Here’s a list highlighting just seven of the many behind-the-scenes jobs at the Oscars:

1. Seat filler: Ever wonder how there never seems to be a seat left empty at an awards show? Surely stars need to use the bathroom or take a break from sucking in on-camera. Enter the seat fillers. Seat fillers are hired to fill empty seats so the audience always looks full. Awards shows work with outside vendors to find seat fillers, like Seat Fillers and More or SeatFiller.com. While this is usually a volunteer position (translation: no pay), isn’t it payment enough to rub elbows with some of the world’s biggest stars?  

2. Talent escort: Another volunteer position that gets you up close and personal with celebrities is the role of a talent escort. Talent escorts are essentially celebrity guardians — they are assigned specific celebrities and are responsible for them from the moment their feet touch the red carpet. Escorts do everything from keeping celebrities on schedule to guiding them back and forth from their seats. If a star is presenting, the escort is responsible for getting him backstage and ready to present.

3. Associate director: While the show’s director is the one who calls the shots, the AD sets up the shots. The AD is the assistant to the director, doing everything from choreographing the camera operators’ moves to ensuring the props and set are ready for each segment.

4. Stand-in: It takes several rounds of rehearsals to get the lighting, sound, cameras, flow and timing just right, and you can’t expect celebrity presenters to give up precious time to attend each and every rehearsal. That’s where celebrity stand-ins come in. This paid role involves standing in for the real celebrities and doing everything from walking on and off stage, running through lines and giving faux acceptance speeches.   

5. Security consultant: Not surprisingly, awards shows are targets for people who want to commit harmful acts. And with the thousands of people attending and working the show, not to mention the hordes of fans crowding around the theater, being part of the security team is one of the show’s most important jobs. Security personnel begin working weeks, if not months, ahead of time, coordinating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Los Angeles Police Department, scoping out the various entrances and exits, locating areas of vulnerability, doing bomb sweeps and setting up security check-ins, among other duties. 

6. Accountant: As the commercials come to an end and the cued music begins, viewers wait with excitement to see who the next celebrity presenter will be, only to groan in disappointment when the announcer says, “Please welcome representatives from the accounting firm…” Sure, they may not be the most exciting folks to grace the stage, but accountants play a big part in ensuring the integrity of the awards. According to a press release from PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting and consulting firm that oversees the balloting process, “PwC’s long-established balloting system involves the precise tallying of every single ballot at a concealed location to maintain the utmost level of accuracy, objectivity and confidentiality.”

7. Stage manager: Stage managers are the backstage directors, so if you’re backstage at the Oscars, you better listen to what the stage manager tells you to do. The stage manager hangs out in the wings, directing traffic, ensuring presenters are on their stage marks and keeping the show’s timing on track, among other responsibilities.

The above example represents the main reason that the cold sell, whether by phone call or email, is a tricky art to master. You’re basically asking a total stranger to give you — at the very least — his or her time. People are busy and don’t part with their time very easily.

However, there’s a reason that cold calls and emails are still a big part of the way that companies generate sales leads. If done correctly, they work. This same theory applies to your job search, too – if approached correctly, cold introductions can be a great way to generate leads and develop networking relationships that can eventually help you land a job.

So what’s the right way to make a successful cold introduction? Here, four tricks to getting through to people you don’t know.

It’s not about you. “The number one rule [for cold calling] a company: it’s about them, not you,” says Judi Perkins, owner of career coaching firm Find the Perfect Job and former recruiter with 22 years of experience. “If you start and end your call or message by talking about how fabulous you are, you’ll get nowhere. Instead, tie yourself to [the company's mission] by showing how you can benefit them or how you have similar values or philosophies.”

Do this by raising a problem or need the company has or a challenge they are facing in their market, and explain how you can help solve that problem.

If you can’t quickly articulate why the company or person you are addressing should be interested in what you have to say and how you can advance their cause, you’ll lose their attention.

Make it personal. Don’t just call a company and ask to speak to the human resources department. Find the name of the person you are specifically looking to speak with first.

