(Bank Planner) All About Bank Probationary Officers /Clerks Job
(Bank Planner) All About Bank Probationary Officers /Clerks Job
For Young graduates, an attractive offer after college is banking profession. It remains in this most wanted job position for years and it is because it enjoys much respect and prestige in the society. After the extinction of IBPS the only window to enter into this well sought career is Probationary Officers/Clerk Exams conducted by individual banks.
Banks inducts eligible graduates by this exam for training for a probational period of two years. The selected candidates performance during the probation period will decide their position after training. Different Banks recruit probationary officers/clerk during different period in the year. Students have to keep on watching about the notifications and should be alert on applying promptly.
What does a Probationary Officer do?
Probationary Officers deal with many departments of a bank. PO may go through initial teething problems understanding the routine bank work, balance sheets but with work experience PO can end up having a good post/managerial post in the bank.
Bank job today is not just cheque withdrawals and deposits, or making demand drafts. Banks have changed a lot in the past two years. The neck to neck competition among private and public sector banks to get the bigger market share has led to appointing more Probationary Officers in banks. Probationary Officers job involves dealing with various new offerings such as online banking, securities and investments, asset management and corporate banking.
Initially Banks had a few this to offer but nowadays banks have lots of opportunities/department to work with. e.g. loan section, foreign exchange, insurance, wealth management, merchant banking, etc. If you join a bank with open mind and are ready for transfers you have a promising career path. Today banking has become very innovative. A Bank PO should be able to deal with all sorts of clients and also think out of the box.
Usually when you join a bank as a Probationary Officer, you go through a one-year probation period. During your probation period you get familiar with the working of various departments, including forex operations, general banking, loans and merchant banking, dealing with cash, selection of cheques, completing routine bank work such as bill collection, cheque clearances and loan processing etc. The probation period makes Probationary Officer familiar with every aspect of banking.
The performance of a Probationary Officer decides the designation after the completion of a probation period. Before the officer is posted to any branch he get 15 day staff training. Things become easy after probation. From PO to Scale II manager takes four years, however you can take the Certified Associates of Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB) examination to accelerate the process. Remember one thing there is no limit to how high one can rise in your banking career.
What is the Role of Bank Probationary Officer?
This is the most asked question in the Bank interviews. They ask the candidates about the profile of the Bank PO post. Are they aware regarding their job profile or not? Here, a very comprehensive detail about the profile and type of work the Bank PO do after joining in branch.
1. A Bank Probationary Officer (PO) in the bank is the
starting level appointment for bank officers and the promotional prospects are
quite healthy with the work as it defining the limit for the candidate’s
success. Job profile of PO (Probationary Officer) is General Banking,
administration work and any other work assigned by the Bank from time to time.
2. A Bank PO can be asked to do anything till the completion of its probation
period. After the confirmation he/she can give tasks having routine work like
posting, scrolling or advances or anything that is related to banking. He/she
generally assigned to various responsibilities, as directed by the Sr. Manager.
They are trained for accounting, marketing, finance, investment as well as
billing.
3. The Bank PO also work on increasing other aspects of the bank’s business such
as the loan department, the the mortgage and finance divisions of the bank.
Handling customer complaints and issues is also the responsibility of the Bank
PO. Often this means dealing with complaints over issues such as charges,
discrepancies in accounts, or even in complaints with service at the bank. Good
communication skills and an ability to resolve conflicts calmly is essential for
a Bank PO
4. Bank PO joins the bank as Assistant manager after the end of probation period
. Initially he/she may be posted in a branch where he/she will handle daily
customer transaction like passing a cheque, cash management, Draft issuance etc.
After certain experience and depending upon skill/aptitude, the person would be
given an opportunity to work in other areas like planning, marketing, budgeting,
processing of loan , investment management etc.
What is the Role of Bank Clerk?
Working in a bank under the conditions of the nowadays’ capitalism is usually a challenge. A great number of companies appeal to the bank in order to safeguard their profits, individuals recur to the bank’s services in order to create deposits or obtain loans, we can even pay bills in a bank now.
This is why we can understand that the job of the bank clerk is definitely not a smooth one. He/she is permanently interacting with people. Actually, he/she is the interface between the bank and its clients. Sometimes, the client identifies the clerk with the bank itself, so his/her role is very important.
Study Material, Postal Courses for Bank, SBI, IBPS - PO, Clerk Exams
Online Coaching and Test Series for Bank and IBPS Exams
Job Description
The bank clerk is the employee of a bank who is in charge of
dealing with the clients’ money. He receives and pays them, as he is making
thousands of transactions every day. He is that smiling face that you can see
standing behind a desk, which you are paying your bills, your debts and the one
who is giving you any type of information regarding the bank’s services.
Each bank clerk is responsible of one area of the bank, making sure that the
activity runs smoothly inside it. Thus, new account clerks are responsible for
opening new accounts for clients who need them, both companies and individuals.
