The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) has released the notification for the recruitment of Specialist Officer (SO) VIII 2018-19 today, October 26th. The recruitment will be conducted for 20 participating banks but the number of the vacancies will be determined later. The IBPS SO preliminary exam is scheduled for December 29th and 30th and the application process will begin on November 6th.

The IBPS SO notification states that the recruitment for Specialist Officer (SO) posts are for six different types of positions, including IT Officer, Agricultural Field Officer, Rajbhasha Adhikari, Law Officer, HR Personnel/Officer, and Marketing Officer. All the above positions are Scale I positions.

Candidates must be at least 20 years old to be eligible to apply. The maximum age limit for general candidates is 30 and candidates from reserved categories can check the notification for the relaxation they are eligible for. The minimum qualifications for various positions are also listed in the notification.

Candidates will have to go through three stages of recruitment. The preliminary exam, scheduled for December 29th and 30th, will short list candidates who will have to appear for Main exam, which is scheduled for January 27th, 2019. Candidates who clear the IBPS SO Main exam will be called for an interview before the final selection.

IBPS SO exam pattern

The preliminary exam will have 150 questions for 125 marks and can be given either in Hindi or English except the English language paper. The exam will test candidates on English Language (25 marks), Reasoning (50 marks), and General Awareness with special reference to Banking Industry/Quantitative Aptitude depending on the position (50 marks).

The last day to apply for the IBPS SO 2018-19 positions is November 26th. The call letter for the preliminary exam will be available in the month of December and the call letter for the Main exam will be issued in the month of January. The interview will be conducted in February of 2019 and final selection result should be issued in April of 2019.