Job profiles for Probationary Officers in Banks

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 analyses the job profile in detail, enabling freshers to understand the position better before applying for upcoming bank exams.

So what are the functions of a bank PO?

Why is it called PO?

A person who is newly recruited as an officer will be under probation period for at least 2 years.

During this phase, he/she undergoes training and 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 and those without any experience in banking field who wish for a career in government banks have to either join as clerk or PO (scale 1) only.

Job Profile of Bank PO?

While on job, here are some of the important responsibilities of Probationary officer in Banks.

Service Customer: 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 account. 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 and 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 do not employ marketing/sales executives separately.

Although there would not be any pressure on you to sell these stuff initially, you will have targets and deadline for each as months pass.

Handle cash: Cash collection from cashiers are normally done through the counters manned by clerks, encase of heavy crowding , a parallel counter will be opened and you may required to perform the clerical activities as well.

Such situations 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 transactions 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 exchequer , DD, NEFT/RTGS beyonds certain amount need to be authorized and cleared only by person of officer cadre.

At times the clerical may find some discrepancy related to 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 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 statements, manually verify the tranascation and record the changes found. If you overlook any one entry, it will create VA 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 information.

As you 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 captivities because on promotion, they will be elevated to the cadre of 'Branch Manager'.

What is the salary of the Bank Po?
Having read about the work of probationary officer, you will be curious to know the bank PO salary.

While the pay scale for PO (scale) bangers between Rs 14500 -25700, the actual salary could be approx rs 31,000-32,000 month (including allowances) depending on your location. Your actual 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.