It is suggested that psychological and sociological approaches to occupational choice can be linked together by employment of three concepts: work salience, values and motivation. Employing Vroom's (1964) cognitive model of motivation occupational choice was examined as a value attainment process. The subjects were 225 male pupils of two different school complexes in Athens, Greece. They were asked to respond to a work salience questionnaire and to rank order a set of Life Values and a set of Work Values. Modified versions of the Rokeach Value Survey (1973) and of Super's Work Values Inventory (1969) were employed. The pupils were also required to ask their parents to rank order the two sets of values. A random subsample of 70 pupils had interviews with the investigator in which responses to a motivational measure were obtained as well as responses concerning their perceptions of the meaning of work under different circumstances and conditions. Responses to the interview questions were classified into categories similar to the value items examined by the other measures and the two different measures were compared. Analysis of the value systems of the pupils and their parents, within and across schools, showed an overall similarity and some significant differences between pupils, parents, and schools. Some of these differences were attributed to socioeconomic differences existing in the sample. A factor analysis of the salience measure failed to give psychometrically valid categorizations but it gave some indications for the existence of three different attitudinal categories in the sample. Analysis involving the motivational model gave support to the hypothesis that occupational choice can be viewed as a value attainment process, an indication that was further supported by the responses to the open ended questions to the interview. There was evidence that the value hierarchies of people serve as motivators when a choice situation is involved. There were also some indications in the responses obtained that top and bottom values in the hierarchy are the best predictors of action. A model describing occupational choice as a value attainment process is also presented.