“There is absolutely no reason for you to start a ‘smile and dial’ campaign without first conducting some research and identifying your contact’s name,” advise Laura Labovich and Miriam Salpeter, co-authors of the upcoming book “100 Conversations for Career Success: Learn to Tweet, Cold-Call and Network Your Way to a Dream Job.” “Finding data about the person via LinkedIn, Twitter or Google+ and uncovering key details will make your conversation more productive.”

Become allies with the phone gatekeepers. “Executive assistants, receptionists and office managers like to play defense for the team they support, protecting them from unnecessary interruptions,” Labovich and Salpeter counsel. “An authentic request such as: ‘I wonder if you would be willing to help me?’ will go a long way toward getting a gatekeeper on your side. Don’t forget: get the gatekeeper’s name — and be sure to thank him or her.”

Warm up a cold intro. Before making a call or sending an email, try building connections with people of interest through social media.

Paul Cameron, president and senior technology recruiter at Illinois-based DriveStaff, Inc., offers the following advice for getting on the radar of a person or company you’d like to network with.

• Find them on Twitter and follow them. When they post, comment on their posts and compliment them on their references.
• Follow their company pages on LinkednIn and Facebook. Once again, comment and compliment the posts.

“Doing these things shows you are interested in [the company or person], which helps them to be interested in you,” Cameron says. “It gets your name in front of the employer in a positive way, so when you do call, email or meet them, they already know of you and already like you. It helps to eliminate ‘cold’ calls and emails.”

One of life’s most notoriously nerve-racking events, the job interview, can be a perfect storm for the creation of these sorts of foot-in-mouth moments. The combination of excitement and pressure can cloud our judgment and lead us to make mistakes, decisions and comments that we wouldn’t normally make.

Fortunately, making mistakes is part of being human, and most hiring managers will let the occasional blank stare or fumbled sentence slide during an interview. But, there are some slip-ups that just can’t be recovered from; mistakes so ridiculous that they’ll completely eclipse any potential you may have in the mind of your interviewer.

What kind of mistakes, you ask? Well, mistakes like the ones below, which hiring managers reported to CareerBuilder as the most unusual interview mishaps they’d ever seen. (Though we’re not certain all of these mistakes were caused by nerves, we’re going to give everyone the benefit of the doubt here – mostly because we can’t bear to think otherwise.)

• Candidate brought a “how to interview book” with him to the interview.
• Candidate asked, “What company is this again?”
• Candidate put interviewer on hold during a phone interview.  When she came back on the line, she told the interviewer that she had a date set up for Friday.
• Candidate wore a Boy Scout uniform and never told interviewers why.
• Candidate talked about promptness as one of her strengths after showing up ten minutes late.
• On the way to the interview, candidate passed, cut-off, and flipped middle finger to driver who happened to be the interviewer.
• Candidate referred to himself in the third person.
• Candidate took off shoes during interview.
• Candidate asked for a sip of interviewer’s coffee.
• A mature candidate told interviewer she wasn’t sure if the job offered was worth “starting the car for.”

How’s that for some third-party embarrassment?

But, before you go thinking, “what kind of idiot would ask a stranger for a sip of his coffee?” know that it doesn’t take a mistake as bizarre as the examples above to kill a perfectly good interview. There are a plenty of less-ridiculous, but equally detrimental interview gaffes that job candidates — even smart ones – make all the time.

According to the CareerBuilder survey, the following are the errors job seekers make most often.

• Answering cell phone or texting: 77 percent
• Appearing disinterested: 75 percent
• Dressing inappropriately: 72 percent
• Appearing arrogant: 72 percent
• Talking negatively about current or previous employers: 67 percent
• Chewing gum: 63 percent

So how can you avoid making mistakes — outrageous or otherwise – in your next job interview?

Be prepared, says Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. “With preparation and practice, candidates can greatly improve their interview skills,” she says. Well-prepared job seekers are more confident, articulate and relaxed – and therefore less susceptible to error – than those who aren’t.

Before your interview, research the company, conduct mock-interviews with friends and practice telling specific anecdotes that highlight your accomplishments, Haefner suggests.

For even more tips on successful interviewing, check out the video, below.

Another little-known fact about our first president is that he made a living as a surveyor before becoming commander in chief. Other jobs presidents have held pre-White House: Abraham Lincoln was a postmaster, Andrew Johnson worked as a tailor and Ronald Reagan made a living as an actor.

