About Us

Berkshire Entry places recent college graduates in full-time entry level positions at leading Berkshire companies. Participating Berkshire employers benefit from access to new talent ready to enter the workforce. BE gives graduating students access to career opportunities. Berkshire Entry builds on the success of Lever’s Berkshire Interns program.

Our Sponsors:

The Berkshire United Way’s mission is to improve the quality of life in Berkshire county by mobilizing resources to address community priorities and create sustainable change.

Lever, Inc. is an economic development incubator in North Adams, MA. Since 2014, Lever has hosted more than 30 college interns, who have supported Lever’s mission with a variety of projects.

The Berkshire Workforce Board is building tomorrow’s workforce by providing leadership for workforce development and aligning education and training with local labor market needs.

Partner Colleges:

Berkshire Entry

Berkshire Entry places recent college graduates in full-time entry level positions at leading Berkshire County businesses. The program serves regional businesses, recent graduates with an affinity to the Berkshire region, regional colleges, and the Berkshire community at large. Participating Berkshire employers benefit from access to new talent that could be integrated into their permanent workforces. Hires receive hands-on career development experience plus an inside track to local professional networks. BE helps local colleges expand their alumnus access to career opportunities. Lever's workforce programs help to lift the regional economy.

Participating hires are employed directly by host companies and are paid an entry-level salary. Lever staff facilitates these positions from marketing to career development. We recruit employers and help them develop opportunities that will be attractive to recent graduates. We recruit applicants at local and regional college campuses, and we market these opportunities at campuses around the country. We facilitate employer selection and on-boarding of interns. We provide an orientation program to prepare hires for success in the workplace. We support both employers and hires during the first few months with regular check-ins and monthly social programming. We monitor the hires performance, the hires experience and employer experience with a variety of metrics, including the Massachusetts Work-Based Learning Plan. We keep in touch with Lever workforce program alumni and help them to find additional work and network opportunities in the Berkshires.

Our Team:

Jade Schnauber

BE is led by Workforce Programs Manager, Jade Schnauber. Herself a summer 2018 Berkshire Intern, Jade now oversees all aspects of the BI and BE program and is the chief architect of the workforce programs. She resides in Pittsfield, MA and holds a B.A. in Sociology from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

Jeffrey Thomas

The program was founded by Lever’s Executive Director Jeffrey Thomas. Jeffrey has served as an adjunct professor at Williams College since 2006 and has worked with hundreds of Williams students interested in entrepreneurship. Since its 2014 launch, Lever has hosted more than 40 paid student interns, most of whom were supervised by Jeffrey.

Avril Levesque

Avril supports fundraising, grant development, Lever events, and Lever workforce programs. A Berkshire County native and a recent graduate, Avril holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Eastern Connecticut State University.