Sandra Moses

I would actually say not giving up, because it's very easy to give up when you find yourself in a different country, other than where you're used to. Just pressing on and being very positive - being very positive and not giving up. I focus on my goals because I know I want to be financially independent and very strong. I want to live a very financially stable life. So my goal always is to be focused on whatever I'm doing and just put in the work. I know things don't always turn out the way you would imagine them to turn out, but not giving up, not letting up really - that's a goal for me. That motivates me every single day, knowing that I just don't have a choice but to work.

One thing that really stuck out for me was learning how to tailor my resume, because initially I would struggle with putting my resume together. The career coaches at Hiring Our Heroes always talked about the importance of tailoring your resume - you just don't use a particular resume to apply to every single job out there. Your resume has to be targeted to jobs you're interested in. So I was always doing that, and for me, that was a huge takeaway. That also helped me because I learned how to target my resume to jobs that I was interested in, and it was a game changer for me.

Success basically comes from hard work. It doesn't matter where you find yourself, it doesn't really matter the age. I tell people, keep your eyes on the goals that you want to achieve. My transition from the legal field to the financial field or industry just didn't happen overnight - it didn't happen overnight because there are two different worlds, even though some skills are transferable. But don't give up. Do it afraid, I tell people. Not attempting to do it is a failure on its own, but attempting to do it can change things. Sometimes we tend to look at our age and we say, no, I think I just don't have the time to do this. Yes, you do, as long as you know the goals you want to achieve. I tell people to do it afraid. You know what Nike says? Just do it. So I would actually tell the person, do it afraid. Not attempting to do it is a failure on its own. So do it afraid, it's never too late. Just keep going. You'll get there. Basically, hard work pays off.

The challenge is, I think, first of all, the job market is not really looking good right now - maybe the economy on its own. But that shouldn't deter anyone who would want to transition into this area, this industry. I know it can be difficult getting jobs right now, but again, every job comes with its own challenges. In what I do, the challenge is that at some point we get to that peak period of deep auditing and all, and it can be very stressful. It's almost like you're the backbone of the bank where you work, because you just don't want to allow anything to slip. Your eyes are all over the place because doing compliance sounds fancy and easy, but it is a lot of work. There are times I have to stay up a little bit late at night and work outside of regular office hours. This is where the challenge comes - I don't really get to spend that time with my family over the weekends because I just have this very strict deadline that I must meet. So many times I work outside of regular office hours, making sure that I'm reviewing every piece of evidence that I have. There are days I have to get up at 5 AM and work until 9 PM at night. I do that Saturday, I do that Sunday. So it's almost like I really don't have a life, especially over the weekends. I remember working on Christmas Day, working on New Year Day, working a little bit on Thanksgiving Day. The challenge is knowing that with the deadline at hand, you have to be able to keep the speed up and keep going because you just don't want to be behind. Working outside of those regular office hours and not having enough time to spend with family and friends over the weekend during the audit period can be quite challenging.

I would say I've been very committed, being very reliable, and just pretty much working hard. Working hard, being very committed, and staying focused - those are the values most important to me.