Role Of Interview In Promotion

I am very happy that our Prime Minister Sri Narendra Modi has dispensed with system of interview in case of recruitment of class C and D employees. As a matter of fact, I would like to request our PM to dispense with all types of interviews which are taken for promotion of an officer from one scale to higher scale or from one cadre to higher cadre.

In case of recruitment, need of interview may appear necessary to some extent for recruitment of a candidate in officer cadre or in clerical cadre to check personality, communication skill, managerial skill, knowledge level and innovative and creative ideas which a candidate possesses before becoming a clerk or an officer . But once he or she is recruited as clerk or as an officer , say in bank, there is no need of taking interview for promoting him or her to higher level .

 Once an officer joins a bank , it becomes duty of bank management to prepare him for different role and post him in different departments as per his skill and potential. Bank can provide training to officers as per need. 

Best sales man is a person who can sell comb to a bald person. Similarly a good leader is a person who can influence all his subordinates and keep them all engaged  as per their potential to give maximum output with minimum manpower.  Only a bad carpenter quarrels with his tools. A school or college is considered good when it can convert a bad student to become a good student. 

In no case , any officer should be subjected to fraudulent process of interview which in fully arbitrary and based on whims of interview takers.

It is because the assessing officer gets several opportunity to assess the potential and performance of a candidate appearing or promotion during the course of his or her serving the organisation for several years and decades. An Interview panel cannot check the potential of an officer or a clerk in two or three minutes of interview when he or she could not be tested and attested in his service for years and decades.

It is an undeniable bitter truth that system of interview gives ample opportunity to top officials to use his whims and fancies to select or reject a candidate in promotion process . Normally marks allotted to interview parameter are so much that they can nullify the high marks obtained by a candidate in other parameters like Annual Performance Appraisal Reports (AAPR) or Educational qualification or experience. Normally majority of candidates appearing for promotion from one scale to higher scale in a bank has got equal base of marks which comes after adding marks of other parameters. This is why importance of marks obtained in Interview become more significant and prominent.

It is therefore an open secret , that as soon as process of interview starts in banks for promoting officers from one scale to officer  , officers who and candidate for the process and who are inefficient or corrupt start searching powerful higher officers or other VIPS. It is weak and inefficient officers only  who apply various powerful sources to influence members of interview panel. Many candidates offers gifts in cash or in kind to interview panel members if it is needed . If CBI is entrusted the duty to investigate result of interview or tape phones of all executives, it will become crystal clear that Interview process has been used by top executives to make or  mar career of officers totally in arbitrary and whimsical manner.

In this way bad officers are selected and good officers are rejected. Bad officers have therefore grown in number at all level and it is they who promotes and irrigates the culture of flattery and bribery. And it is undoubtedly a fact that the key reason for poor health of banks is bad working culture . It is due to culture of flattery and bribery promoted by top officers that quality is adversely affected at all levels.. Officers think it safe and profitable to serve their bosses than to their organisation. This happens in all government offices. It is also a fact that majority of officers who reach at top position are product of evil culture and they continue to water it and nourish this Yesman Culture.

Similarly system of annual appraisal in banks is absolutely ineffective and does not reflect true potential and actual quality of an officer. Mostly these reports are biased and written or submitted in very casual manner . Majority of officers get marks 80 and above out of 100. It is ironical and ridiculous too that even officers who write appraisal reports or review them are not talented enough to understand its impact and its connection with ground reality. Perception of higher bosses decides the fate of an officer. Performance of an officer become futile in practice. Bosses normally write APAR depending upon their preferences and perceptions about a candidate. 


Some of bosses like purely flattery , some of them like late sitting , some like growth in business, some prefer profit and some of them have some other inclinations before allotting marks to a subordinate in his AAPR.

In an atmosphere where flattery to bosses is more important for making of bright career in a bank, Bank officers do not take care of quality of service or quality of lending when they sanction loans but they definitely take care of higher bosses or politicians who help them in earning illegal money and who help them in getting quick promotion. Officers who aspire to get promotion prefer worshipping bosses than safeguarding asses of the bank.

For last three decades , PSU banks have merit oriented promotion policy in force to promote officers from one scale to other , but in practice only and mostly officers who are true flatterers , who are hard core yesman to bosses, who earn bribe and share with bosses are selected for promotion. This has resulted in unabated erosion in quality of service and quality of bank's assets .

Some banks prefer recruiting officers from campus to give favour to their kith and kin and to friends and relatives. These directly recruited officers in higher scale at the cost of officers of long experienced senior officers  give rise to frustration to seniors .
This has resulted in continuous deterioration of quality of service, quality of lending and quality of assets inn PSU banks.

To add fuel to fire, politicians use banks for vote bank . Administrative officers and legal officers work  normally to support defaulting borrowers. This is why lacs of cases filed by banks against various courts and DRTs remain undecided for years and decades .And even decrees passed by courts remain unexecuted because of corruption laden administrative and legal machineries.

I therefore suggest our Prime Minister Mr. Modi  to immediately dispense with interview system and introduce seniority based promotion at all levels . Those who work hard may be awarded with other incentives and those who do not perform may be punished by causing them financial loss or posting them at insignificant places. It is essential to stop punishing experienced officers in the name of merit .

It is the duty of bank management to promote all and give them an opportunity to serve the bank. It is not at all wise to give option to candidate to apply or not to apply for promotion. I may add here without hesitation that majority of good officers do not apply for promotion only because they know that only officers who are in good book of bosses will be promoted. Proximity of top bosses play vital role in promotion than real performance in field level.

It is possible only in banks that some employees do not get promotion even in three decades or four decades of serviced and on the other hand some of them get three to five promotion in 10 to 15 years. Good officers are in stagnation and officers without much experience on banking have reached top level. This fatal discrimination with seniors is one of main reasons for poor health of banks.