This paper examines whether general skills and universal access to higher education (HE) shape vocational students' school-to-work transitions during recessions. We study how increased unemployment affects post-completion outcomes across institutional regimes that differ in curricular emphasis on general skills and access to HE – allowing us to identify effects of general skills alone and combined with HE access. Relative to a setting with limited general skills and no universal HE access, combining general skills with universal HE access more than halves labour-market scarring on earnings over the first six years after completion. General skills alone do not meaningfully affect labour-market scarring.