We've been interviewing for possible placement students recently, which took me back to when I did a placement at Glastonbury Festival, where I had the somewhat overwhelming task of booking artists for the theatre and circus fields for the festival in 1999.
I worked alongside Arabella Churchill, one of the most interesting, extraverted and talented people you would have had the pleasure to have met. The granddaughter of Sir Winston she taught me so much about the business by letting me make mistakes (not too many of course) and to build relationships, some of which came in handy whilst managing the BIC a few years later.
Back then I had the option of numerous placements all over the country and many offering a reasonable salary, but Glasto was unpaid. The decision was easy. To have the opportunity to work with such great characters and to have independence, the money didn't come into it (I just had to keep the part time job going)... and I'm very pleased that some of the students we're talking too, see the long term benefits, over the short term strain on the student overdraft.