Whether or not your career dreams have you reaching for the White House, here’s a list of 10 companies hiring this week:

1. Actuary Resources
Industry: Financial services
Sample job titles: Actuary analyst, benefit analyst, pensions analyst

2. AngioDynamics
Industry: Medical devices
Sample job titles: R&D buyer/commodity leader, supplier quality engineer, vascular sales rep.

3. Five Star Quality Care
Industry: Health care
Sample job titles: Executive director, physical therapist, housekeeper, dietician, dining room supervisor

4. The Home Depot 
Industry: Retail, home improvement
Sample job titles: Transportation, IT, logistics, store managers, outside sales

5. Huntington National Bank
Industry: Banking
Sample job titles: Teller, personal banker, branch manager, customer service associate (call center), store banking specialist (in grocery store), business analyst, collector, commercial portfolio manager, mortgage loan officer, retail investment associate

6. Jasper Contractors
Industry: Construction roofing
Sample job titles: Outside sales representative, field insurance claims manager, collections manager, customer service, recruiter, office manager, computer technician, superintendent

7. Nationwide Insurance
Industry: Insurance
Sample job titles: Customer service reps., insurance sales, IT, claims

8. Plymouth Auctioneering Services (under Park West Gallery)
Industry: Sales, fine art
Sample job title: International fine art sales associate

9. Rent-A-Center
Industry: Retail
Sample job titles: Store manager, assistant manager, manager-in-training, customer account representative, IT developer

10. Steward Health Care System
Industry: Health care
Sample job titles: RN, LPN, nursing assistant, compliance specialist, medical billers/coders, histology technicians, nurse managers, medical technologists

Last year at this time I was a contract employee, and I remember the hassle of having to go through my taxes. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, but I did listen to my mother’s sage advice to always “pay yourself first.” I hid money away, because I knew I’d have to fork over cash to Uncle Sam since no taxes were taken out of my paycheck.

For those that are new to contracting and/or consulting, like I was, there are several things that you can use to your benefit when reporting taxes. Experts and freelancers recommend these nine tips for filing your 2012 tax returns as a consultant or contractor:

1. Track your business mileage: Freelance worker David Oro suggests keeping track of all your business-related mileage in a spreadsheet. “Going to a bank to cash a client check? Or going to the post office to check the [business] mail? That mileage, if used for business, is tax deductible,” Oro says.

2. Decide whether to form a business structure: Nellie Akalp, CEO of CorpNet.com, helps freelancers and entrepreneurs start their own businesses, such as a Limited Liability Company. What’s the perk? “While liability protection is the main benefit for incorporating or forming an LLC, in many cases, corporate tax rates are lower than individual tax rates,” Akalp says. “And corporations and LLCs often qualify for additional tax benefits and deductions that aren’t available to individuals.” Be sure to consult a tax professional to see if this is the best avenue for your consulting business.

3. Review your 1099s carefully: Thursday R. Bram, a consultant to freelancers, says that consultants should “make sure the amount that your clients tell the IRS that they paid you last year actually matches what you received. It isn’t a big deal if they report a little less, as long as you report everything to the IRS correctly. But if a client reports that she paid you more than you received, you need to get an amended 1099 ASAP – or the IRS will expect you to pay taxes on the full amount that client reported. Whether or not you actually received the money won’t matter to the IRS.”

4. Make bookkeeping easy: “Two great tools to automate bookkeeping are Outright.com and WaveAccounting.com,” suggests Wray Rives, CPA, CGMA. “The biggest tax challenge for a freelance worker is actually having good records to prepare and support their tax return. Both Outright and Wave will automate your bookkeeping and are real simple to use even for a non-accountant.” Other recommended programs are Quicken, Shoeboxed.com and Mint.com.

5. Pay yourself: Bob Hampton, CPA/PFS, ChFC at Impart Financial, LLC, advises you to pay yourself first. ” … Stash money away in savings to cover your tax liability,” Hamption says. ”As a rough rule of thumb, 30 percent of your net from freelancing will get you pretty close to your self-employment and income tax obligations.”

