaping at the chance for free publicity by offering a dream gig to someone who isn't necessarily more deserving than many of the unemployed in today's world -- was that position even advertised? Did the average unemployed voice professional have any chance of interviewing for that role? With unemployment still hovering above 9% (and underemployment still double that), there are still many qualified workers that would love such an opportunity. There's just no free, nation-wide publicity with those efforts.