Five years ago next month, I was fired from my job.

It wasn’t a surprise. I knew my day was coming. In fact, I’d been suggesting the demise of my position for quite awhile. I’d even been encouraged by my CEO to look for a job while still on the payroll – since it was only a matter of time before the axe would fall after the sale of the company where I worked.

But I didn’t do anything to find a new job.

In some sort of Gen X loyalty play gone awry – I told myself it would be wrong to look for a job while still having a job.

Dummy -> Me.

Go ahead. Judge me. (You know you want to).

Now stop judging me. (It’s not nice.)

The truth is, I had quite a few reasons excuses that were causing my career paralysis, including:

• I’d been “too busy” focusing on what needed to be done in my day job and had developed very few professional relationships outside of my current company.

• As an Introvert, I found the very thought of “networking” to be exhausting.

• Job boards, applicant tracking systems – and even email (gasp!) – were all new pieces in the job search puzzle since I’d last looked for a job.

• I was burned out and not sure what I wanted to do next. (A start up, three high growth environments and one successful turnaround & subsequent company sale can do that to a person.)

So I stuck my head in the sand and I did nothing.

Until the day I was invited to leave.

Once I was forced to confront the process, I reached out to some really smart and wonderful people – including one awesome Career Coach – who shared their expertise, thoughts and advice with me. And with their help I was able to learn how to follow a process for building relationships (i.e. networking) that helped me to identify and connect with the “right” people and even find the courage to try something new in my career – which involved a change that wasn’t even close to being on my radar. Ever.

In other words – it took a Village (of Experts) to help me get my career back on track and headed in the right direction. And I’m grateful for the career wake-up call that getting fired gave me. It’s one of the best things that has ever happened to me. For real.

Maybe you’re stuck in your own version of an Ostrich Moment. If so, then check out The Career Summit – starting online October 26th and running weekly through November 17th. There, you can access your own Village (of Experts) who can help if you are:

• unsure about how to develop an effective online presence and navigating “job search 2.0”.

• confused about how to deal with HR and Recruiters (who isn’t?).

• currently employed and looking to figure out your next career step on the down low.

• dissatisfied in your current job, but unsure what you want to do next.

• currently employed and find it difficult to attend seminars or webinars that are held during work hours.

This really is a great opportunity and I’m excited that my friends Laurie Ruettimann and Mark Stelzner have pulled together a stellar cast of characters to help you in your career journey.

I encourage you to register and join us online for the weekly live presentations, or access the recordings as often as you like via the archives. By signing up, you’ll also have access to several free career resources, books and articles.

You can even be proactive about managing your career by eating Cheetos while listening in your pajamas if you want. And you don’t have to get fired to start the process.

How cool is that?

*p.s. – Don’t miss my Session on November 10th at 3pm ET – “Great Brands, Great HR: Demystify the Recruiting Process” – where I’ll be interviewing Richard Cho – Recruiting Lead at Facebook, Jeremy Langhans – Senior Recruiter | Talent Engagement at Starbucks and Heather McGough – HR & Recruiting Professional at Microsoft.  We’re going to break down what happens in the hiring process and how job seekers can get noticed by recruiters, HR pros and hiring managers. It’s going to be awesome! 🙂