Recruitment Process in State Bank of India for Probationary Officers, clerks and other Officials
The State Bank of India (SBI) is a leading public sector bank of the country which provides nonprofit service to India through Community Banking Service. State Bank of India provides services on the national and international level. SBI recruits candidates for the posts of clerks and probationary officers from time to time, and whenever required. The recruitment of clerks is carried on through a special process which involves written test and personal interview. The probationary and specialist officers are the higher posts which require great authority, responsibility and better knowledge than clerks. The entrance test and the selection procedure are different for recruitment of clerks and specialist officers.
On the other hand, Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) conducts common written exam (CWE) for the recruitment of probationary officers in other Public Sector Bnaks, excluding State Bank of India.
State Bank of India – Recruitment of Probationary officers
Eligibility for Probationary officers
The applicants must be the citizens of India and between 20 to 30 years of age. A relaxation of 5 years is given to SC/ST candidates and 3 years to OBC candidates. The relaxation to widows, divorced women and ex-servicemen is given as per the government rules. The candidates must have passed graduation or any equivalent degree from a recognized university. The candidates appearing in the final year of graduation are also eligible to apply.
State Bank of India Recruitment Process for POs & Clerks
The recruitment procedure for Probationary officers consists of three phases:
- Phase-I: Preliminary Examination (100 marks)
The preliminary examination consists of 30 questions of English, 35 questions of Quantitative Aptitude and 35 questions of Reasoning Ability. All the questions are objective type and duration of the test is one hour.
- Phase-II: Main Examination
The Main Examination consists of an objective test of 200 marks and descriptive test of 50 marks. Both the Objective and Descriptive Tests are conducted online. Candidates need to answer the descriptive test by typing on a computer. The descriptive test is started immediately after the objective test. The Objective Test of 2-hour duration consists of 4 Sections with 50 marks each. These sections consist of tests for English language, General awareness, Data analysis & interpretation and reasoning. The Descriptive Test of 1-hour duration with 50 marks will be a Test of English language (Letter Writing & Essay)
- Phase-III: Group Discussion and Interview
The Phase-III consists of Group discussion in which the candidate are made to sit in a group and a topic is given for discussion. The candidates need to speak on the topic and give his/ her views. The group discussion round is of 20 marks. Another round of personal interview is conducted in which the candidates are asked questions face to face by the interviewing officers. The interview for PO is of 30 marks.
Final Selection for Probationary Officers
The preliminary test (Phase I) is conducted to qualify for the Phase II and Phase III. The marks of the preliminary test (Phase I) are not added to the final merit list. Only the marks obtained in Main Exam (Phase-II) marks obtained in GD & Interview (Phase-III) are added to the final merit list.
The final merit list is prepared after calculating the aggregate marks of written examination and GD & Interview and percentage out of 100. The final selection is made on the basis of high merit ranked candidates in each category.
Recruitment of Clerks in SBI
Eligibility for Clerks
The applicants must be the citizens of India and between 20 to 28 years of age. A relaxation of 5 years is given to SC/ST candidates and 3 years to OBC candidates. The relaxation to widows, divorced women and ex-servicemen is given as per the government rules.
The candidates must have passed graduation or any equivalent degree from a recognized university. The candidates appearing in the final year of graduation are also eligible to apply.
- The first step in the recruitment of clerks in State Bank of India is the entrance test known as ‘Clerical Cadre Exam’. The entrance test consists of five parts which are based on the subjects of (i) General Awareness (ii) General English (iii) Quantitative Aptitude (iv) Reasoning Ability (v) Marketing Aptitude / Computer Knowledge. All the parts consist of objective type questions except the General English. Each part of the test is of 40 marks and the whole test is of 200 marks. There is negative marks for wrong answers and 1/4th mark is deducted for every wrong answer. To qualify for the further process, the candidates need to pass in each test.
- The second step is the personal interview. The bank decides the qualifying marks and prepares a merit list on the basis of scores in the entrance test. Depending on the number of vacancies, certain candidates who rank high in the merit list are called for the interview. Candidates are required to score a minimum percentage of marks (decided by the bank) in the interview to be considered for final selection. 5% relaxation is generally given to candidates belonging to SC/ST/ OBC/PWD/XS category. The final selection is made on the basis of combined performance in the entrance test and personal interview.
State Bank of India is a nationalized bank is majorly preferred by job seekers as there is a great career in the largest bank of the country. The bank offers salary as per the pay scale laid by the government. It offers a great career and opportunities for growth. As around 1200 new branches are expected to be opened in 2016 in both the urban and semi-urban areas. The bank will be hiring more employees both for the clerical and officer level posts. About 30 to 35 % of the bank staff will get retirement in the coming five years. To replace this large amount of staff, SBI will be running recruitment drive in the 2016 and coming years. Most of the staff in SBI is working on clerical posts which are going to retire in the coming years. This is the reason for the high requirement of clerical staff along with the probationary and specialist officers.