Interviews with 380 workers in two cities show that workers who received advice from numerous sources, whose main advisers were outside their families, and who had positive orientations to work were relatively likely to obtain high-status first jobs. These relationships were to some extent independent of each other and of workers' class backgrounds, and for the most part they also applied to the workers' choice of their most recent jobs. However, workers' advice-seeking and values when they chose their first jobs were not related to their later job histories. The findings are examined in the light of alternative theories of occupational choice.