Arrogant. Individualistic. Unable to commit. Short attention span. These are some of the labels assigned by employers and pundits to the generation just joining the workforce. Dubbed "Generation Y" or "millennials" in English-speaking countries, these tech-savvy folks, most of whom never knew a world without the Internet, were born between about 1980 and 2000.

Just as with previous generations--Boomers, Gen X, and so on--the clichés assigned to the latest generation inevitably overreach. "People can make a lot of assumptions, and there is a danger about stereotyping," says Paul Redmond, head of the careers and employability service at the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom. Such labels can lead to prejudice and be hard to overcome.

Those who traffic in such media clichés may be surprised to hear what some experts are saying. "We expect that they will do great things," Redmond says. "They have values and ... they are terrific at working with computers; they are brilliant at multitasking and very good at working in teams." Redmond isn't alone in his enthusiastic assessment.