Recent college graduates are bright and talented, but one major deficiency might put them at a disadvantage in the job market: what employers view as a lack of professionalism.

A nationwide survey of human resources professionals and business leaders who make hiring decisions found that a candidate’s professionalism matters most when deciding whether to extend a job offer. College grads frequently fail that test, decision makers said.

Companies base nearly 60 percent of a decision to hire a recent college graduate on an assessment of the applicant’s professionalism, according to a poll of 520 human resource professionals and business managers conducted for the Center for Professional Excellence at York College of Pennsylvania. Overall, one in every three respondents said that less than half of new grads exhibit professionalism in the workplace.

Respondents assess professionalism based on several characteristics. The ability to accept responsibility for decisions and actions was deemed most important, and grads come up short in this area, says David Polk, a behavioral science professor at York College and president of the Polk-Lepson Research Group, in York, Pa., which conducted the survey for the college.

Other qualities include personal interaction skills, including courtesy and respect; communication skills; a strong work ethic and the discipline to stay on task; appearance; and self-confidence.

Asked to rate the presence of these qualities in newly minted college grads, respondents gave low marks. On a 5-point scale where 1 was “very rare” and 5 was “very common,” none of the top-ranked traits reached a mean rating of 4. Graduates received the lowest marks for appearance, communication and work ethic.

“Those findings don’t match my experience working with students,” says Marie Sumerel, director of academic and career planning, Meredith College, Raleigh, N.C. “However, one thing I’ve noticed is that with texting and Facebook and e-mail and all these quick kinds of interaction, students use shorthand and incomplete sentences, and their communication skills sometimes suffer because of that.”