WebProNews

Mark Jen, who ran afoul of Google's policies on posting internal information and was terminated in January, encourages others to tell their fired stories and compete for a cruise.

The Simply Fired web site has been launched by job search engine Simply Hired. Mr. Jen, now an employee of contact info syncing company Plaxo, wants to find out who's been fired in America.

"After I experienced a very public firing, many people reached out to me with their stories about losing their job," said Mr. Jen. "Most of us are embarrassed about being let go, but it happens all the time--often in very interesting ways.

"And once you start that conversation, everyone wants to listen in and share their stories. SimplyFired.com is a great way to help start this dialogue online."

To motivate the unwillingly unemployed to share their stories, the site has launched a Simply Fired Contest.

A judging panel to include Lockergnome's Chris Pirillo, Mac evangelist Guy Kawasaki, and AdBrite's Phil Kaplan will choose a Grand Prize "Loser" and send the lucky person and a guest to join Simply Hired CEO and founder Gautam Godhwani on The Apprentice Legend cruise.

"With all the layoffs in the headlines these days, we're hoping to offer a small bit of light-hearted comic relief, as well as provide a forum for people who have been fired or laid off to tell their stories," said Mr. Godhwani.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.