Reporting on 12 case studies of student teachers, this paper examines how experiences during teacher education affect graduates' decision on job entrance. Interpretative data-analysis reveals that powerful sources of the shift in motivation to enter teaching concern interactions in which the person of the teacher is at stake. These mainly involve student teachers' need to develop a socially recognized sense of professional competence as well as their dealing with social and cultural working conditions in schools. These crucial determinants act as "double-edged swords", being at the same time important sources for recognition as for self-doubts and loss of job motivation.