One of the perks of contract staffing is that, on top of the hourly rate you earn as your contractor works, you can also earn a nice conversion fee if your client decides to hire the contractor direct. So what would you say if we told you there is a whole crop of workers out there that, if placed as contractors, could increase your conversion fees?

Well, according to Workforce, there is - paid interns. Citing a survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), the magazine reported that over half of the interns from this year's class were converted to full-time hires.

While 50 percent is considered an ideal conversion rate for paid interns, most companies strive to convert 75 percent of their paid interns into full-time employees, Philip Gardner, director of the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University, said in the article. Some do even better than that.  Ernst & Young hires 90 percent of its interns permanently!

If your clients use interns, you may want to persuade them to bring them on as contractors.  By doing so, they can avoid the payroll taxes and administrative hassles that come with hiring them as employees when they are not sure they are going to keep them long-term. The upside for you, of course, is that you get paid for every hour the interns work AND have the potential of earning a conversion fee if they end up being hired full-time.

Debbie Fledderjohann is the President of Top Echelon Contracting, Inc.