Suppose you are not selected!

“Suppose you are not selected, what will you do?” That is the final question sometimes candidates have to answer in a Public Sector Bank promotion interview. The answer to this question may not have anything to do with the promotion as such because ultimately promotion depends upon the candidates’ score based on performance and confidential reports. 

Promotion interviews are an annual exercise involving almost ten percent of a million employees employed by PSBs in India. That could cost anything between two hundred million rupees if we consider an average of 15 minutes duration for each such interview and a billion rupees if we consider other peripheral costs like DA TA etc, to be paid to those employees and the interview board members. 

Cost efficiency

The cost efficiency of this annual expenditure depends on a lot of factors. This analysis on interviews is based on my experience and interactions with officials in various banks in India during my tenure in RBI. To make it simple, I have grouped the nine grades of officers in PSBs into three namely Junior, Senior and Top. By Junior level executives, I mean all those officers engaged in maintaining accounts and relationships with customers. Similarly, by Senior level managers I mean all those who are engaged in monitoring operations of juniors and implementing plans, policies and instructions. They guide their juniors and provide suggestions/feedback to the Top.  All those officers right up to the CEO, engaged in data analysis, policy, planning and setting up systems to ensure bank level compliance to rules and regulations comprise the Top-level officers.

When it comes to filling up these positions, there is no one size fits all approach. Because there will be more emphasis on candidates’ attitude, knowledge and pragmatism compared to their business performance, for positions in the senior and top level. Therefore, interviews play a significant role.  Good performers with poor leadership traits can be sidelined after the interview process is completed. This may frustrate star performers and some of them have to be appeased with some change of posting.

Inasmuch as the objective is concerned, the interviews pave the way for a long-term decision on banks’ productivity and profitability. Since it is not that easy to dismiss employees in India or keep them out of assignment for long, it is quite a serious exercise too. Thus, the role of personnel dept officials (who compile the profile of candidates), the interview panel and the promoting or appointing authority is very critical to the growth of Indian banks. (The appointing authority or promoting authority can exclude anyone with disqualifications such as immoral conduct or poor financial discipline.)

I have restricted this article to cover interviews for selection of Probationary Officers, promotion to junior, senior, top levels and appointment of CEOs of Indian Banks. 

Interview for appointment of POs

The interview is aimed to sort candidates according to their ability to adapt to the organisation culture and style so that conversation such as the following can be avoided later:

“That’s not the way we do things here.”

“You do not repeat this.” 

Or in soft terms, “Be careful in future; you would have put us in jeopardy”. 

It is a truth that bringing changes in people is not easy. Family values, local beliefs and convictions are deep inside people and they are bound to make people stay opinionated. An organisation cannot afford an experimentation with the recruits. Therefore, there will be questions to elicit responses that reveal candidates’ keenness to learn, adapt and appreciate the organisation values.

There will also be questions to test general awareness, integrity etc and on their habits, hobbies etc. General awareness helps them later as employees in grasping relevant information quickly and saving time in making decisions. However, candidates with a tendency to bluff can potentially misguide others and can be a risky choice. 

Other questions can be based on their profile (experience, school, university), intended to find out their nature of integrating with institutions they associate with. Those who develop affection towards the organisation will prove to be self-motivating.

Their reading habit can be interpreted as their patience to go through files fully in future and can develop a habit of knowing the details before initiating action. Hobbies help them de-stress and keep away from idling time. 

There may not be questions for testing candidates’ communication skill as communication skill can be demonstrated differently in different circumstances. In the company of friends, colleagues and superiors, people are found to display varying ability in communication. More than that, a lot of improvement can be made afterwards by training them. 

Once the interview is over, members of the board decide on the candidate’s score in consultation. The most impressive one who pockets the highest score will be the one who kept the board engaged pleasantly. Instead of sorting them based on scores, a reverse sorting based negative traits perhaps helps in discarding the harmful ones.

Interviews for promotion to junior level officers

Compared to interviews for recruitment, promotion interviews focus on the following:

• Whether candidates carry out tasks knowledgeably? 
• Are they able to align their thoughts with the organisation’s policies?
• Are they aware of the organisation network or structure and who’s who in the organisation?

