{"id":8704,"date":"2026-03-18T16:03:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T16:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/?p=8704"},"modified":"2026-03-23T10:04:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T10:04:42","slug":"overcome-career-setbacks-like-ou-student-dan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/?p=8704","title":{"rendered":"Overcome career setbacks like OU student Dan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Dan-curve.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-8706\" src=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Dan-curve.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"167\" height=\"175\" \/><\/a>OU student and disabled veteran Dan talks about the shock of losing his military career after a motorcycle accident and how his resulting struggle with job seeking impacted his mental health. Now studying Engineering through the BA\/BSc (Honours) Open degree, Dan is looking forward to new career opportunities. Find out <a href=\"https:\/\/help.open.ac.uk\/build-your-future-with-career-confidence\/successfully-dealing-with-career-challenges\">how to successfully deal with career challenges<\/a> like Dan and <a href=\"https:\/\/learn1.open.ac.uk\/mod\/connecthosted\/view.php?id=18828\">develop your career resilience<\/a> to confidently handle setbacks.<\/p>\n<h4>Help with job-seeking<\/h4>\n<p>After being medically discharged from the military, Dan found it difficult to find work:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cthe first 8 months out of the military became 327 job applications\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>If you\u2019re struggling with your job search, use our job seeking sources and strategies pages to help you <a href=\"https:\/\/help.open.ac.uk\/job-seeking\/sources-and-strategies\">discover relevant opportunities<\/a> and when you\u2019re ready to apply, <a href=\"https:\/\/help.open.ac.uk\/browse\/careers\/cv-applications-interviews\">find everything you need to know to maximise your chances of success<\/a> using our CVs, applications and interviews resources.<\/p>\n<h4>Mental health support<\/h4>\n<p>Like Dan, many OU students tell us how dealing with setbacks and struggling with job seeking can take its toll on their mental health.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cthe rejection from trying to find opportunity was something that I wasn\u2019t prepared for\u2026 it impacted me massively\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Find support and resources in our <a href=\"https:\/\/learn1.open.ac.uk\/mod\/connecthosted\/view.php?id=41509\">Mental Health and your career<\/a> webinar.<\/p>\n<h4>Hope through opportunity<\/h4>\n<p>Dan seized the opportunity to study for a degree through the Disabled Veterans\u2019 Scholarship Fund and is looking forward to the new opportunities this will open up:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cthe opportunity to study for a degree and potentially begin a brand new career is something so profound\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/help.open.ac.uk\/browse\/careers\/careers-by-subject\">Explore career options with your degree<\/a> and start to plan your brighter future too.<\/p>\n<h4>Next steps<\/h4>\n<p>Get inspired by watching Dan\u2019s video:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"My story: Dan Richards\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/b24_Ddt49G8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Your goals beyond study are a critical part of how we define student success at the OU. Take stock of your goals and work out your next steps by completing the <a href=\"https:\/\/opportunityhub.open.ac.uk\/Form.aspx?id=3266204\">3-minute careers check-in.<\/a> This instantly generates your personalised \u2018Actions towards goals\u2019 checklist, which signposts you to tools and resources tailored to your needs.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ou-box ou-box--info\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-7109\" src=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/JE-STEMA-wall-wordpress-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"89\" height=\"90\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/JE-STEMA-wall-wordpress-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/JE-STEMA-wall-wordpress-296x300.jpg 296w, https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/JE-STEMA-wall-wordpress-1011x1024.jpg 1011w, https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/JE-STEMA-wall-wordpress-768x778.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/JE-STEMA-wall-wordpress-1516x1536.jpg 1516w, https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/JE-STEMA-wall-wordpress-2022x2048.jpg 2022w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 89px) 100vw, 89px\" \/><em>Julie Emery is a Development Coordinator in the OU\u2019s Careers and Employability Services. She supports careers-related activity both within the service and across the University, helping students to achieve their ambitions and fulfil their potential. Explore the rest of our blog for more articles from your careers team.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>OU student and disabled veteran Dan talks about the shock of losing his military career after a motorcycle accident and how his resulting struggle with job seeking impacted his mental health. Now studying Engineering through the BA\/BSc (Honours) Open degree, Dan is looking forward to new career opportunities. Find out how to successfully deal with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-career-planning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8704"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8748,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8704\/revisions\/8748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}