Ok, as someone who has done 3 unpaid finance internships, let me clear things up.
1) Big firms don't have unpaid internships. Technically, they are in violation of employment/labor laws.
2) The firms that are willing to have unpaid intern don't usually have a structured program and don't really NEED an intern. They typically are cool with it as long as it costs them minimally.
3) Unpaid internships are your opportunity to prove yourself. Complaining because you aren't making $7 bucks an hour is myopic. If I ran a small shop I would be cool with someone hungry looking to learn. I absolutely would not hire someone if I HAD to pay them. This isn't manual labor. This is a chance to get a high paying job, meet people in the business, get your foot in. People PAY for this chance, forget getting paid for it.
Let's be blunt. If you are a rock star, you will get a formal internship with GS, MS, Blackstone, whatever. They have a full HR department and pay all their interns. Some people don't get those opportunities. I didn't.
You also need to remember that unpaid internships also tend to be more flexible. I did my internships during the school year. This wasn't a FT summer internship.
The LAST thing we need is to be forcing people to pay for interns. It will absolutely kill off the small shop internship and kill any chance people have at breaking in. And for what? $7.00 an hour? Foolish.
Anyone complaining about minimum wage to get a job in investment banking has zero business in this line of work. Next thing you know they will be crying because they don't get overtime. It's like crying because you got a cut while in the Marines.
