Résumé.Too often, this is perceived as the single most important document you will ever write. The word evokes fear and dread and conjures images of faceless employers critiquing every aspect of your life experience. Those one or two pages that you grudgingly compile can determine the most important months, even years of your life. You do not want to write it. And even when you finally get around to it, it's never, ever perfect.

But you have to do it. Because otherwise you'll never get that high-profile internship that will only make your résumé look even better.

Or will you?

It may seem utterly unbelievable and even a little bit offensive, but there is, in fact, another way to get that top-notch life experience that you need to be able to show off. And yes, it can all be done without stalking Hiatt representatives for days on end.

Don't let the constraints and competition of this economic crisis get you down. Desperate college students, you can now buy your internships by bidding on them in online auctions. These auctions are hosted by Web sites that invite visitors to bid on a variety of items and experiences. The money raised by your winning bid goes to charity, and you'll have landed the job of your dreams.

A Feb. 25 article on collegenews.com says of this new phenomenon: "These websites are now also auctioning drool-worthy internships at big name places, such as Rolling Stone magazine, which recently had a two-week internship bid close at an estimated $5,000, as well as for designers Donna Karan and Carolina Herrera."

"Drool-worthy" is right. The quality of internships that these Web sites are offering is pretty amazing, considering the fact that interns are chosen solely for the amount of money they're willing to give out of pocket.

For example, Charityfolks.com closed an auction on a position at the Creative Coalition, which is advertised as an entertainment advocacy organization that offers the opportunity to learn about the lives of "high-profile celebrities and political leaders and influencers" and a "thing or two about the American legislative system," at the jaw-dropping price of $2,750. A closer look at the posting's Web page revealed that the internship's "market value" is actually $10,000. Furthermore, the terms of the auction advise winners that this "experience cannot be resold."

As if purchasing internships isn't ludicrous enough. It seems a little backward to pay employers to do work for them, and placing such an obscene price tag on the whole experience makes the entire concept even more ridiculous. Too bad you can't give your expensive internship away if you're unsatisfied: You're stuck doing the work-and paying for it-whether you like it or not.

But more importantly, the idea of bidding for an internship hits today's aspiring, hardworking college-age population especially hard. The traditional search for an appropriate internship is often stressful and confusing, and students receive no help from this most unfriendly recession. The job market is vicious these days, and we are already disadvantaged by hiring freezes among major companies. With layoffs occurring left and right, companies should be interested in investing in the best and the brightest students who demonstrate the ability to perform relevant tasks well. Offering great positions to less qualified individuals with a desire to finance their own job is neither fair to better-skilled students nor beneficial to companies in this economy.

Although Web sites such as CharityFolks.com and CharityBuzz.com attempt to excuse all of these issues with the fact that the funds collected from each auction go to charitable causes, I remain concerned about the ethics of this initiative. Ideally, people should recognize that giving charity is a moral endeavor and thus give willingly to choice organizations. But in the real world, most people do not simply open their wallets and provide for those in need. Auctioning off sought-after internships is not the way to advocate giving charity. Messing with the system in order to encourage "moral" and "generous" behavior is completely counter intuitive in a case that ostensibly values money over merit. The major companies that allow people to bid on their impressive internships should reconsider the true benefits of a scheme that promotes paying for success instead of earning it through hard work and dedication.

In the end, the matter boils down to a single choice: We can sit down and slave over that résumé, knowing full well that it stands a good chance to fail. We can write honestly about our efforts and achievements, painfully reminiscing about all of our past rejections. Or we can skip the work, pay a nominal multi-thousand dollar fee and add a job description that's so impressive, it's practically unreal. I think we can all deduce which option truly has the greater value.