1.

1 Introduction:

The recruitment and selection processes of an organization are two of its most important HR
planning activities. The basic purpose of recruiting is to ensure a sufficient pool of applicants
from which the most qualified individuals may be selected. Effective recruiting is important
because sufficient number of qualified applicants is needed to ensure that selection can be
successfully accomplished.

1.2 Prime Bank Limited at a Glance:

Prime Bank was established in April 1995 by a group of visionary entrepreneurs. Known for
its superior service quality, brand image, strong corporate governance and a corporate culture
committed to excellence, Prime Bank is a top-tier bank in Bangladesh.

1.3 Organizational Profile:

In the backdrop of economic liberalization and financial sector reforms, a group of highly
successful local entrepreneurs conceived an idea of starting a commercial bank with a
different outlook. For them, it was competence, excellence and consistent delivery of reliable
service with superior value products. Accordingly, Prime Bank Ltd. was created and
commencement of business started on 17th April 1995. The sponsors are reputed personalities
in the field of trade and commerce and their stake ranges from shipping to textile and finance
to energy etc.
The Prime Bank Limited, being a banking company, has been registered under the
Companies Act 1994. The Bank operates as a scheduled bank under a banking license issued
by Bangladesh Bank, the Central Bank of the country.
As a fully licensed commercial bank, Prime Bank Ltd. is being managed by a highly
professional and dedicated team with long experience in banking. They constantly focus on
understanding and anticipating customer needs. As the banking scenario undergoes changes,
so does the bank and it repositions itself in the changed market condition.

Prime Bank Ltd. has already made significant progress within a very short period of its
existence. The bank has been graded as a top class bank in the country through
internationally accepted CAMELS rating. The bank has already occupied an enviable
position among its competitors after achieving success in all areas of business operation.

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Prime Bank Ltd., since its beginning has attached more importance in technology integration.
In order to retain competitive edge, investment in technology is always a top agenda and
under constant focus. Keeping the network within a reasonable limit, their strategy is to serve
the customers through capacity building across multi-delivery channels. Their past
performance gives an indication of their strength. They are better placed and poised to take
their customers through fast changing times and enable them to compete more effectively in
the market they operate in.

1.4 Core Business:

Prime Bank Ltd. offers all kinds of Commercial, Corporate and Personal Banking services
covering all segments of society within the framework of Banking Company Act and rules
and regulations laid down by our central bank (Bangladesh Bank). The Prime Bank Group
focuses on a wide range of banking and financial services which include commercial
banking, retail and SME asset management, Islamic banking, investment banking, merchant
banking and card business. Prime Bank is a market leader in corporate to consumer banking
and retail lending to SME in Bangladesh
1.5 Corporate Banking:
Prime Bank ranked 15th in Bangladesh by market capitalization, which stood at Tk. 15,349
million as at the end of 2011. It has been ranked as the 4 th company as per performance by
DSE-20 Index. The Prime Bank Group is the second largest banking group in Bangladesh by
asset size, with total assets of Tk. 136,869 million. The Bank’s deposits and lending growth
were 24.83 % and 30.29 % respectively in 2010.
1.6 Branch Network
The Prime Bank Group has a large and well distributed branch network of 70 fully fledged
branches and 3 off-shore banking unit, 5 SME centers and booths in Bangladesh with a
strong tradition of service excellence. Among the existing branches of Prime Bank Limited,
there are 47 branches in Dhaka division, 21 branches in Chittagong division, 8 branches in
Rajshahi division, 2 branches in Khulna division, 11 branches in Sylhet division and 1
branch in Barisal division. The bank has also made its presence in Singapore through its fully
owned subsidiary Prime Exchange Co. Pte. Ltd. for facilitating inward foreign remittance to
Bangladesh. Eleven new branches have been proposed and are supposed to open by the end
of 2010. It has presence in Capital market through merchant banking and investment
banking.

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1.7 Awards and Accolades:

Prime Bank continues to earn recognition and trust for its strong and sustained financial
performance and product management. In 2008, Prime Bank was honored of 1 st prize under
ICAB National Award 2009 for its published account for the year 2008 in banking sub-
sector under financial sector. PBL become the 1 st Bangladesh Institution to Receive
1st position by SAFA in 2009 for its published report of 2008. PBL also received 1 st position
in ICMAB best Corporate Governance Award in 2009.

