The IBPS common interviews for the recruitment of specialist officers in public sector banks is scheduled to start by the 3rd week of March 2015.Posts such as IT Officer, Agriculture Field Officer, Marketing Officer, HR Officer, Law Officer etc., are to be filled through this process.As all those who have been shortlisted are thinking on how to prepare for IBPS specialist officer interviews,this article will take you through some of the important topics to cover.
7700 candidates have qualified in the IBPS specialist officer exam IV (SPL – IV) held in the month of February 2015. This number is very low compared to previous year, which had 16,500 passouts.It just means the total number of vacancies for this year`s recruitment could be less.
About the Interview
While the total marks allotted for IBPS specialist officer interview are 100, the weightage ratio of exam & interview shall be 80:20.
Although there will be minimum qualifying score, it won’t be less than 40% (35% for SC/ST/OBC category) which you must secure to stay in the race.
Based on the combined final scores of candidates in online exam & interview, a merit list shall be prepared for allotment in banks.
| Incase a candidate does not possess the necessary cutoff, he/ she will be disqualified from the entire selection process.It doesn’t matter whether you have high or low scores in the exam. |
For you to perform well, we are posting some of the top questions frequently asked in in the specialist officer interviews.
Do you have Professional Knowledge?
The main difference in selection process of PO & specialist officer is the test of specialized knowledge possessed by a candidate.
The interview panel would test your skills in your chosen field & decide if you are suitable for that post.This is the reason for having professional knowledge as a separate paper in IBPS specialist officer common exam too.
Here are the positions & corresponding topics that you need to concentrate for interview:
- IT officer – Information technology (computer basics,hardware, server configuration, networking & security)
- Agriculture Field Officer – Agriculture (farming,soil types,crop varieties, cattle, fisheries etc.,)
- Marketing Officer – Sales & Marketing (market conditions, strategies, promotions, customer handling, banking products)
- HR Officer – Human Resources (employee relations,performance appraisal methods,behavioral techniques etc.,)
- Law Officer – Legal studies (banking, financial sector rules)
Since the interview panel will have atleast one specialist officer, you can expect more no. of questions related to the chosen post.
For example, an experienced IT officer sitting in the 4 – 5 member interview group would ask questions about computer technology.Similarly agri. officer applicants will be interviewed by a panel consisting of an agri officer among others.
image courtesy: livemint.com
Why Specialist Officer?
Candidates who had previously attended these interviews have often said there was one regular question posed at them, which is:
Why did you apply for Specialist officer in banks?
The interviewer wants to know the purpose of applying for this job.They are looking to find out whether you are aware of the job profile, responsibilities and difference between a regular Officer & Spl. officer in banks.
This is how you need to respond:
Tell them the basic duties of whichever post you applied.Let them know how your knowledge in that respective field would be relevant for the job.Mention about any related projects that you had done or previous work experience.
| An ideal answer should convince the interviewer of your subject knowledge & ability to work in the banking sector. |
In PO interviews, one question was a regular – Why bank job after engineering degree? But such a query wont be posed to you as BE/Btech graduates were only called to apply for IBPS SPL CWE.
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Do you Follow Current Affairs?
You won’t be asked many questions about the latest events but it’s important to be prepared.It is always best to read English newspapers than regional ones, as you need to speak in English during the interview.
Make a note of the important happenings during the past one month, see whichever is related to your field & read more on it.
You may also keep track of the daily news by visiting websites such as The Hindu, Economic times etc., but since there are many moving ads, you could be distracted.That is the reason why we suggest to refer the newspapers.
Know about Banking Terms?
Don’t attend the specialist officer interview without knowing anything about Indian banking scenario.
The panel very well knows that everyone are from different fields & hence would test your banking awareness extensively.
Some of the top questions are definition of words used in financial sector, RBI rates, abbreviations, account types, cheque, DD etc., image courtesy: thehindu.com
Preparing for this question won’t be a problem for many since it was a paper in the online exam.So all you need to do is just brush it up again & look for any new terminologies while reading the news papers.
| Looking for books? Read review of Bank Interview Cracker [has banking terms & answers for frequently asked interview questions] |
Can you Speak Clearly?
Yes. Can you speak clearly so that the interviewer can understand what you wish to say? If yes, then half of the battle is won because many candidates aren’t able to qualify in interviews due to their poor communication skills.
A candidate may have scored high marks in the common exam & could be strong in his field.But if he/ she is not able to put forward their answer in a clear manner, rejection shall be the only possible result.
Here are some tested methods that can help perfect your language:
- Be specific.An interview may last for approx. 10-15 mins only.In some cases, it could be even lesser.So cut short the explanations & answer to the point.
- Keep your language simple.You are not tested on your language but on your knowledge.So don’t waste time in searching for complex words to impress the panel.
- Don’t get nervous.Nervousness slows your thinking capacity, creates fear & pushes you to speak fast resulting in wrong answers. (see interview hall behaviour)
Thats it.Once you are ready with the answers for the above 5 questions, your confidence level shall rise automatically enabling you to crack the upcoming IBPS specialist officer common interviews.