Career Paths: Lunch Pays Dividend for Heinemeyer's Future
Defensive specialist lands prestigious internship with Goldman Sachs
Kyle Crooks
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As a junior in the midst of helping her team compete during the 2019 season, defensive specialist Jenna Heinemeyer was presented with the opportunity of a lifetime.
With more than 300,000 applicants annually and an acceptance rate of only 3 percent, Heinemeyer was awarded a prestigious paid summer internship to become a part of the global-leading investment banking firm Goldman Sachs.
While striving to attain her business degree at Colorado State and juggling the challenges of being a volleyball player, Heinemeyer stumbled across an event last semester in March called Lunch with Goldman inside the College of Business building.
“At first I wasn’t even going to go,” Heinemeyer said. “It was the morning after spring workouts and I was tired, but thankfully I ended up going to this lunch and I sat down with this kind woman from Goldman at the time named Kate Van Wagoner. After our chat, she told me that she would try and help get my application to the head recruiter in New York. My jaw just dropped after that.”
The difficulty of becoming a member of the Goldman Sachs team is very competitive. Putting that into perspective, an individual has a higher rate of success being accepted into Harvard Law School than they would when applying for an internship or job with Goldman Sachs, so Heinemeyer knew she needed to stay on top and get her application in as early as possible.
“As time went on, I submitted my application last May,” Heinemeyer said. “My aunt is an editor in New York who was attending a book fair with some clients when she randomly ran into one of the head recruiters at investment banking for Goldman Sachs. When they got to talking about me and my application submission, it started to feel like everything was beginning to fall into place.”
After Heinemeyer was able to create a valuable connection with an inside source, she shifted her focus from competing within the sport she loves to working toward one of the hardest internships to acquire in the world. Heinemeyer couldn’t do it without the endless love and support from her biggest mentor; assistant head coach Emily Kohan.
“I’ve known Jenna since she was in high school and we both come from the same club volleyball team and share a similar career path,” coach Kohan said. “So as an ex-investment banker, I wanted to give her as much industry knowledge that I could when preparing for this competitive of a job. We worked a lot on her pitch and how she can diversify herself from other applicants as an athlete, even though she isn’t coming from an Ivy League school.”
While Heinemeyer was working effortlessly to help the Rams improve for camp last August, she received the call from Goldman Sachs after months of waiting to come out for an additional interview -- all expenses paid.
Filled with happiness, Heinemeyer was given a strict timeline of one week to fly out after her invitation. For the entire week leading up to the interview, she spent her time outside of practice with Kohan learning effective interview strategies and how to stand out from the rest of the field.
“She was the most helpful person through-out this process,” Heinemeyer said. “I went over to her house the night before leaving for New York, and we spent hours going over possible interview questions, evaluation models and also her old pitch books from investment banking; all of it in preparation for the biggest interview of my life.”
The biggest piece of advice I gave her is that she needs to head into this with a great deal of confidence knowing that she’s ready to do it. Her ability to balance the work load as a student-athlete has prepared her well for something like this, and those employers know that.CSU Volleyball Coach Tom Hilbert
With the team already at a 3-1 record heading to Fort Worth against TCU last September, Heinemeyer received the email she was accepted for a final interview with the firm.
Now it was time to lean on the shoulders of head coach Tom Hilbert as she looked for advice on what to do next when moving forward.
“I turned to Tom and told him I got accepted and that they want me out there by next Friday for a final interview, but that was the CU game and the team works so hard for that match, so we were both kind of torn up about it,” Heinemeyer said.
With a positive and supportive coach who cares for his players, Hilbert’s advice gave Heinemeyer all the strength she needed to pursue this internship.
“There’s a point in life where she has to pay more attention to this because it’s her future,” Hilbert said. “The biggest piece of advice I gave her is that she needs to head into this with a great deal of confidence knowing that she’s ready to do it. Her ability to balance the work load as a student-athlete has prepared her well for something like this, and those employers know that.”
As she flew out the Friday before the CU match for her final interview, Heinemeyer showcased her skills to the fullest and was awarded the highly competitive internship the following Monday.
“I couldn’t believe it. I was just shaking when they told me,” Heinemeyer said. “The process was nerve-wracking, and a couple of people who helped me get set up already knew I had the job before I flew out, but they weren’t allowed to tell me until that following week.”
From June 5th to August 6th of this upcoming summer, Heinemeyer will begin her placement and fly back and forth between New York and Colorado to fulfill her leadership role as a senior with the Rams.
Her full title with Goldman Sachs “is a mouthful. My position is Investment Banking America’s Financing Group Investment Grade Capital Markets and Tech Media Telecom,” Heinemeyer said. “Try putting that on a business card.”
As she’s going to miss a crucial part in preparing for next season, Heinemeyer has plans to join a club team to stay in shape. Although she’ll be thousands of miles away at a certain time, she refuses to leave a gap with her team and will be communicating and remain an important asset for the Rams as she fulfills her leadership role.
“She’s going to be busy but she’s got three years of trust and grit beneath her belt, and we value and support her because of all she’s given this program,” Kohan said. “So we aren't worried about her coming back unprepared to compete.”
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