1.8 PBL’s Vision:

“To be the best Private Commercial Bank in Bangladesh in terms of efficiency, capital
adequacy, asset quality, sound management and profitability having strong liquidity.”
It has almost all the characteristics of the effectively worded vision statement, like it is
graphic, directional, focused, feasible and desirable.
1.9 PBL’s Mission:
“To build Prime Bank Limited into an efficient, market driven, customer focused institution
with good corporate governance structure. Continuous improvement in our business policies,
procedure and efficiency through integration of technology at all levels.”
1.10 Objectives of the Bank:
The objective of Prime Bank Limited (PBL) is specific and targeted to its vision and to
position itself in the mindset of the people as ‘a bank with difference’. The objectives of PBL
are as follows:
 To mobilize the savings and channeling it out as loan or advance as the company
approve.

 To establish, maintain, carry on, transact and undertake all kinds of investment and
financial business including underwriting, managing and distributing the issue of
stocks, debentures, and other securities.

 To finance the international trade both in import and export.

 To carry on the foreign exchange business, including buying and selling of foreign
currency, traveler’s cheques issuing, international credit card issuance etc.

 To develop the standard of living of the limited income group by providing Consumer
Credit.

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  To finance the industry, trade and commerce in both the conventional way and by
offering customer friendly credit service.

 To encourage the new entrepreneurs for investment and thus to develop the country’s
industry sector and contribute to the economic development.

1.11 Business Activities of Prime Bank Limited:

The principal activities of the bank are banking and related businesses. The banking
businesses include taking deposits, extending credit to corporate organizations, retail and
small & medium enterprises, trade financing, project financing, international credit card etc.
Prime Bank Limited provides a full range of products and services to its customers, some of
which are mentioned below with a brief overview of the major business activities
1.12 The Recruitment and Selection Process of PBL
To know the future demand of human resources, the HR division of PBL usually provides all
the other divisions and branches with a general form at the beginning of the year. From the
information collected from these forms, the HR division gets an estimate of the human
resource requirement for the year. No long term human resource forecasting is done in PBL.
The following table illustrates the number of branches of the bank and manpower in different
years:

Year No. of Branches No. of Employees

1996 10 239
1997 14 305
1998 18 362
1999 20 452
2000 21 518
2001 26 613
2002 27 730
2003 30 777
2004 36 894
2005 41 1024
2006 50 1172
2007 61 1400

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 2008 70 1551
2009 80 1639
2010 84 1844
2011 86 1978
2012 (up to the end 90 2158
of May)
Table 3: Manpower of PBL in different years Source 3: Primary

From these data, manpower may be estimated through regression analysis (such an analysis
is provided in Appendix B).

The recruitment goals of Prime Bank Limited (PBL) are to attract and retain highly qualified
human resources who will perform best in their respective areas. The bank not only tries to
attract well-qualified candidates but also tries to identify and recruit people who are really
interested to work in the bank for an acceptable period of time.

1.13 The recruitment philosophy of PBL is as follows:

 PBL usually promotes from within the organizations, but when the need arises, the
bank also hires from outside for vacancies at all levels.

 PBL always emphasizes on hiring for a long period of time. The bank tries to attract
and select those candidates who will move through the organizational hierarchy to the
senior level positions in the future.

 PBL has developed a corporate culture where employees are not treated as mere
employees. They are treated as associates of the bank. Together, they form a family
and all associates are the members of the family.

1.14 Types of Recruitment

PBL practices two types of recruitment
 Yearly recruitment: this is done each year, according to the HR plan

 Need-based recruitments: this is done when there is a sudden vacancy

1.15 Recruitment Sources and Methods:

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 PBL usually promotes from within the organization. But it also recruits from external
sources. The external sources are:
 Different universities
 Competitors and other organizations
 Unsolicited applicants
Campus recruiting will be handled by the HR Division and the overall planning for this will
be done based on the Annual Manpower Plan. However, the respective business
department/function requiring the profiles should have the responsibility and mandate to
short-list the campus-based candidates. The skill base generally recruited through this route
will be entry level positions. Therefore, the plan for campus recruitment will have to tie up
with the placement season of various universities that are targeted for recruitment. The HR
Division needs to identify a set of campuses based on the courses conducted there, any past
experience of candidates from these campuses and the emerging requirements of the bank.

The HR Division will need to take a decision regarding the source of external recruiting
considering variables like –

 Available spread of candidates

 Cost impact

 Time needed

And the external recruitment methods include:

 Advertising in newspapers, company website etc.

