Adaptive career decision-making processes play a pivotal role in the ways that young adults explore and develop their careers and form career identities. The career development literature extols the benefits of active involvement in the management and monitoring of career decisions before and during the transition from school to work.Using a retrospective recall design, elements of the trilateral model of adaptive career decision making were explored with a sample of 300 recent university graduates.Participants were asked to report on their career decision-making processes during their transition to work. Those who were occupationally engaged were significantly more likely to have a clearer, salient view of their future work selves and exhibited greater confidence when making career decisions. Moreover, recent graduates' future work self salience significantly explained the positive association between occupational engagement and career decision-making self-efficacy. Finally, recent graduates who were occupationally engaged and displayed high levels of grit were significantly less likely to exhibit career decision distress than those low in both occupational engagement and grit. These findings shed light on the psychological and motivational mechanisms associated with adaptive career decision-making among individuals who have recently graduated from university.