6. Consider your medical expenses: Self-employed worker Sandy Drew suggests brushing up on the tax benefits associated with health care. “Many consumers overlook deductions built into the tax code that are designed to make medical care and health insurance more affordable,” Drew says. ”Consumers who had high medical expenditures in 2011, who pay for their own individually-purchased health insurance and who are self-employed should educate themselves on the opportunities to deduct a portion of these expenses from their federal income tax.” Again, consult with a tax professional to understand what is and isn’t deductible.

7. Receipts are cash, not trash: Thank Denise Winston from MoneyStartsHere.com for that brilliant and absolutely true one-liner. “You need your receipts to back up the deductions you claim,” Winston says. “Each receipt must clearly indicate the purpose of each expense — example for travel: where, why and the amount or file folders for bookkeeping. Establish and carry a receipt envelope with you in your purse, car, briefcase, backpack — whatever works for you. As you make business expense purchases, simply place the receipt into the envelope after you note the purpose of the expense. As the envelope fills up, transfer to proper accounting files or systems – I use a color coded tax write-off category filing system. Red folder is for office expenses, blue for travel, green for banking, etc.” The more organized you remain throughout the year with your business expenses, the less stressed you’ll be during tax time.

8. Separate business accounts from personal accounts: “When you put all your job-related expenses on the same credit card and not use that card for anything else, it will be very easy to know what to write off and how much it cost,” says Dr. Geraldine Boyer-Cussac, a self-employed pianist, music director and vocal coach. ”Make sure not to use it for anything other than expenses for work.” Keeping everything separated will be easier to manage than having to split out personal and business expenses.

9. Schedule C may be better bang for your buck: Attorney Diane Rosenberg of Rosenberg & Rosenberg LLP explains the benefits of the Schedule C. “One can deduct all expenses that were incurred in performing the work, including work at home and use of a personal vehicle when used for work. With Other Income, it’s possible to
net out expenses, but the IRS would raise an eyebrow as to why it’s not reported in detail on Schedule C. And hobby losses are only deductible to the extent of hobby gains, so if the freelancing work happens to generate a loss, the loss would be available on Schedule C, but unavailable as a hobby loss.” She warns that the home-office deduction is often a red flag for the IRS because many abuse the privilege. You should only be taken if there’s actual space in the home dedicated to the freelancing activities.

If you have a passion for fashion, consider pursuing one of these eight jobs, which cover a variety of fields:

1. Retail salesperson: A good way to get some fashion experience is to start by working as a salesperson at a clothing store. As a salesperson, you have exposure to the buying, styling and customer-service sides of the business. And while having a background in retail can help when pursuing other fashion-related jobs, it’s not to say you can’t build a successful career in retail. Salespeople can go on to management or corporate positions within the company.
National average salary: $25,557*

2. Visual merchandiser: If you have a good eye and are interested in how a visual display can help sell a product, consider a career in visual merchandising. According to occupational information source O*Net, visual merchandisers plan commercial displays, develop and create window decorations and coordinate with the communications and sales teams to ensure cohesion across all campaigns, among other duties. Education usually includes either a bachelor’s or associate degree in visual or fashion merchandising. Prior experience in retail is also helpful.
National average salary: $36,865

3. Stylist: If you’re a fan a Rachel Zoe or her former-assistant-turned-stylist-competition Brad Goreski, you have a sense of what a stylist is. As a fashion stylist, you may be in charge of anything from identifying the location for a photo shoot, to picking the wardrobe for a magazine’s fashion spread, to pulling outfits for clients to wear at events. Most stylists start by first becoming an assistant or apprentice for an independent stylist or a company. Once they have more experience under their belts, many become independent stylists themselves. While a degree in fashion design or marketing is helpful, having prior retail or fashion work experience can also help you get a foot in the door.
National average salary: $66,986

4. Personal shopper: According to the retail section of About.com, the typical job of a personal shopper involves being up on the latest trends while also having a deep understanding of your client’s style. Personal shoppers need to establish and foster relationships with their clientele to ensure they get repeat business, and many rely on word-of-mouth from satisfied clients to grow their business. Personal shoppers may own their own company or work for a retail or department store that offers such services.
National average salary: $38,514