 Employee referrals

 Internships

1.16 Characteristics to Look for in Different Stages of Recruitment:

In different steps of recruitment, the following characteristics should be looked for:

Techniques used to Characteristics to look for

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gather data

Preliminary screening Age, academic qualifications and performance record

Critical analysis test Meets minimum standards of mental alertness

In-depth interview Necessary innate ability, ambition, loyalty and interaction skills

Verifying biographical No unfavorable negative reports on past performance

data from references

Personal judgment Overall competence and ability to fit into the job position and the organization

1.17 Recruitment Procedure:

The success of a commercial Bank depends largely on the quality of services rendered to the
clients. Quality depends on the competence and the quality of the Officers and Executives.
Prime Bank Limited believes in paying competitive salary and emoluments to its employees
and to get maximum services out of them. Therefore, the authority of the Bank has to be
careful in recruiting the right person for the right job.

It should be the duty of the Managing Director along with the top Management to analyze the
manpower requirement of the organization every year and fix up the number of Officers,
Executives and other employees of each category required for effective operations of the
Bank. The Board of Directors on the recommendation of the Management will be the
supreme authority to sanction or to create additional post. Creation of a post implies
commitment of fund for about thirty years.

Therefore, it is the responsibility of the management to examine the work load and do the job
analysis work and to look into the real requirement of employees under various categories
and to see whether an additional hand is really necessary.

Prime Bank must recognize the importance of manpower estimation and accordingly an
organogram should be prepared for Head Office and for each Division & Branch. The
organogram shall however, not be rigid, the Board may review and revise the organogram as
may be considered necessary from time to time. Recruitment will be made to fill up the
vacant posts as and when required by the competent authority as per power delegated by the
Board.

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1.18 Recruitment Category:
Recruitment to be made for the required post, which has to be determined & approved by the
Board at the beginning of each year, either through inviting application from prospective
candidates or through talent hunting.

1.19 Flowchart of MT Selection Procedures against Press Advertisement:

The Human Resources Division will handle all matters relating to recruitment and selection
as staff function. The following steps maybe followed for systematizing the selection
procedure in case of selection through press advertisement:
The same process will be followed in case of other recruitments beside MT. However, when
in urgent need, the bank may recruit employees without the process of press advertisements.

1.20 Selection Process:

The different steps if the selection process is described below in detail:
1.20.1 Receipt of Applications

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This is the first selection hurdle to join PBL. Candidates either send their CVs in application
for a specific vacancy, or they send unsolicited CVs for any suitable position. The HR
division collects job applications against each job vacancy. In case of newspaper
advertisements, the applicants are given at least 3 weeks to apply. After a specific period,
each and every job is closed for applying.
1.20.2 Sorting out of Applications:
The next step is the short listing of CVs. Usually the HR division is engaged in the short
listing. But the HR division may delegate this step to the respective divisions (for which the
selection is being carried out) to save time. To recruit experienced bankers, CVs may be
sorted out from the collection of unsolicited CVs received. Or, another possibility is to find
out experienced and competent bankers in other banks. Once potential candidates are thus
found out, they are contacted and called for an interview.
1.20.3 Informing Candidates
After the applications are sorted out and a preliminary list is prepared, the candidates are
informed and are called for a written exam (for entry level positions) or an interview (for
experienced banker for mid level or senior level positions). For written tests, the bank issues
admit cards through courier services seven to ten days prior to the exam.
1.20.4 Written Tests:
The employment test is generally an aptitude test which measures the candidates’ verbal
ability, numerical ability, reasoning ability etc. The HR division contacts IBA/BIBM to
design and conduct the recruitment tests on behalf of the bank. The HR division provides
them with the desired academic qualification and the name of the vacant posts to construct
the question paper for the test.
1.20.5 Interview:
The interviews that are conducted are panel interviews and not structured. The interview
board consists of the MD, DMD and the Head of HR. Even in the selection of fresh graduates
for TA or MT positions, those top level and executive level managers are present. Usually
only one interview is conducted for selecting a candidate for a position. But in case of
recruiting experienced bankers, sometimes more than one interview is conducted.

