Purpose -This paper aims to focus on early career success as determined by a combination of what young professionals learned at school (in terms of their grades and academic competences) and how this, together with their self-regulatory focus, influenced their early objective career success in terms of salary growth and subjective career success, in terms of career satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach -Using an online survey, 247 alumni from a major business school in The Netherlands participated. Findings -The results showed that, within this sample, a person's goal orientation was an important determinant of subjective and objective career success. A master orientation was more beneficial than a performance orientation. In addition, a high mastery or a high performance orientation buffered the potential negative influence of low levels of academic competence and grades on career satisfaction. Originality/value -The study showed the limited predictive value of grades and academic competences to predict early career success.