Probationary Officer (PO) is one post that is regularly advertised for bank recruitments, but many candidates who are new to banking exams don’t seem to know the work involved or the exact meaning of PO.One of our readers had also asked a question regarding the job profile of PO in banks.
Hence we felt it would be better to analyze the job profile in detail, enabling freshers to understand the position better before applying for upcoming bank exams.
So what is the regular work of a PO in banks? Read below to find out:
A person who is newly recruited as an officer will be under probation period for atleast 2 years.During this phase, he/ she undergoes training & performs the allotted work.
Since candidates join the bank at a junior level, they are being called Probationary Officer (PO) but the actual designation could be assistant manager.
Graduates fresh out of college & those without any experience in banking field who wish for a career in govt. banks have to either join as Clerk or PO (scale I) only.
While on job, here are some of the important responsibilities of probationary officer in banks.
Service Customers: All banks rely on customers for their business.So servicing the customer is the foremost necessity for an officer by giving them the information they asked.
In many branches, the junior officer (PO) will be asked to look into customers coming for opening new accounts, ATM cards, deposits, receipts, loans, cheque books etc.,
Bring New Business: Since you are dealing with customers directly, it is naturally expected of you to promote various products of the bank & its partners to them.It may include fixed deposits, insurance policies, mutual funds, credit cards etc.,
You may be required to travel to their place if required as public sector banks don’t employ marketing/ sales executives separately.
Although there wont be any pressure on you to sell these stuff initially, you will have targets & deadlines for each as months pass.
Handle Cash: Cash disbursal & collection from cashiers are normally done through the counters manned by clerks.
Incase of heavy crowding, a parallel counter will be opened & you may be required to perform the clerical activities as well.Such a situation may arise if the cashier post is vacant or he/ she has gone on leave.
For this purpose, PO`s will also be trained on the transaction software too.Many officers have also reported of loading the ATM machines with cash every morning.So you would also need to keep track of the ATM activity, if the branch has one attached to it.
Payment Clearances: Although a clerk performs most cash transactions, some payments by way of cheque, DD, NEFT/ RTGS beyond a certain amount need to be authorized & cleared only by a person of officer cadre.
At times, the clerical may find some discrepancies related to a customers account which would also be referred to a PO for further scrutiny.
Report Verification: With the introduction of core banking solutions, all the work done in a day should be properly closed to avoid any mismatch.While every employee has some day-end work, PO`s would be assigned to generate reports which may include the deposits, withdrawals, ledger balances etc.,
You would login to the system using your details, take prints of statement, manually verify each transaction & record the changes found.If you overlook any one entry, it will create a problem the next day with mails from regional or zonal officers.
Official Communication: Just like in any MNC or IT company, all employees receive numerous emails which could be related to new rules or schemes or products.A probationary officer may be asked to keep a track of these latest developments to improve their product knowledge as they will be interacting with customers more.
The manager could also ask you to send official replies or letters to other departments for want of information or provide them with required info.As you can see from the above functions, there is no specific job description for a probationary officer.
So PO`s are required to be well versed in all the branch activities because on promotion, they will be elevated to the cadre of ‘Branch Manager’.
Having read about the work of probationary officer, you will be curious to know the bank PO salary.
While the payscale for PO (scale I) ranges between Rs.14500 – 25700, the actual salary could be approx. Rs. 31,000 – 32,000 / month (including allowances)depending on your location.Your actual take home salary shall be Rs.4000-5000 lower.
Note: Bank employees salary has been increased as per the agreement signed in the month of February 2015.
View Comments
Hi PO123,
your explanation is nice with so many fans & useful. I am preparing for the bank jobs.
can u suggest me :
1) what is the difference between SBI Job role and other banks job roles. why they are not joining under IBPS exam. why that bank only separately conducting exams for their bank only. what are the advantages & disadvantages of the sbi comparing with other banks(all). And also few other bank employees resign their current job, role & join in the SBI bank. why that much crazy for SBI? what benefits?.
I am waiting for ur reply.
Regards,
V. Praveen Kumar
Hi PO123,
Your detail explanation really helped us to clear lot of basic but useful doubt .Currently i am working in a reputed software company as a software engineer ,having 2 years of experience .But i am thinking to switch to the banking area .So this experience will help me in what extent ,can you clear on that ? And please suggest me whether its a right decision or not because i didnt have any experience here .Hope you will manage sometime as before to answer this doubt.
hai po123 .. ur article fr po role at bank is very gud.. thank fr tat.
i'm applyng fr bank jobs. would like ur suggest on hw to mange time while gvng xams.. thanks in advance
i did not mean to be negative abt this article at all...just wanted to share what i have experienced as a PO....i dunno how many people come back to this site after getting to top banks such as SBI, RBI etc...but i owe a lot to the inputs provided by bankexamsindia for my success and hence want to share my experiences with other aspirants...i see a lot of people in here are asking abt salary...yes u will get basic+da+cca+hra...in JM-I the salary is not very attractive, but use the PO period to learn well..that is the quickest way to the next higher payscale!
PO123, The work you mentioned would be covered under the training phase conducted by every bank.We have only listed the common works that would be carried out by PO in banks.It is not possible to details specifics, as each bank is different.Anyways, thanks for your insider details of SBI.
jai said ....
i have recently joined as an po in a nationalized bank in mumbai ....
even if u don't know the basics of banking,u can work easily....
difference between work of po and clerk...
at a given time,a po handles a number of departments whereas a clerk handles a specific department for specific amount of time.
yes u'll get salary alongwith perks if any ,from the bank u are joining..although leaves will be limited and no loan facility till the time of completion of probation.
nationalized banks don't conduct gd..sbi and it's associates does though...
this article is a nice attempt to sum up the role of a PO, but fails to specify much. i am currently working in State Bank Group as a PO and here's what i would like to share with all aspirants:
1.the main areas of banking are: deposits and advances...u will start with deposits..stuff like how to create CIF, various types of accounts such as savings, current, recurring and various type of term deposits..each bank uses a particular banking software (B@ncs24 in SBGroup)...u have to learn how to use that well...
2. then comes advances..classified as P-segment, SME and C&I. P segment is what consists of retail loans to individuals for various purposes such as housing, education, car etc etc,,you start with that...how to assess loan applications, interview applicants and the sanction and disbursal procedures..SME and C&I refers to all loans for purposes other than consumption...Small and Medium Enterprises and Corporate & Institutional loans are the crux of modern banking...hope i did not bore you guys..in all you will learn many aspects in 2 years..locker management, ATM mgt, cash drawer ops, cross selling just to name a few...cheers...
this website helps out people who prepare for bnak exams, be it clerica or be it POs....thanks for the info.
Hi,
Can you please mention the name of banks which do not conduct Group Discussion in the recruitment?
1. Clerks maintain the accounts, also, sometimes perform cash handling.
2. Yes, POs get salary while in probation. Any other questions, post here.