Effective professional orientation of school students is considered as a prerequisite for their professional self-determination and achieving a state of success in the field of professional education. The barriers that prevent modern Russian schools from coping with the task of vocational guidance for school students are shown. Among them are overloaded teachers, undeveloped network links with universities, colleges, labour organizations, word force fluidity, and others. The author reveals the institutional prerequisites for developing new approaches to school career guidance. The article analyses the foreign experience of implementing vocational guidance for schoolchildren and shows its connection with their educational success.