Private or public sector banks?

1. I want to make a career in banking after my graduation; can you please help me understand which option would be better, Private banks or Public Sector Banks? - Smitha Reddy, A S Rao Nagar

After privatisation, the demand for banking professionals has increased manifold. A revolutionary age of economic and IT has made the expansion of banking and the finance irresistible in both the private and public sector.

Career in banking: Private versus Public banks

Recruitment:

Public Sector: After your graduation in any discipline, to qualify for the banking or government sector, you have to write the competitive recruitment examinations, IBPS / SBI PO Exam or PSC/ SSC.

These entrance exams are conducted on a timely basis around the year and the notification of the exam details, issue of forms and so on is advertised in all leading newspapers and in the Employment News.

For recruitment in higher scales in the public sector, you need some experience and should fulfil the eligibility criteria as regards to age and qualification. The experience depends upon the bank and people with qualifications like MBA, CA etc, stand better chance in this regard.

Private sector: Candidate with a background in finance, commerce, economics are preferred. Most of these banks have their own personalised process for recruiting; they conduct their own aptitude tests, GD and personal interviews. Majority of the selected candidates are subjected to a training period before joining.

An MBA degree from a reputed

B School, will get you placement at the senior levels in the private sector banks.

The candidates are picked up through campus recruitment, referrals, walk-ins or through consultancies.

Career Progression

Private Sector:

There is a healthy growth and promotion.

If your major in graduation is commerce, economics or finance, then you stand a good chance to notch fatty packages from top banks. You stand a chance of earning up to Rs 8 lakhs per annum for the role of relationship managers depending on your overall score and the institute you are from.

Several IIMs, XLRI, FMS and students from other popular colleges every year get hired by banking companies with a pay package of not less than 10 lakhs per annum

Public Sector:

Even though growth and promotion is slow in the public sector banks, there is a well-defined career progression path in each public sector bank. This is chiefly determined by individual performance and potential. If the individual is bright, hardworking and knowledgeable it takes less time to move to higher scales. A person joining as an officer has a chance of becoming the general manager in 14 years and can then aspire the roles of executive director/chairman of the bank. These roles are all decided by the government and not the individual bank.

If the bank has a network of foreign banks, you stand a chance of working abroad too in both the sectors.

Job security:

Public sector banks have security of jobs and provide a relief for lifetime. Even if the candidate is going slow the public sector banks provide their empoyee’s considerable time to pick up and rarely is someone fired.

No job security in the private banks and everything is target oriented and performance based.

Pay packages:

For both the sectors, pay package depends upon nature of profiles and banks. For clerical jobs, it starts from Rs 20, 000 per month and for higher position, it may be Rs. 30, 000 to Rs 40, 000.

If you are an MBA from reputed institutions, your salary may touch from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh. Some meritorious and hardworking MBA students of IIMs can touch the figure of a crore per annum as salary.

To conclude, both these banking sectors have their own advantages and disadvantages; it is you who will have to prioritise your needs, skills and preferences before you choose the type of bank you would like to work. - All the best!

2. I am a female, graduate, nine years of work experience in admin, working as admin head in law firm. Salary is 3 Lakh per annum. Not satisfied with salary. Apart from Admin, secretary, front office, personal assistant, what are the other options for me to look for. Where else I can work with my kind of work experience? - Laxmi (name changed on request)

The wealth of knowledge one obtains as an admin, helps them gain tremendous confidence and over that, facilitates one to develop skills such as:

• Robust organisational skills
• Fast, efficient and detail-oriented,
• Ability to prioritise tasks,
• Ability to work autonomously as well as part of a team
• Highly developed communication skills
• Good coordinating skills with other members of staff
• Flexible and always a positive ‘can do’ attitude
• Always open to new tasks

With all the above mentioned skills and an experience of nine years, you have a golden chance of getting hired now in any company as virtually all firms and companies, and sometimes the departments within these companies, have an administrator working for them. It all depends on what personal goals you hope to accomplish now, whether you want to continue with the same nature of job or want a shift, of course with a better pay package. You can look for a higher-level career path, but still remaining in the Admin field, i.e. if you still enjoy doing your admin work then you have the option of joining as a manager or executive secretary in a company. You can take up a job as an executive assistant initially and then work your way up within the company. EA is a fancier and a more modern version for the term ‘secretary’ The perks associated with this role can give you a very satisfying feeling, the best part being that no day is the same.

If not, you can think about specialising in some field or doing an MBA, as generalists are a dime in dozen nowadays. A further degree in: management, business administration, human resource management, Computing and IT or public administration, can give you a boost in your career.

You also have the option of becoming an office manager as you have a vast experience and this role chiefly requires candidates who have strong administration experience and training, and sometimes competency in HR management. For smaller professional businesses, you can opt for areas such as marketing too.