Here’s some advice for recent college graduates looking for work. Kick it up a notch and be more professional than your peers.

According to new post at Walter Russell Mead’s blog, people with jobs to offer aren’t impressed so far.

College Fail: Employers Say Grads Are a Disappointment

Employers are increasingly disappointed by the graduates available for hire, according to a survey conducted by The Chronicle and American Public Media’s Marketplace:

Half of those surveyed…said they had trouble finding recent graduates qualified to fill positions at their company or organization. Nearly a third gave colleges just fair to poor marks for producing successful employees. And they dinged bachelor’s-degree holders for lacking basic workplace proficiencies, like adaptability, communication skills, and the ability to solve complex problems.

This is especially troubling considering both the soaring cost of bachelor’s degrees and the fact that they are a prerequisite for a large and still growing number of jobs. Employers prefer college graduates because, if it does nothing else, it serves as a signal of determination and staying power. But at $200,000 for four years at some schools, that is one incredibly expensive signal, especially if it isn’t also giving students other essential marketable skills. Universities should be thinking about more than just keeping costs down; they need to be thinking seriously about what students are learning for their tuition dollars.

More and more at Via Meadia, we’re coming to believe that separating young people from the world of work into their twenties is a terrible, crippling idea. Work is a natural aspect of a rich and satisfying life; the artificial environment in which so many young people live stunts their growth, limits the development of important character traits and skills, and artificially extends a kind of feckless adolescence that is neither ultimately satisfying or helpful.