Work experience: How much am I bid?

 The Times  has revealed  that a week of work experience at magazine company Condé Nast  had been auctioned off at a Tory fund raiser for £3,700.

The article by Charlotte Phillips revealed that six different one-week placements were auctioned at the event, including £3,000 for a spell at Ecosse Films, £2,500 to work at a contemporary art dealer, £1,300 at the catering company Rhubarb, £1,250 for a spell with the PR and photographic agency M+M management, and £1,100 for a placement at the financial consultancy Pelham Bell Pottinger.
“Bidders,” a Tory spokesman says, “were buying the experience not necessarily just for their children but also as gifts for the wider family and even friends.”
But Lis Howell, deputy head of the journalism department at City University is quoted in the article condemning paying for work experience. “We organise placements for students with companies and it’s usually a win-win situation. The idea that the students have to pay to do it is unethical,” she says.

• My worst work experience tale. Journalism student on fashion magazine had to iron the clothes for the fashion shoots.