Financing Placements

Here’s a question. Work experience in account handling– should agencies pay newbies or not?

Just from a practical point of view, I would ask yourself how long the placement is for and which side is getting they most out of it. If we are talking about a week or two weeks in the summer holidays - to give a student invaluable experience of what an agency is about - then I would see the payment happening "in kind". If you need someone for longer and to cover for excessive workload then it feels right to pay them.

Nevertheless, if you cast your mind back to when you started, money has always been an issue to newcomers in London and unless your student is staying in his chairman uncle’s pied à terre in Knightsbridge and using the company driver, you may want to take pity and subsidise travel costs etc.