Which is better? SBI Junior Associate or Junior Agriculture Associate?

SBI Junior Associate is nothing but a clerical job in a bank. If you visit any of the SBI branches, you will be able to visualise your future job. Your could become an officer in 3-5 years. If you are able to pass Trainee Officer exam and became an officer, it is as good as passing a probationary officer exam. So, the career progression is fair enough. This is expected to be same for even Junior Agriculture Associate. But what makes a Junior Agriculture Associate different?

Read these lines in recruitment notification carefully- "In addition Junior Agricultural Associates will be posted in rural/semi urban branches, on promotion to officer cadre also they will be continuing in branches/ Loan processing cells in rural/semi urban centre upto SMGS". 

It means, till you become an AGM, you will be posted in Rural and Semi urban branches. So if your plan is to settle in cities for various reasons, this job might not be suitable for you. It may not be good even if you want to stay in your town and also have a faster career. You might be posted in far off rural places upon promotion. Also, it is clear that you would not be given an opportunity to be posted abroad or in different verticals as an ordinary clerk is given after promotion. Be ready to be in rural and semi urban areas till you become an AGM, that means almost till you retire from the bank! It does not mean the job is bad per se. These could also be positive points for some aspirants who want to serve the rural India. 

So, deciding which is better Junior Associate or Junior Agriculture Associate is left you.

SBI Junior Associates Recruitment: It is nothing but clerical recruitment

SBI has notified for more than 17000 vacancies of Junior Associates. Many aspirants of bank jobs are asking what does Junior Associate in SBI stand for? Your query is answered here.

Junior Associates is the modern name for the bank clerks in SBI. Junior Associate (Customer Support & Sales) means you will be recruited for doing clerical job in the bank like any other bank clerks would be already doing. You would be made to sit in single window counters where you are expected to serve the customers who would visit the bank for various reasons viz. obtaining drafts, paying fees, opening an account, depositing cash, making a fixed deposit. This is nothing but customer support. Along with the customer support, the present clerks are also selling the products like insurance and credit card to the customers. This adds sales to the job role. So the Junior Associate (Customer Support & Sales) is nothing but the clerical recruitment.

Junior Agricultural Associates is little bit different. The Agricultural Associates is expected to serve the customers of the rural areas who are mainly agriculturists. They might be asked to assist the field officers in the handling of agriculture loans. Final job roles of the Junior Agricultural Associates is not clear. As of now, make yourself clear that you should be ready to be posted in rural/semi urban areas for at least 15-20 years to serve the agriculturists as per the interpretation of the recruitment notice.

SBI's Massive Clerical Recruitment Drive: Grab the Opportunity

SBI has come up with more than 13000 posts for freshers in the clerical cadre. The recruitment advertisement is released and application process started. I will be answering many questions with a different workable approach here.

Have a glance of recruitment notification now. With too many unnecessary details in the recruitment notification, picking up the required details starts the making of a banker.

Know the dates: The application is open from 05.04.2016 to 25.04.2016. 

Be fast. Take the first step first. Don't wait for the last date to get nervous and waste precious time.

Two posts: 

(i) Junior Associate (Customer Support & Sales) (ii) Junior Agricultural Associates

I will explain what they mean and the expected roles in next posts. (Click here to know more)

You can apply for the vacancies in one State and for one post only. An agriculture graduate can not apply for both though he is eligible. Dilemma? If you have confidently prepared for the exam, go for Junior Associate (Customer Support & Sales). Why? Read my next posts here. Others prepare well and apply for your home state. Read my next posts to know why you should apply for your home state.

Eligibility

Education: For Junior Associates: Graduation and For Junior Agricultural Associates: Graduation in Agriculture

Even final year students are eligible to apply. (Make sure your university declares result before 30th June 2016)

Age Limit:  

To be eligible, your Date of Birth should be between 02.04.1988 and 01.04.1996 (both days inclusive) for general candidates. 02.04.1985 with 01.04.1996 for OBC. For SC/ST it is 02.04.1983 and 01.04.1996. 

Selection Method:

The process consists of on-line test (preliminary & main examinations), test of official and/or local language and interview (Not sure)

Phase-I : Preliminary Examination: Duration- 1 hour. Will consists of English Language(30), Numerical Ability(35), Reasoning Ability(35) for 100 marks in total. About 70000 candidates will be called for the Phase II based on the performance in this test.

Phase – II: Main Examination : 

Fate deciding examination will be for 200 marks with 190 questions which are to be answered in 160 minutes with sectional timings.

The papers will be explained in a separate post.

Phase – III: Interview: If Modi says No to interview, only regional language and official languages will be tested. No extra preparation is needed. 

Get ready with 20-50 KB image of your photograph and 10-20 KB image of your signature signed in a black colour pen in .jpg format.

Salary, work profiles, career progressions will be dealt in next posts.

That's all you need to know in the recruitment notification.