A PO or a Probationary Officer is basically an Assistant Manager of Scale I in a bank. He is a Junior Manager of Grade I scale and hence called Scale I Officer. After the selection criteria is completed, a Probationary Officer has to go through an intensive training program at Institute of Banking Management where they are trained. The probation period of a PO may last for 2 years. This again differs from bank to bank.
As the candidates selected for this post are young officers who have freshly graduated, they have a great enthusiasm within themselves. They are hardworking and have a zest to learn and hence they are imparted with some really serious responsibilities by the bank.
A PO is trained on multiple verticals such as finance, accounting, billing, investment etc. during his/ her probation period in order to acquaint them with various working procedures of the bank. This is basically done by entrusting them with responsibilities and jobs in these categories.
The main purpose of the bank is to provide optimal service to its customers. A PO has to make sure that the business of the bank keeps on increasing by tending to the banks’ customers properly by handling customer complaints, addressing various customer related issues such as discrepancies in accounts, rectification of undue charges etc.
When they get acclimatized to the banks’ norms they are provided with more serious responsibilities such as planning, budgeting, loan processing, investment management etc.
Every year all the government as well as the private banks conduct Bank PO exams to recruit young officers. The major banks participating in this process are listed below:
- State Bank of India
- Allahabad Bank
- Bank of Baroda
- Bank of Maharashtra
- Punjab National bank
- Oriental Bank of Commerce
- ICICI Bank
- Cooperative Bank
- Cooperation Bank
- Syndicate Bank
- HDFC Bank
The main exam among them is the SBI PO exam and the IBPS PO exam. Both of them have a large number of vacancies and eagerly look for young officers. The main thing to keep in mind is that every bank has their own selection criteria and their own set of papers. IBPS Conducts a common written exam for hiring of Probationary Officers (PO) in different public sector banks(PSU) and State Bank of India conduct a separate exam for hiring of Probationary Officers (PO).
Recruitment is done in generally three steps process. The first two phase is written test which are preliminary exams and mains exam respectively. The third step is the interview process. Candidates selected after the first two rounds get eligible for the interview round. After getting selected in these three rounds a merit list is generated based on the candidate’s performance. The one who make it to the list are selected for the post of PO.
The syllabus of Bank PO exam is designed to assess the candidate’s aptitude as weel as his general awareness. The preliminary paper is divided into three sections- Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning and Verbal Ability. The mains paper contain five sections namely General Awareness, Computer Knowledge, Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning and Verbal Ability. This pattern again differs from bank to bank.
- Before applying for this post it is really necessary to check the eligibility criteria for this examination. A candidate must be 21-30 years of age while applying for Bank PO exam. Age relaxation of 5 years is given to candidates belonging to SC and ST. the candidates belonging to OBC categories are given an age relaxation of 3 years. The ex-servicemen and the candidates holding Jammu and Kashmir quota are also given an age relaxation of 5 years.
- Apart from this the minimum educational qualification of the candidate must be that of a graduate from a designated University.
- A candidate must also not hold any criminal record. If found guilty, their candidature is likely to get cancelled.
