Common entrance test planned for bank jobs from next year

There's good news about bank jobs for those aspiring to join public sector banks and for the banks themselves.

Aimed at reducing recruitment-time and the hassles associated with recruitment - for both banks and candidates - there will now be a common all india entrance test from next year onwards for those seeking to join public sector banks.

The bank jobs recruitment process which now takes about a year to be completed will drop drastically by a third, reducing the mental tension candidates presently go through after an exam.

"There will now be a common pan-India entrance test which will help in reducing recruitment-time by almost a third of what it takes now," Indian Banks Association's Chief Executive, K Ramakrishnan, told PTI here today.

Presently, it takes about a year for the recruitment process to be completed by public sector banks, beginning from the advertisement stage to examination and interview stage through to the final recruitment.

Three-four such common entrance examinations are planned to be conducted every year and "this should begin in 2011," Ramakrishnan said.

The exam will be conducted by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) which will declare the results of the exam and give a scorecard to the candidates, valid for up to one to one-and-a-half-years.

The exams will be mainly for clerical staff and entry-point officers