�鶹��ý

For the first 12 years of his career, Jeremy Hentz believed that his work in retail operations spoke for itself. He was promoted consistently enough that he didn’t miss having a college degree — until one day all that changed. Here’s how �鶹��ý and its career services helped Hentz unleash his potential in a new industry.

After high school and a brief foray in community college — which ended, Hentz admits, prematurely after he partied more than he studied — Hentz found himself joining a large Midwest manufacturing retailer. He started in a part-time role, quickly landed a full-time position and started thinking long term.

“I [thought I] could really make a career out of this. I had a lot of good mentors along the way,” says Hentz.

Hentz’s girlfriend at the time, Melissa, also worked for the company and was onboard with moving around to pursue new opportunities. So, in 2011, they relocated from southern Illinois to Madison, Wisconsin, where Melissa worked at one store and Hentz at another.

Their relationship flourished — they eventually married in 2016 — and Hentz’s career continued to flourish. First, he landed at a $40 million store in the Quad Cities, where he was promoted to logistics shipping receiving manager. When he later led one of the largest store remodels in the company’s history, affecting about 150 stores and finishing a week ahead of schedule, leadership decided to task him with cleaning up a struggling store.

This meant another move, but Hentz rose to the challenge. He spent eight months, he says, helping to reshape the store, establish its values and train the staff. It was tough but rewarding, he says.

Then, Hentz’s father-in-law was diagnosed with cancer. Hentz and his wife wanted to be nearby, so Hentz took a demotion to relocate to the store closer to home. He spent the next 6½ years managing a team of 40 while traveling two hours back and forth to St. Louis to help bring new stores into that geographical market. The work was intense, but professional connections and Hentz’s determination helped keep his career moving forward.

Around 2020, Hentz’s father-in-law entered remission. The St. Louis stores were up and running, and Hentz was ready to take a risk. There was an opening in the corporate office for an assistant director of shipping, receiving and logistics. Hentz had the experience, but he knew it was a long shot.

Still, he interviewed with the board of directors and spent a week job shadowing. “I met the people, did my thing, helped out with projects that they were working on. I thought everything was awesome,” he says.

The next week, however, Hentz got a call that another candidate had gotten the position. He reached out to the director and learned that the deciding factor for the board was that the other candidate had his bachelor’s degree, never mind that he’d only been with the company for three years.

Hentz was devastated. “Twelve years working in the same place,” he says, reflecting on that moment. “All I ever did was run business, do business, work with people, meet with people. That was a striking blow — but it was also the catalyst.”

In October 2021, Hentz quit the manufacturing retailer and secured a job with his father’s company as a full-time courier. His HR team introduced him to the �鶹��ý tuition benefit, and by January 2022 he enrolled in the University’s Bachelor of Science in Business program.

Going back to school was only one part of Hentz’s career transition. To start, he had to relearn certain skills, like time management. He had to remember his why for going back to school in the first place, especially when he was juggling learning with 50-hour workweeks.

“There were many, many times that I was going to quit. I had many conversations with my wife, and she would talk me off the ledge,” Hentz says. 

A little over three years after starting, Hentz achieved his goal and completed his degree. But even after applying for several positions in logistics, no one was biting.

“I thought I could do it all on my own,” says Hentz. “[But] I didn’t get a phone call back. I didn’t get an email.”

Hentz decided to take a closer look at his resumé. Maybe it was the way he was presenting himself, he thought. He had the experience. He now had the education. Maybe he needed help with the job search too. So, Hentz clicked on a �鶹��ý career services link that he had received.

“I got connected with probably one of the most influential people I have ever met in my life, Sheri Bardot,” says Hentz. “She’s a wizard, she is an awesome human. She is so knowledgeable. She was bluntly honest with me, [which] I asked for.”

Over multiple sessions, Bardot helped streamline Hentz’s resumé, taking it from its original, long-winded, “sloppy” form to a cleanly structured page that highlighted his major accomplishments.

Hentz took his revised resumé and started applying for jobs. This time, he started getting responses.

Initially thinking he would land back in logistics, Hentz eventually found a position as the director for community, corporate and workforce education at a technical college. It’s a departure from the world of retail logistics, but he enjoys the thoughtful pace of academia, the people he works with and the opportunity to connect the college to businesses.

Hentz is also stepping back into the classroom — this time to facilitate and teach an employability course.

“It’s going to teach students … how to show up, how to talk to people, how to write a resumé.”

Hentz’s journey shows how education, experience and the right career support can come together when it’s time to pursue a new direction.