Bank Jobs may soon have Common Interviews; Govt. Steps In

Common interviews for public sector bank jobs may soon become a reality if a recent news report is to be believed.A lot has been written about the selection process followed by banks to fill their vacancies.To cut down on the time taken by public sector banks to fill vacancies, the Ministry of Finance under Govt. of India decided to introduce a common written exam for entry level bank jobs.


Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) was bestowed with the task of conducting, publishing & sending scorecards to those who qualify in the CWE.

Using these scores a candidate can apply to any of the 19 public sector banks & directly appear for an Interview.

Young graduates were overwhelmed to know about this as it replaced the numerous bank exams that one has to sit for each PSB

But what was touted as a boon by aspirants turned sour within no time when all banks started to call the same set of candidates for Interviews, as they were within a specific cutoff score range.

Ministry of Finance pitches for common interview

The business newspaper livemint.com reports of gathering these info from people within the ministry.It says,

The finance ministry, in consultation with state-owned banks, is considering a centralized interview for all candidates who clear the written exam.

Currently the personal interviews are conducted by each bank based on applications received from eligible candidates.Since top scorers apply for all banks, the same set of people are shortlisted in all banks leaving others nil chance.

The website reports of officials divulging the following information,

Banks have agreed to this proposal during the preliminary discussions.The details are to be finalized after further consultations. Along with external experts, banks officials will conduct a common interview that would be attended by qualified candidates A final merit list shall be released Depending on merit, applicants will be given an option to choose their bank

Though 1.1 lakh people have cleared the tests & 20,000 PO vacancies created till July -many banks are not able to fill in entirety due to multiple selections.This is the reason for second lists being seen recently.

It has only created a feeling of uncertainty among candidates who were not able to appear for even a single interview inspite of securing decent scores.

Graduates only for banking jobs

We had already reported few months back of a meeting between IBPS & banks wherein both parties decided to follow uniform education qualifications.

The minimum education for the last common exams by IBPS was set at graduation for PO & std.XII for clerks

Inline with the recommendations of Khandelwal committee, finance ministry seems to have fine-tuned this & is looking to fixing the below qualifications, Graduation necessary to apply for clerical exam/ posts Graduate degree with 55% marks for PO level exam & jobs

Interestingly, the unions are already registering their protests on various occasions against the govt.`s move to increase eligibility for clerical posts.

Hope at last?

The department which set the common banking exams rolling in 2011 has entered the scene now.

Will their combined efforts with PSB`s bring more clarity in the selection process of bank recruitments? – It will be known in the next few weeks when an official announcement is made.

At the same time, adequate safeguards for IBPS CWE PO 2011 qualifiers must be thought for they have been in waiting for too long & more delay will see their scores expire!