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In this chapter the transition from school to work of a cohort of people born in 1958 in Britain is explored. These people were educated during the early stages of comprehensive reorganisation at the transition from sponsored to contest systems, entering the labour market in the late 1970s and early 1980s and reaching occupational maturity in the 1990s. The chapter looks at how meritocratic the processes were, whether social origins continued to be important and whether the old distinctions between types of school continued to influence their students' chances in the labour market. It is concluded that direct school effects have substantially weakened in Britain. The authors suggest the way in which qualifications matter is not straightforward and the relationship between qualifications and occupational success is not a simple hierarchical one. They further suggest that the education/first-job link is weaker in Britain than it tends to be elsewhere.