A question regarding how many people have considered work experience as valuable or worth while after graduating?

At the moment the possible exploitation of interns has been something that I have been worried about for a while. In order to gain useful work experience in a particular field, work experience in that sector is generally a necessity. So unpaid internships as a result are almost a necessity to get in to some sectors.

I have set up a business called http://www.gradaction.com/GradAction/HomePage.html work experience organisers for graduates. The aim is to provide shorter period (1 week up to 1 month placements) with local employers near to where graduates live.

The focus currently is Yorkshire and Derbyshire, we already have quite a few employers interested in working with us  we are hoping to go wider in the near future.

Most internships seem to be focused around London and are unpaid. Travel expenses are very expensive and many of us can't seriously afford to spend that money. Taking on an internship for 5months or a year can be very rewarding and provide great experience. But you can gain equally as many good skills from vetted shorter work experience placements. We hope that it will help improve social mobility as not all of us do have a large amount of money to fall back on to get that desperately needed work experience.