He'd taken in work and had aspirations (5)
I believe the answer is:
hoped
'had aspirations' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'he'd taken in work' is the wordplay.
'taken in' indicates putting letters inside (some letters have taken in others).
'work' becomes 'op' (abbreviation for opus).
'hed' going around 'op' is 'HOPED'.
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for hoped that I've seen before include "Expected and wished" , "Desired with the expectation of success" , "Desired, trusted" , "Aspired" , "and 25: Anticipated" .)