As the president of a university and the CEO of an advertising agency whose staff is 62 percent millennial, we talk and work with millennials every day. Millennials are curious. Optimistic. Hungry to learn. Tech-savvy. Energetic. Aware of what they don’t know. Unafraid to fail.

While some perceptions of millennial workers are based on misperceptions and untruths, the problem of millennial unemployment is real. The U.S. unemployment rate for 20- to 24-year-olds, the age when many have recently left college and are entering the workforce, is nearly twice that of 25- to 34-year-olds, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That eye-opening statistic is particularly timely now as millennials across the U.S. graduate from college and look for jobs.

In many ways, our economic system is failing those in our country who are just starting their careers. This isn’t just a problem for millennials. It affects all of us -- and here’s why.

For the first time, millennials (people between 18 and 34) have become the largest generation in the U.S. workforce. Millennials now number more than a third of the U.S. labor pool, surpassing Generation X (people between 35 and 50), according to a Pew Research Center report issued in May. When a significant number of the U.S. economy’s largest labor force can’t find work, it’s a drag on our entire economy.

The global business landscape has changed and the way we prepare our young people for work needs to change with it. It’s time to stop questioning millennials’ work habits and asking why millennials are unprepared for work. We need to stop blaming millennials for the system that we’ve created. On college campuses and in corporate boardrooms across America, we need to look in the mirror and start asking how we can change the dialogue and fix the problem. This conversation is overdue.

Here are five steps colleges and companies can take to better prepare millennials for work:

1. Colleges Should Blend Classroom Teaching and Hands-on Learning
   On-campus clubs. Intercollegiate sports teams. Study abroad programs. Students who pair those types of hands-on experiences with in-classroom learning double their chances of being better prepared for and engaged in their first jobs, according to the Great Jobs, Great Lives Gallup-Purdue Index Report, which surveyed 30,000 U.S. college grads. That dual approach of putting classroom knowledge into practice is what transforms a college student into a desired employee.
    
2. Businesses Should Partner With Colleges and Universities
   If companies aren’t doing this already, they should be. Partnerships can take many forms including working with schools to help develop courses, gives lectures, or help shape their career service offerings in order to keep up with the changing workplace. At Hill Holliday, executives visit local colleges to give guest lectures, participate in discussion panels and judge student competitions. Closer business-higher ed collaboration isn’t just a feel-good, philanthropic effort. It leads directly to a workforce that is better trained to do what businesses need, providing a pipeline of job-ready talent for companies to keep the economy humming.
    
3. Students in All Majors Should Be Required to Take at Least One Business Course
   Yes, all majors. Even students who study art, music or philosophy should be required to take at least one business course during college. Every job from physical therapist to social worker to museum curator would benefit from business knowledge. Requiring students to learn basic business skills will give them a head start after graduation in whichever field they choose.
   
   As Dan Everett, Bentley University’s dean of arts and sciences, has pointed out as part of Bentley’s PreparedU Project, “Even Shakespeare had to manage and sell his plays.”
    
4. Internships Should Be Encouraged for All Students
   Internships offer tremendous benefits to students and companies alike.
   
   For millennials, they provide hands-on experience that will impress future employers, allow the young job-seeker to develop skills and answer the all-important question: Is this a career I’d like to pursue?
   
   For employers, internships are a golden opportunity to identify young talent and develop relationships that will build their future workforce. Hill Holliday works with 100 interns per year and ultimately hires 20 percent of them. In one of its internship programs for post-grad creative staff, the hire rate is even higher -- close to 50 percent. For many millennials, internships are the new entry-level jobs.
    
5. Career Services Should Begin Freshman Year
   For a college freshman, the post-graduation job search feels far away. Many students feel there’s plenty of time to network and job search later, right? Wrong. Even if they haven’t yet declared a major, students should visit their college career services office during their first semester to identify the available job-search resources and find a career advisor who can work with them throughout their college years. Waiting until senior year to start their career search puts students far behind when it comes to making a post-graduation career plan.
   
   At Bentley the “HIRE” Education Program pulls students in during their freshman year with a customized four-year career development plan that helps them develop lifelong professional development skills.

These steps won’t completely fix the problem but they are a start. College should be a place that fosters learning and academic pursuit, as well as preparation for the career that comes after graduation.

In 10 years millennials will make up almost 75 percent of the global workforce. They may bring different work styles and skills to the office, but the promise they hold for our economy is limitless. As millennials grow in importance in our workforce -- and soon come to dominate it -- we in higher education and business need to work together to create an environment where millennials can thrive.

The future of our economy depends on it.