This study determined the validity of vocational interest scores for persons with high, medium, and low levels of experience appropriate to their predominant interests. The experiences and interests of a national sample of 1,380 young adults were assessed concurrently with scales paralleling Holland's types. The degree of congruence between inventoried interests and occupation pursued six years later was found to increase as interest-appropriate experience increased. Occupational group members who had a high level of interest-appropriate experience (i.e., those with "verified interests") scored as expected on the interest inventory--in sharp contrast to those with a low level of interest-appropriate experience. Implications for counseling include the following: (1) when a counselee's predominant interests are not accompanied by relevant experiences, caution should be used in interest score interpretation; (2) the counselor and counselee may wish to review the extent to which experience and knowledge were brought to bear on responses to items on the interest scales with the highest scores; and (3) another approach would be to provide counselees with opportunities to engage in and evaluate the experiences they are lacking--and thereby evaluate their interests. (Author/KC)