The chief executive of a company that co-ordinates arrangements in which interns often pay employers a fee, that can be as high as £200 a day for work experience, says he wants to build a network of recruitment agencies across the UK.

Kit Sadgrove, chief executive of Etsio.com, tells Recruiter: “I would hope we would have an agency in every city and large town in the UK that would allow people to find out what working in a recruitment agency is like.

“It opens up the opportunity of working with recruitment consultancies because it [hiring staff] is a hassle for them, and it makes it worthwhile if they get some money in return.”

Sadgrove adds: “Typically they are going to be small recruitment consultancies.”

Interns can pay up to £200 a day for their work experience, though most pay around £60, says Sadgrove. The interns pay Etsio, who take an administration fee before passing the rest on to the employer.

Etsio’s business model has been criticised as taking advantage of jobseekers’ desperation to do anything to help them get a job – see Recruiter 30 November ‘Interns willing to pay for work experience’ for more.

However, Sadgrove responds that Etsio is providing people with real training and a chance to work closely with the owners of businesses. It is no different from someone paying to go to university, he argues.

And Etsio has received support from the managing director of Sta*Nation, a multi-sector professional recruitment consultancy that has signed up in order to find someone interested in a career in the recruitment industry.

Charlie Stoker tells Recruiter that interns paying an employer for their internship could be good for both the intern and the employer concerned.

“I think that maybe one day a week at £100 a day over eight weeks to get the type of training, which could lead to a paid training job at an agency or a job with another agency is a potentially good thing for them [interns],” says Stoker.

Stoker says that asking the intern to pay has other benefits too. “Having the financial transaction is motivation for both parties and is good way to get a motivated trainee on board.”

And by paying the employer for their training, he says the intern is also sharing the risk with the company.

Paying for an internship that could lead to a job in the recruitment industry also compares favourably with paying for a university degree and being saddled with debt for years afterwards, he argues.

However, Stoker adds: “I think there needs to be some sort of limit on it. Five days a week for three months would be too much.

“It is important for the intern to know beforehand what they are going to learn. If this is tangible it could potentially be beneficial for them.”