{"id":9052,"date":"2026-07-08T15:38:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T14:38:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/?p=9052"},"modified":"2026-07-08T15:43:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T14:43:28","slug":"succeed-by-letting-go-of-your-dream-career-james-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/?p=9052","title":{"rendered":"Succeed by letting go of your \u201cdream career\u201d \u2013 James\u2019 story"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"My story: James Champion\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/epUaF1Wc8Nk?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<blockquote><p>\u201cit kind of stopped my career\u2026 it\u2019s like if you wanted to be a footballer but suddenly breaking your leg and not able to fulfil your dreams anymore\u2026\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>For OU student James, being a helicopter pilot was the dream job that he\u2019d always been \u201cdead set\u201d on. But then, due to medical reasons, his flying career \u201cstopped overnight\u201d. James learned to understand that his career wasn\u2019t over, and he had not failed. Discover why employers embrace applicants with a growth mindset in this <a href=\"https:\/\/learn1.open.ac.uk\/mod\/connecthosted\/view.php?id=45533\">recorded panel session<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Bounce back in three steps:<\/p>\n<h2>1. Acknowledge the loss<\/h2>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cNot being able to fly has been a real trauma that I\u2019ve had to live with\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Losing a dream role can feel like a real loss \u2013 affecting your sense of purpose, identity, or routine. It\u2019s OK to acknowledge that.<\/p>\n<p>When you feel ready, consider what the role gave you emotionally. <a href=\"https:\/\/help.open.ac.uk\/students\/_data\/documents\/careers\/restricted\/career-planning-guide.pdf#page=40\">What did you value most from work?<\/a> Impact, mastery, recognition, or lifestyle?<\/p>\n<p>Tools like our <a href=\"https:\/\/help.open.ac.uk\/students\/_data\/documents\/careers\/restricted\/career-planning-guide.pdf#page=41\">Rate your current (or last) job<\/a> activity, or <a href=\"https:\/\/help.open.ac.uk\/career-self-assessment\">reflecting on your values<\/a>, can help you identify what matters most. Rather than replacing a specific job, focus on finding new ways to meet those needs. Often, there\u2019s more than one path forward.<\/p>\n<h2>2. Translate the dream<\/h2>\n<p>Break your dream job down into components that you could find in other jobs:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Skills<\/strong> you have or are building (e.g., communication, technical expertise, leadership) \u2013 see our <a href=\"https:\/\/help.open.ac.uk\/students\/_data\/documents\/careers\/restricted\/career-planning-guide.pdf#page=31\">Listing your work achievements and skills<\/a> activity.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Motivators<\/strong> (e.g., helping people, solving problems, creativity, living your values, finding fulfilment) \u2013 see our <a href=\"https:\/\/learn1.open.ac.uk\/mod\/connecthosted\/view.php?id=45998\">values-based recruitment panel recording<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Environment<\/strong> (e.g., fast-paced, independent, collaborative) \u2013 see our <a href=\"https:\/\/help.open.ac.uk\/students\/_data\/documents\/careers\/restricted\/career-planning-guide.pdf#page=29\">Recognise your style of working<\/a> activity.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Identity<\/strong> (e.g., being seen as an expert, a creator, a helper).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>3. Focus on what you actually enjoy<\/h2>\n<p>Be careful what you wish for. Focus on a broader range of career options with potential for you to do what actually makes you happy and motivates you, rather than fixating on a \u2018dream job\u2019 title which may not suit you in reality. Start by <a href=\"https:\/\/help.open.ac.uk\/students\/_data\/documents\/careers\/restricted\/career-planning-guide.pdf#page=44\">thinking about the work you\u2019d like to do<\/a> or exploring opportunities in your area with <a href=\"https:\/\/help.open.ac.uk\/research-labour-market\/labour-market-information\">local labour market information<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Browse roles to find out what\u2019s really out there on the <a href=\"https:\/\/opportunityhub.open.ac.uk\/students\/jobs\">OU Careers and Employability Services website<\/a> or other <a href=\"https:\/\/help.open.ac.uk\/job-seeking\/where-to-look-for-advertised-jobs\">vacancy sources<\/a>. Consider:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Adjacent roles:<\/strong> Stay close to your original field but in a different capacity or in a different commercial sector.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Portfolio careers:<\/strong> Combine multiple roles to recreate different aspects of what you love doing.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Re-skilling\/up-skilling:<\/strong> Transfer your existing skills and gain new ones \u2013 you\u2019re not starting from zero.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You can try different things or take incremental steps with <a href=\"https:\/\/opportunityhub.open.ac.uk\/students\/Workflows\/Detail\/9\">work experience<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cit kind of stopped my career\u2026 it\u2019s like if you wanted to be a footballer but suddenly breaking your leg and not able to fulfil your dreams anymore\u2026\u201d For OU student James, being a helicopter pilot was the dream job that he\u2019d always been \u201cdead set\u201d on. But then, due to medical reasons, his flying [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,110,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disabled-veterans","category-job-search","category-jobs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9052","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\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9052"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9057,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9052\/revisions\/9057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}