If the officers have a penchant for knowledge, it makes them more successful with work. Cracks develop in organisations if employees can’t see eye to eye with the management. This is important as can be understood from the popular Panchatantra story of pigeons that escaped from a hunter by all of them flying together with the snare. The leader pigeons advise on that occasion -“Death befalls those of disunited purpose. Union is indeed strength”, has the same meaning as the hunter’s thought after seeing them fly together: “So long as the birds agree, their purpose will be served” 

Another important factor is the immaturity in handling organisation affairs. Some employees continue to be immature despite putting up many years of service. IT companies adopt CMM (Capability Maturity Model), a method of evaluation of maturity or evolution of organisations. A practice in PSBs commonly found is the sympathy shown by employees to appease clients disrespecting the policies of the organisation. This cannot be appreciated. In order to detect such immaturity in the candidates, provoking questions are put to candidates:

“A valuable customer is in urgent need of help, but the bank does not have a scheme or rules do not allow it, what will you do? “

Interviews for promotion to senior management level

A fact to be considered here is the change in the style of functioning at senior level. Upon promotion, the candidates will have to adapt to work from the remote or in secluded cabins etc. They may not be able to interact directly with their frontline staff. A lot of their judgment depends upon their perception, logic and reasoning. Questions such the following are put to test their ability:

“What’s your view on that incident?”

Secondly, they have to be ready to become an organisation person rather than an individual performer. Their answers visibly demonstrate the willingness to shoulder responsibility for actions of others. Those with accusing fingers face disqualification. Here are a few provoking questions:

“So, promptly you sent your views to seniors. Then, what other steps have you taken?

“Do you think you could have managed it alone better?”

Interviews for promotion to top management level

At junior level business with customers is direct, at senior level customers are indirectly served. At top level they are expected to serve the management whose business is to take care of customers through systems, policies, structure etc. The interview for promotion to the top level is to search for analysts, researchers, wizards, communicators and good paper managers.

Interviews are basically structured in the form of discussions on some relevant economic or banking topics. Board looks for clarity on concepts, mastery on the subject, keenness to adopt new ideas, potential to bring sweeping changes in profitability etc., in the candidates during the interaction. Those who are fluent in English language stand preferred. Admirations from above carry weight. The promotion is not based on performance (achieving targets etc).

Many banks miss this point and promote performers who continue with their senior level working style. By filling abundantly with ‘yes sir’ officials at top levels, such banks take the shape of an autocratic organisation where all work for One, the CEO. Despite taking in the best from universities, PSBs run bereft of intelligence and shrink with poor advisors. They become popular as institutions of sycophants and loyalists (chamchas) in the eyes of their own employees and public.

Interviews for selecting CEOs

At this level, interviews stress on the candidates’ knowledge about the organisation and their previous experience of managing large organisations, crises handling etc. A discussion on issues currently faced by the organisation and the candidate’s proposal for managing them takes place with the representatives of directors, regulators and management consultants.

The oratory skills of the candidates may hide their poor pragmatism. In the case of external candidates, adequate consideration has to be given for the candidates’ network with professionals and link with bureaucracy or else, initially they may face less cooperation or resistance from top officials. There will be situations when rank does not justify an appropriate candidate. A larger pool of eligible candidates may be necessary.

A larger pool of candidates can be made available if brilliant leaders among seniors are also considered (on re-appointment basis). That would fetch candidates in their forties. In fact, Canara Bank had a young chairman who demonstrated that a PSB can rise up to the challenges and compete well with others in the industry. (You can read more about this in my book- Banking India)

During the course of their career, many promising employees lose out at junior, senior and top level because of some adverse reports from their seniors. In my opinion, the interview boards can listen to those candidates patiently and recommend them based on their judgement. Usual questions put to candidates are:

“Any problem with your boss?” 

“Your performance is good. Doesn’t your inability to relate with colleagues bother you. What correcting steps have you taken?”

Perhaps a brief note can be issued by the interview board separately and examined by a team to bring back promising leaders. Good leaders can be poor subordinates. Many of those who had a flourishing career, are found to be thankful to their poor boss in their previous organisation.  I have heard about a probationer who could make a bank branch profitable in its very first year of operation. However, he missed his immediate promotion due to adverse CR (confidential reporting) by his (jealous) superior. He left the bank and flourished elsewhere.

Conclusion

CEOs of PSBs can bring gradual changes in many areas such as the one discussed here and in my earlier posts. By the way, those aspiring for a banking career must be ready to undergo changes according to the level of elevation. A Chief Manager at the age of 38 in a PSB was elevated to the position of a General Manager in four years by giving credit to sheer growth of business he managed. He was CM, AGM, DGM and GM in the same seat. This sordid tale of a PSB employee mired in politics is discussed as a case study in my book ‘Banking India’. The focus of interviews has to vary at various levels so that a large pool of leaders is available at the top and not just those who have accomplished business growth.