The primary aim of this research is to explore any possible links between the Work Experience (WE) carried out during the Transition Year Programme (TYP) in Irish second level schools and the subsequent choices made by students when they enter 5th Year to commence the two year, Leaving Certificate. It is only recently that schools have taken responsibility for helping young people to achieve a vocational identity. The TY programme places a major emphasis on building relationships between schools and their external communities and concomitantly between the students and their potential future employers. It allows adolescents time to mature away from the exam directed focus of the more academic programmes in our schools. Yet, the idea that participation in a TY work experience programme could facilitate an increased awareness of possible careers has drawn little attention from the research community. The major focus of this research is on the subject choices made by students subsequent to the Work Experience placements chosen by them. Work Experience is defined as a module, within Transition Year, of between five and fifteen days duration where students engage in a work placement in the local community and away from the school. Such placements encourage a mutually beneficial relationship between the school community and the business community in towns and cities all over the country. The students gain valuable experience of the world of work while the employers get the opportunity to encourage young students to contemplate their sector as a future or possible career. This research extends to consider other key concepts such as Career Development Theory (CDT), gender, social background, decision making styles, and school subject provision, all of which have their role to play in the development of the young person’s identity and more specifically on his/her emerging vocational identity. I argue that participating in the world of work affords a student greater opportunity to develop a vocational identity than simply talking about it in the classroom. I also contend that it directly influences students’ decisions regarding senior cycle subjects.