The aims of the current study are twofold. First, we examine the relationship between specific modalities of career interventions and initial employment in IT. Specifically, we take a skills and social learning perspective to distinguish between direct and vicarious experiences of career interventions and relate these experiences to IT employability and career persistence. We test our predictions using data drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997. Our findings suggest that cooperative education, internship, and mentorship experiences increase the likelihood of initial IT employment. In addition, we find that internship and mentorship experiences engender persistence in IT careers. We discuss the implications our findings have on research and practice.