5. Writer for fashion website, magazine or blog: If you love both writing and fashion, consider seeking out opportunities with a fashion magazine, website or blog. In this role, you could do anything from interviewing designers, to writing trend reports, to attending and reviewing fashion shows. One way to dip your toe into this field is to pursue freelance work. With media outlets shrinking the size of their staffs, they’ve had to rely on freelancers to help fill their pages or posts. The education of a fashion writer may include a bachelor’s degree in journalism, with some previous fashion background or experience.
National average salary: $60,493 (writer at a magazine)

6. Fashion-focused public relations specialist: Another way to satiate your fashion craving is to conduct public relations work for a fashion label or clothing store. Such roles can be found in the marketing or communications department at a fashion company or at a public relations agency. Some agencies specialize in fashion PR, while others have a variety of clients, including fashion and retail. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in the public relations industry is expected to grow much faster than average, but competition for entry-level jobs is high.  
National average salary: $60,379

7. Fashion photographer: A photograph, whether used in advertising or editorial, has the power to define a brand, state a point of view and sell a product. As a photographer for the fashion industry, assignments may vary from magazine editorial photo shoots, to print advertisements for a brand, to images for a company’s catalogue or look book. According to the BLS, “photojournalists or industrial or scientific photographers generally need a college degree. Freelance and portrait photographers need technical proficiency, gained through a degree, training program or experience.”
National average salary: $52,499 (general photographer)

8. Interior designer: Interior decorators need many of the same skills as someone in fashion — a creative eye; an understanding of how to mix colors, shapes and styles; and the ability to bring a client’s vision to life. According to O*Net, interior designers, “plan, design and furnish interiors of residential, commercial or industrial buildings. Many specialize in a particular field, style or phase of interior design.”
National average salary: $58,779

*National average salary data from CBSalary.com. Salaries listed are estimates and may vary greatly depending on level, position or location.

When asked how soon they think they can retire from their current job, 11 percent of workers surveyed said they don’t think they’ll ever be able to retire. Other answers included:

• 1-2 years – 26 percent
• 3-4 years – 23 percent
• 5-6 years – 22 percent
• 7-8 years – 7 percent
• 9-10 years – 7 percent
• More than 10 years – 4 percent

Employers see value mature workers offer
Yet in this sluggish job market, mature workers have to compete with younger workers for jobs. The good news is that employers see the value mature workers can bring to a company, with 43 percent of employers planning to hire workers age 50 plus this year. One concern mature workers may have when going back into the job market is that they may be perceived as overqualified. Yet 75 percent of the employers surveyed would consider an application from an overqualified worker who is 50 plus.

Using your experience to your advantage
Of the employers who said they would consider an application from an overqualified candidate, 59 percent said it’s because mature candidates bring a wealth of knowledge to an organization and can mentor others. When applying and interviewing, mature workers should highlight both their work and life experiences to help sell them as the right candidate for the position.

Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder, offers these tips for mature workers looking to stay working post-retirement:

• Leverage your professional and real-world experience. When updating your résumé or interviewing for a job, think about your experience in terms of both work-related and life skills. Whether it’s your strong leadership skills or your wherewithal to weather a tough economy, play up the strengths that come with having more years under your belt. 
• Bring value to your company in other ways. If you’re looking to stay with your current company beyond retirement, find new ways to contribute to the organization, outside of your day-to-day tasks. Spearhead a mentorship program or offer to train new hires.
• Consider part-time or freelance work. For workers who aren’t ready to completely stop working, part-time employment may be a good solution. Forty-nine percent of workers age 60-plus said they will most likely work part-time once retired. Check out job boards, talk to staffing firms and tap into your social and professional networks for part-time, freelance or temporary work. 

For more advice on what mature and experienced workers can do to stand out, check out this video:

Satisfaction. Some people can’t seem to get any. Others are overwhelmingly content. But how happy are people at their current jobs?

A new CareerBuilder survey revealed some surprising results on just how much workers enjoyed their position, whether they felt under-employed and if their current employer had ample career advancement opportunities for them. The survey was conducted by Harris Interactive from Nov. 9 to Dec. 5, 2011, of more than 7,700 full-time workers across industries and company sizes.

Let’s get to the results.

Sixty-one percent of workers reported that they were satisfied with their job overall, with health-care workers reporting in at 67 percent satisfaction. Workers in transportation and utilities had the highest rate of job satisfaction with 67 percent. Those least satisfied in their job? Retail workers. Nearly a quarter of workers in that industry found their job unsatisfactory.