The interest clerks are busy with monitoring interests, which correspond to
different savings accounts or to the different loan offers and clarify any doubt
or question that the client may be having regarding these interests, which
usually are a neuralgic point.
Exchange clerks have to operate with currency, and they usually help clients turn one currency into another, having a predetermined exchange rate as a landmark. Bookkeeping clerks take care of the records, which contain important data about the bank’s clients, and about the operations, they have made with their accounts. Then, there are clerks who take care of the machinery, which is vital to some bank operations. We see the diversity of clerks that we can find in a bank, and how every one of them has their specific working area.
Required Studies and Skills
Usually, a bank clerk will need not only college, but also a superior education level, which can be any faculty related to the economic field (Economics, Finances, Marketing, Management, Accountability etcetera). It is clear that he has to be a very organized person, able to have a distributive attention that he has to possess some solid communication skills, that he should have a good mind for figures and so on.
Working Environment
The working environment is an indoor one, more exactly a desk, so we may think of the bank clerk as a rather sedentary person. He will have to work with his mind and hands.
Income
The average income of a bank clerk is situated somewhere around 20,000- 30,000 dollars a year. The bank clerk is a key-employee of the bank, although his work may sometimes be easily overlooked. However, let us not forget that great things derive from smaller ones.
What is Bank Probationary Officer Salary (newly recruited)?
Bank PO’s salary or Bank Probationary officer’s starting salary in most of public sector banks and even in some private banks is same.
The last revision of salary of Bank PO / Bank Probationary officers has taken place wef 1st November, 2007. All newly recruited POs are placed in the following scale at the 1st stage of the same. (However, banks like SBI, ICICI bank and other private sector banks have some different start for probationary officers ) :-
Scale I - Rs. 14500 - (600×7) 18700 - (700×2) - 20100 (800×7) - 25700 [Revision has already become due wef 01/11/2012, but it is likely to take about 1 year to finalise the same i.e. by July, 2015).
Thus, the initial Basic Pay of a Bank Probationary officer / PO will be Rs.14,500/- (the figures in the brackets indicate the annual increment and the number of stages for which the same is applicable)
What are other major allowances payable on monthly basis as part of the salary to bank PO:
In addition to Basic Pay, bank officers (i.e. Probationary officers / PO / Management Trainees) are eligible for the following allowances :-
(1) Dearness Allowance (DA): DA in banks is revised
on quarterly basis (i.e. in the months of February, May, August and November)
based on the CPI as declared by Government of India.
The current DA (for the month of August 2014, September 2014 and October 2014
is 102.45% of the Basic Pay). DA can go up with higher inflation and also
come down if the inflation rate is in negative.
(2) HRA: This depends on the place of posting and it can be either 6.5%
or 7.5% or 8.5% depending on the place of posting.
(3) CCA: This also depends on the place of posting and can be either 4%
(maximum Rs.540/-) or 3% (Maximum Rs.375/-) or 0%
What is the Salary of Bank clerk in India (PS banks)?
The salary of clerks in most of the public sector banks and some private banks is same and last revision took place in November, 2007 (Now the next revision has already become due wef 1st November, 2012, and negotiations for the same are under way).
Almost all public sector banks place the clerks in the
following scale at the 1st stage of the grade :-
Rs. 7200 - (400x3) - 8400 - (500x3) - 9900 - (600x4) - 12300 - (700x7) - 17200
- (1300x1) - 18500 - (800x1) – 19300
Thus, the initial Basic Pay of a clerk will be Rs.7200/- (the figures in the brackets indicate the annual increment and the number of stages for which the same is applicable).
Skills Required by a Probationary Officer/clerk:
-
Need to be receptive and alert about bank functions and also should be attentive during training period.
-
Need to be co-operative and friendly towards the co-workers and the customer
-
Need good leadership qualities, communication skills.
How to Get a Job in Banks?
Graduates from any stream can apply to a public sector bank. Every bank recruits its staff through a written test, group discussion and interview.
Q: Should I be a MBA graduate to be eligible/apply for bank recruitments ?
A: MBA graduation is Not necessary for entry level recruitments conducted by public sector banks. Entry level jobs are Clerks, Probationary Officers & in some cases Managers. For applying to these positions, the minimum eligibility would be a Degree in any discipline.
Note: In case the recruitment is for specialized posts like Agriculture, Systems, IT, Credit, Finance etc., - candidates with Degree in those subjects would be asked to apply.
Healthy Competition: Public sector banks does also recruit
MBA candidates Infact, some banks mention in recruitment notice, that candidates
with higher qualifications would be preferred. But for these entry level jobs,
all eligible candidates, irrespective of degrees will have to appear for the
written test.
(Private banks have not been discussed here, since they follow a recruitment
process of their own & it is heard, most private sector banks recruit management
graduates)
Final Word: B.Sc/ Diploma or MBA graduate - whatever be the qualification, only those who prepare for bank exams & pass in the written examination with maximum marks, make it to the Interview & then to the job finally.
