On 11^th February 2021, the Institute of Banking Personnel (IBPS) released the interview call letter for IBPS SO recruitment exam for Specialist Officer (SO) in public sector banks in India. Candidates can download it by 27^th February 2021. The post of SO is conducted for the candidates in the field of, IT Officer, Agricultural Field Officer, Law Officer, HR/ Personnel Officer, Rajbhasha Adhikari and Marketing Officer. The application process is completely done online through their official website.  

The IBPS SO exam is conducted by the National Recruitment Agency (NRA). They will conduct a Common Recruitment Test (CRT) to appoint candidates on various posts. SSC, RRB and IBPS. NRA also recruits candidates for Non-Technical and Non- Gazetted posts.

Generally, banks like, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra are some of the participating banks . Once the candidates clear the examination and are selected, they will be posted in one of these banks based on their merits and preferences.

The candidates need to qualify the eligibility standards to apply for the examination. The minimum age for IBPS SO should be 20 years and maximum, 30 years. The age relaxation for schedule caste and schedule tribe is 5 years, for other backward classes is 3 years, disability is 10 years, ex-servicemen is 5 years, Persons ordinarily residing in the State of Jammu and Kashmir is 5 years and persons affected by mob violence in 1984  is 5 years. The candidate should be of Indian nationality. The educational qualification is different for various departments.

The application fees is 600 rupees for General and OBC category and 100 rupees for SC/ST/PwD. The selection process has three sections.

• Prelims
• Mains
• Interviews

The Preliminary examination with three sections has a total weightage of 125 marks. English Language and Reasoning are generally the two tests common for all departments. Candidates need to work on their vocabulary, comprehension and grammar to score well in English language test. Reasoning consists of questions related to data sufficiency, coding-decoding and order and ranking. The technological department examines the candidates’ ability in Quantitative Aptitude where candidates should have a complete knowledge about data interpretation, pattern and sequences and simplification. Whereas the generic candidates are tested on General Awareness, where the candidates should prepare for political and social issues around the globe . To be qualified for the main examination the candidates should score more than the cut off in each category.

The candidates need to score more than the cut off in the main examination are called for the IBPS interview for specialist officers. The interview is worth 100 marks and candidates need to score at least 40 marks and reserved category candidates should score at least 35 marks. The total score of mains and interview will decide the merit list. The candidates should have a clear idea of IBPS SO Salary as per 7^th Pay Commission. The basic pay scale of the Specialist Officer for Scale I is Rs. 23,700/-, along with allowances like dearness, Special, HRA, City Compensatory, PF Contribution and Miscellaneous..

SO can opt major career options through promotion :

• Scale 1 – Assistant Manager/Officer
• Scale 2 – Manager
• Scale 3 – Senior Manager
• Scale 4 – Chief Manager
• Scale 5 – Asst. General Manager
• Scale 6 – Deputy General Manager
• Scale 7 – General Manager.

In terms of growth IBPS SO is a great option for candidates in banking sectors.