But what does satisfaction really mean to workers? Stacey Hawley, principal at career counseling firm The Credo Company, says that satisfaction is based on an individual’s own preferences and career level. Entry-level workers have different needs than those at the C+ level; therefore, their job satisfaction is based on different elements.

“Employee satisfaction is not just money and benefits,” Hawley says. “It is from overall job satisfaction, which includes career development opportunities and a positive view of both immediate management and senior leadership. All else being equal (e.g., money and benefits), if a job is challenging, career opportunities seem plausible and present — aka no one has to die to get promoted — and senior leadership is perceived positively, employees are much more likely to stay with a company.”

When it comes to career advancement, 30 percent of workers said they were satisfied with the opportunities to move up in their current workplace. However, 32 percent responded that they felt there were not enough opportunities. Retail workers once again reported that advancement opportunities were not readily available with 37 percent of those workers feeling dissatisfied with their current job’s career path options.

Workers in the health-care industry were the most satisfied group when it came to training and learning opportunities at their current employer, with 44 percent saying they were content. This group was also one of the highest to report being satisfied with work/life balance, but IT reported in with the highest satisfaction rate at 56 percent. On average, 53 percent of workers said that they were satisfied with the work/life balance in their current role.

For most, once the happy dance between work and personal life starts to get out of whack, the stress levels rise and unhappiness sets in. Despite a good portion of workers reporting being happy on the job, 63 percent of workers did say that they felt stress in their current job. The least-stressed workers were those in transportation and utilities, while the most stressed were retail workers. Another reported high-stress industry? Leisure and hospitality.

One of the most interesting questions asked was, ”Do you feel like you are doing the job of two people?” Here is the percentage breakdown of those who answered “yes” by industry:

• Healthcare – 46 percent
• Retail – 64 percent
• Sales – 46 percent
• Leisure & hospitality – 57 percent
• IT – 35 percent
• Manufacturing – 53 percent
• Financial services – 47 percent
• Professional and business services – 36 percent
• Transportation and utilities – 40 percent
• Government – 50 percent

An important thing to remember is to figure out what’s most important to you overall in your professional and personal life and how you can make everything come together. When it comes to satisfaction, as Hawley stated, it all comes down to you.

You know what everyone does love, though? Job openings. So, as our Valentine’s Day gift to you, here’s a list of 10 companies that are looking for new employees this week. Go on, find your perfect match.

1. Allegis Group
Industry: Staffing 
Number of openings: 7,000 +
Sample job titles: Engineer, .Net developer, CDL driver, application developer

2. Daymon Worldwide
Industry: Consulting, retail, food, consumer packaged goods
Number of openings: 50+
Sample job titles: Business manager, business analyst, analyst, consumer insights analyst

3. Extended Stay Hotels 
Industry: Hospitality
Number of openings: 72
Sample job titles: Guest service rep, hotel manager, front desk, maintenance engineer, housekeeping 

4. Gentiva Home Health and Hospice
Industry: Health care
Number of openings: 1800+
Sample job titles: Home health and hospice RNs, home health and hospice LPNs, nurse management, nurse practitioners,  occupational therapists, occupational therapist assistants, single site and multi-site operation management, physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, sales executives

5. Harbor Freight Tools
Industry: Retail
Number of openings: 500+
Sample job titles: Finance, legal, marketing, sourcing, category management, various retail positions

6. LegalShield
Industry: Legal
Number of openings: 250+
Sample job titles: Corporate positions, web developers, bilingual positions, independent associate field sales career opportunities

7. NWN
Industry: IT
Number of openings: 30
Sample job titles: Storage architect, sales executive, pre-sales engineer, .net developers, microsoft engineer

8. Plymouth Auctioneering/ Park West Gallery
Industry: Sales, fine art
Number of openings: 55
Sample job titles: International fine art sales associate

9. Ryder Logistics
Industry: Transportation
Number of openings: 100+
Sample job titles: Diesel mechanic, service manager, team drivers

10. Titlemax             
Industry: Consumer Services
Number of openings: 50+
Sample job titles: Store manager, district manager, bilingual customer service representative, commercial construction field estimator, customer service representative, general manager trainee, store manager trainee, regional manager

Earlier this month, news broke that a former fashion magazine intern was suing the publication she had worked for and its parent company for violating labor laws after she claims she worked a full-time schedule without receiving compensation. Xeudan “Diana” Wang, a 2010 graduate of Ohio State University, alleges she worked up to 55 hours a week during her four-month stint as an unpaid fashion intern at the famed magazine in 2011.

