Within the framework of the research program on vocational schools started by the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and IEER in 2008, we explore on an annual basis the corporate demand for, and labour market situation of, skilled graduates, the employment opportunities available, as well as views about their vocation and jobs. The fourth such student survey was carried out in 2012 which was done using a questionnaire survey of 1,872 students. Based on data from this year's research, the career beginnings on the labour market of trade school or vocational education graduates from the summer of 2011 – that is, youths who acquired a profession – is examined. The analysis seeks to discover, above all, that nine months after acquiring their qualifications were these graduates able to – or inclined to – enter the labour market, as well as were they able to find employment within their profession. The study was limited to a number of skills that were subsidized in several regions of Hungary as well as professions involved in the research from previous years.