When it comes to public sector banking in India, there is no bigger organisation than the State Bank of India (SBI), especially after multiple State bank units merged into the mega body. Currently, it's spread over 24,000 branches in India and 191 overseas offices across 36 countries. It is also one of the largest employers in India, amid financial institutions - clocking in 2,09,567 employees as on March 31, 2017. SBI conducts many exams in the field of banking & financial institution. One such exam is the SBI SO Exam. The SBI SO Recruitment Exam Notification is out on the official website of IBPS.

Gaining a career trajectory with this brand is a firm stepping stone into the world of banking and financial institutions in India, with the bank holding businesses in capital markets, life insurance, cards and payment services. 

In this article, we're going to map the journey of the SBI SO exam - the exam date, eligibility criteria, total vacancies, application process, admit cards, salary structure, selection process, exam syllabus, exam patterns and cut-offs.

An overview: SBI Specialist Cadre Officer (SO)

The SBI Specialist Cadre Officer is a coveted banking position for aspiring graduate bankers that provides technical help to the banking giant. The bank ropes in tech wizards to help maintain the IT infrastructure for the organisation, on both a macro and micro level. Their work includes data mining, reporting, database management, maintaining servers, ATMs, network PCs, proprietary software and routine tech operations.

In terms of the sheer size of the organisation, they are a small size of the larger SBI workforce. However, due to the nature of the job, these candidates are picked from IT, Civil, Electrical and Law fields. Further, their career growth is slower, as compared to generalist officers (GOs) or other probationary officers - it takes them four years to gain promotion from one post to another. However, the slow yet steady career graph has many takers.

SBI SO Exam Date 2020:

Following are the exam dates for SBI SO:

SBI SO 2020: Vacancies, positions and salary structure

The SBI SO (Specialist Cadre Officer or Specialist Officer) is a relatively lesser numbers to fill, with limited public dealing. However, most of these job positions lie in metro cities, local head offices and zonal offices.  

The SBI SO exams occur alongside other banking recruitment exams by the organisation on an annual basis, after the bank publishes a due notification for the given year. We can gain a fair idea about the kind of SBI SO vacancies available for the year, from the number of positions released for this year i.e. 2020.

A total of 92 vacancies are available for this year for various SBI SO posts including Data Protection Officer, Data Trainer, Manager (data scientist) and much more.

In terms of salary structure, an SBI SO earns between a beginning Rs.23,700 to nearly Rs. 50030. While the basic component is not high, the difference is made up by the number of perks available to them.

Next, the following components are added to their salaries: 

1. Dearness Allowance (DA)
2. House Rent Allowance (HRA)
3. City Compensatory Allowance (CCA)
4. Provident Fund (PF)
5. Pension Fund
6. Medical Reimbursement

Beyond these, the officers get two unique perks - lease for accommodation (which is paid directly to the landlord) and furniture allowance. They also get a host of reimbursements for phones, electricity etc.

Who can apply for the SBI SO position?

There are four elgibility criteria which determine whether you can apply for these positions - nationality, age, education and experience. While nationality and age apply to everyone, education and professional experience vary according to the position.

These positions are valid for residing Indian nationals. Age-wise, all positions require candidates to be a minimum 21 years and an upper limit of 35 years.

Education-wise, the SBI SO eligibility criteria changes according to each specific role. Commonly, they are open to graduates from law, electrical, IT and civil fields in BTech. The amount of professional experience required also varies according to the advertised job role.

SBI SO Application Process:

The SBI SO application process depends on the specific position covered under the advertisement as well. However, there are some common touchpoints:

1. Login to the official SBI website (https://bank.sbi/careers or https://www.sbi.co.in/careers) and apply for the advertised position.
2. Check your eligibility against the given eligibility criteria.
3. Fill the registration form with your details.
4. Upload requested documents alongside the form (like a resume, proofs of identity, age, educational qualifications and experience).
5. Pay the required registration fee through online mode before the last date for payment.

The uploaded documents are verified ahead of the personal interview round and if they don't hold true, they lead to the bank declaring the candidature of the applicant as void. The SBI SO Recruitment Exam date has already been announced so candidates should fill the online application form as soon as possible.

SBI SO Selection Process: 

Next, let's consider the selection process. Candidates who apply for the SBI SO position clear two channels before they receive a job offer. These steps are:

i) Online written test

ii) Personal interview

Once all applications have been whetted, SBI issues call letters (as SMS and mails) to selected candidates for the online written tests. Candidates can choose their preferred examination centres.

SBI SO 2020 Exam Pattern & Syllabus:

As stated above, the exam pattern is first broken into an online written test and then a personal interview. 

The written test covers three subject areas - Reasoning, English language and Professional knowledge. While the first two are for 70 marks each, the segment for professional knowledge is worth 50 marks. Here, the third segment is pretty important and will determine the merit list.

Next, selected candidates get a chance to appear for the interview, worth 50 marks to make it ahead. 

Both the written test and personal interview serve to shortlist candidates. So, those who clear the exam cut-off can be shortlisted for the interview. Similarly, those who clear the interview will make it to the top merit list. 

We hope that this selection allows you to patch together your approach for an SBI SO exam. This was the complete SBI SO Recruitment guide that one needs to know to score good marks in the exam.

Good luck to all the SBI SO Exam aspirants!