While Wang is part of a small handful of unpaid interns who have actually sought legal action to contest the fairness of such internships – a group that includes two past interns at a prominent movie production company who filed a similar suit in September 2011 – the debate her suit raises is a common one.

On one hand …
In order to comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act, internships need only provide college students with a valuable learning experience, equivalent to that which would be gained in a classroom setting. No pay is required.

Many universities and companies also allow unpaid interns to receive school credit in exchange for their work, providing some financial incentive for students who might otherwise pay thousands of dollars to fulfill such credits on campus. This credit-for-work exchange, however, is not required by law.

Because many internships do provide students with the valuable learning experiences they’re designed to, supporters argue that they’re a perfectly acceptable – and legal — practice.

“Most people will have one or more unpaid internship in their career; I had several in college. Sometimes, the fact is that you need experience to get experience — internships are the new entry-level job,” says Heather Huhman, founder of Come Recommended, a PR firm that focuses on the recruiting industry, and author of the book “Lies, Damned Lies & Internships: The Truth About Getting from Classroom to Cubicle.” “While there are many paid internships out there, they often require some level of experience, which you can gain from an unpaid internship.”

In many industries — including publishing and film production — unpaid internships are practically a rite of passage, one that most students in these fields are familiar with and accepting of. “Unpaid internships are common in media, communications, writing and other creative fields,” Huhman says. “This is because people in these fields rely on their experiences, achievements and portfolios far more than a field like engineering or business, where a degree can be enough to get you started.”

The competitive nature of these fields also means that students are often more than willing to work for free in order to get a leg up.

But on the other …
Companies in competitive industries are well aware that students will line up to work for them without pay, and – as Wang’s lawsuit accuses her former employer of doing – some experts feel that companies take advantage of these young, eager workers.

Besides requiring employers to provide students with valuable learning experience, the Fair Labor Standards Act has a number of other guidelines for unpaid internships, including that “the training is for the benefit of the trainees,” and “the trainees do not displace regular employees, but work under their close observation.”

Critics of unpaid internships – as well as Wang’s lawyers — allege that employers are using unpaid interns for their own benefit, and in place of regular employees.

According to a press release issued by Wang’s law firm, Outten & Golden, LLP, the same firm that represents the plaintiffs in the case involving the film producer, “Unpaid interns are becoming the modern-day equivalent of entry-level employees, except that employers are not paying them for the many hours they work. The practice of classifying employees as ‘interns’ to avoid paying wages runs afoul of federal and state wage and hour laws … By failing to treat interns as employees, [the company] has denied them important rights that the wage and hour laws protect, including the right to unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation insurance, social security contributions, and, crucially, the right to earn a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work.”

Wang’s case is just the latest chapter in the ongoing debate over unpaid internships. In April 2010, for example, Nancy J. Leppink, deputy wage and hour administrator at the U.S. Department of Labor, announced plans to crack down on unpaid internships, telling the New York Times, “If you’re a for-profit employer or you want to pursue an internship with a for-profit employer, there aren’t going to be many circumstances where you can have an internship and not be paid and still be in compliance with the law.”

The fine bottom line
There is a certain amount of thankless work and menial labor that goes along with accepting an internship. Such is the nature of the beast. But it should still be a learning experience for the student. So how do you draw the line between everyday grunt work and exploitation?

Huhman offers the following conclusion: “Pay doesn’t always correlate with the experience you will receive; focus on the learning experience you’re getting from an internship to determine what the real cost/benefit balance is. If you’re working hard, but learning a lot, making great connections, and adding achievements to your résumé, I would argue that you’re getting a great experience. On the other hand, if you’re working hard for your employer and learning nothing but how to enter data into a spreadsheet or work an expensive coffee maker, you’re being taken advantage of. Think about what you’re taking away from the internship (besides money).”

What do you think? Are unpaid internships fair?