The banking sector is one of the most stable pathways for an office career in India, especially if the position is with a government bank or financial institution. If you're such an aspirant, then the first point of call for you would be to clear standard recruitment papers for entry-level positions. Many financial institutions either conduct these exams themselves or through autonomous bodies. The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) is one such autonomous body. In this article, we specifically refer to the IBPS RRB Office Assistant exam which recruits graduates for clerk positions in regional rural banks.

The IBPS recruits entry-level candidates for 52 affiliated rural banks and other affiliated financial institutions. For this, it conducts specific exams like the IBPS PO, IBPS RRB PO, IBPS RRB Office Assistant (or clerk) and IBPS PO for official positions at different levels. 

Here we have covered the entire IBPS RRB Office Assistant Exam Guide - the exam date, eligibility criteria, total vacancies, the application process, admit cards, salary structure, selection process, exam syllabus, exam patterns and cut-offs.

Overview of IBPS RRB Office Assistant Exam:

This exercise for regional rural banks has a clear focus; it aims to find, recruit and bring up office assistants for bank vacancies in rural areas. They do this by finding candidates who can communicate in English and the local language, know financial basics and can learn the processes for their daily work.  

As these positions form the primary administrative workforce, the government announces them well in time. Chances for an IBPS RRB Office Assistant position are high - depending on vacancies for each region and institution and your overall scores.

So, how do you make the cut? While we will look at eligibility criteria in detail later, the broad criteria are three-fold - graduation with 50% marks, a firm grasp of the language and essential awareness for numerical, reasoning and quantitative ability and computer know-how. 

IBPS RRB Office Assistant exam date:

The IBPS RRB Office Assistant exam was postponed. The new official dates for the exam are as follows:

For preliminary exams - 12,13,19,20,26 September 2020.

For mains exams - 31 October 2020.

As this is a non-officer position, there is no round for personal interview.

IBPS RRB Office Assistant vacancies and salary structure:

The June advertisement is generally a comprehensive letter, with a breakdown of the confirmed vacancies for the given year, the selection process, documentation and other details. Till now, we estimate the total IBPS RRB Office Assistants to be around 4000.

The salary structure for a clerical position for a probationary officer in this profile is as follows:

Basic Pay - Rs 7,200 - Rs 19,300

Pay Scale: 7200-(400/3)-8400-(500/3)-9900-(600/4)-12300-(700/7)-17200-(1300/1)-18500-(800/1)-19300

There is a 100% dearness allowance for all office assistants.

IBPS RRB Office Assistant eligibility criteria:

The eligibility criteria cover areas like education, age and language. When we consider these factors in detail, we see the following as: 

Age criteria:

Office Assistant (multi-purpose) - 18-28 years

So, candidates who were born between July 2, 1989, and July 1, 1999, can apply.

Beyond this, candidates applying for these clerical positions can opt for certain age relaxations, according to their socioeconomic backgrounds. These include:

1. SC/ST candidates get an age relaxation of 5 years.
2. OBC candidates get an age relaxation of 3 years.
3. PWD personnel get an age relaxation of 10 years.
4. Ex-servicemen and disabled ex-servicemen get ta relaxation for their active-duty years + 3 years. The maximum age limit in such a clause is for 50 years.
5. Widows divorced women and legally separated women get an age relaxation for nine years.
6. People affected by the 1984 riots can avail for age relaxation for five years.

Educational qualifications:

The minimum age qualifications for these positions are a bachelor's degree with 50% aggregate marks. 

Language proficiency:

The clerical positions also require basic language proficiency in the local language for the specific area for these vacancies. These could be Hindi, or Telugu, Gujarati or any other regional language.

The IBPS RRB Office Assistant Application Process:

The IBPS RRB Office Assistant exams hold an online application process, which begins after the official IBPS RRB Office Assistant Notification released. This process window lasts for a month.

1. For this application process, interested candidates need to visit the official website: https://www.ibps.in, click through to IBPS' CRP for RRBs and choose the link for CRB-RRBs-Office assistant. 

1. After this, fill your necessary details on the registration page and submit the application fee (Rs 600 for the general populace and Rs 100 for SC/ST/OBC candidates). 

1. After this, the candidate gets a glimpse of their provisional registration number and password on the screen (it will also come via SMS and on email). You must make a note of these details, record these details for your reference, till you receive your admit card.

1. Usually, the organization releases admit cards for prelims and mains depending on the schedule. The IBPS begins this process after whetting the applications which come in, weeding out incomplete or incorrect entries. These are mailed nearer to the requisite examinations. 

IBPS RRB Office Assistant Selection Criteria:

The selection criteria of the post depends on the following:

1. Qualifying standards at the application stage
2. Exam cut-offs for preliminaries
3. Exam cut-offs for mains exams

IBPS RRB Office Assistant Exam Syllabus, patterns and cut-offs:

An aspiring candidate for the IBPS RRB Office Assistant exam needs to clear two stages : prelims and mains. They are no shortlisting interviews for these non-officer grade postings.

If we dig deeper, each of these exams carries subject-oriented exercises—for instance, the Prelims tests one's reasoning ability and numerical ability. For mains, subjects like general awareness, Hindi/ English language and computer awareness are asked in the exam.

Next, let's look at the maximum marks you can obtain for these recruitment exams. Candidates who are trying to clear the exam should know that while cut-offs are a minimum 12-15 marks in 40-mark papers, a reasonable attempt would be to target 28-32 marks in 40-mark evaluations at the prelims and mains exercises. 

So, as you sit up and prepare for these exams, do so with a clear focus to succeed. You will make it there in no time. Candidates should make a clear IBPS RRB Assisant Officer Preparation Strategy to prepare well for the exam.

Good luck to all the aspirants!