Maria Petrova, who holds a bachelor’s from HSE University Perm and a master’s from the HSE ICEF programme, is a department head at Sovcombank. She developed a course for master’s students at NES and ICEF that helps students learn the challenges of the industry and field job offers even before graduating. In this interview with Success Builder, she explains which qualities a beginner needs to work as a bank analyst, how to pick up leadership skills at the workplace, and why Sovcombank trains its own staff.