1.20.6 Final Approval by Competent Authority:

After the interview is conducted and the interviewees are evaluated, the management
committee decides who is to be selected and who is to be rejected. After this final decision,

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an ‘Offer Letter’ is made for each selected candidate. Once the candidates accept this offer,
they are given the ‘Appointment Letter’. The candidates that are rejected are not informed.
1.20.7 Physical Examination:
After the appointment letters are printed, the candidates are given one month for joining.
First, the candidates have to go through physical examinations. If the result of these physical
examinations is satisfactory, then the candidate is eligible to join the ban
1.20.8 Joining and Placement:
After the physical examination, the candidate needs to bring the result of the medical tests
along with all the necessary documents and academic certificates for joining. After going
through the formal joining and placement process, the candidates are finally employees of
Prime Bank Limited.
1.21 An Overview of Prime Bank HR Training and Development Centre:
The challenges associated with the changing nature of work and working environment are as
real for Prime Bank Ltd. as compared to others in elsewhere. The technological Development
and new policies / frameworks need a skilled and knowledgeable workforce who are
adaptive, flexible and focused on the goal of the Bank. They believe and take all out efforts to
encourage growth and career Development of the employees by coaching and helping them
to achieve both their personal and professional goals at Prime Bank and beyond.
They also believe that employee Development requires a shared responsibility among the
Bank Management, all Heads of Branches, Divisions, Departments, Units, Cells and
employees themselves. New concepts, issues received if any from Central Bank is also be
taken into account and impart these among the employees.
In Prime Bank, Human Resources (HR) Division regularly undertakes effectively designed
training programs targeting the right group of employees through proper training need
assessment. Prime Bank believes that continuous efforts should be given so that employees
acquire and develop the right set of skills required to face the challenge of ever changing
market. In Prime Bank, the employee development plan is based on proper training need
assessment.
In 2018, Prime Bank’s internal HR Training and Development Centre arranged training on 62
different topics for 4,370 enthusiastic participants. Besides, a total of 644 employees were
sent to participate in various training programs/conferences in home and abroad. In total, the
number of participants who participated in trainings/conferences has increased by 48% over
the last year.

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  The whole capacity building efforts is pivoted on the unique understanding of banking
sector as well as required behavioral skills to create a group of competent
professionals with strong leadership skill. The banking sector is complex and diverse
with evolving nature of threats and the risks. So, the training module is updated time
to time for employees of the Bank in the changing context of financial market.
1.21.1 Objectives of The Training &Development Plan:
 To encourage growth and career Development of all employees of the Bank
 To improve the Bank’s effectiveness by providing employees Development on job
related Knowledge, Skills and Attitude.
 To meet the needs of Bank’s business while simultaneously responding to the needs
of individual employee’s Development
 To prepare and make ready the workforce to comply with the new changes in the
national and global banking business.
 To create an outstanding professional image within the banking industry by
developing our workforce through need based training associated with future
requirement.

HR Training & Development Center took all out efforts to encourage growth and career
development of the employees by training, workshop, seminar, coaching etc. and also send
employees abroad on burning issue of the age. Employees are also sending to Bangladesh
Bank Training Academy (BIBM) by helping them to achieve both their personal and
professional goals at Prime Bank and beyond. HR Operations maintain a close link with the
training and development center in order to produce a synergistic end result that would help
inculcate professional excellence of the employees.
1.21.2 Importance of Human Resource Training & Development:
 The HR training & development ensures the concept of TQM- total quality
Management.
 This Department ensures EEO- Equal Employment Opportunity.
 This department manages the training system for the new recruited employees, weak
employee and if any new technology or theory is adopted.
 Also looks after taking care of employee’s compensation & benefits.
 Serves with latest & best modules and topics of training giving importance to the
changing technology & newly adopted methods in the organization.
 Helps to increase KSAOs of t. e employees.

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  This department looks after the performance appraisal, promotion, and transfer.
 Establish and maintain chain of command & management hierarchy.
 This department tries to improve the motivational level of employee.
 To establish all kinds of acts regarding employee, organization etc.
 To improve the employees’ skills.
 To establish and ensure proper organizational behavior and environment.
 Mainly it enables the employees to become efficient & achieve the desired stage.

1.22 Business Performance of Prime Bank Limited:

In 2018 we made significant progress in transforming ourselves to become the ‘compliant’
bank for regulators and customers. During 2018 the macroeconomic environment remained
challenging – economic contraction, unemployment and political and regulatory uncertainty
impacted both us and our competitors. Against these continued its growth momentum despite
challenges in the banking sector, and stayed alongside of industry average growth rates in
business volumes and the underlying streams of revenue. The profit after tax has increased by
30.80 percent and return on assets by 26.31 percent during 2018. Total assets grew by 4.53
percent to BDT 254,912 million with investments showing 27.58 percent growth. Deposits
grew by 1.45 percent to BDT 204,838 million during 2018. Prime Bank contained the rise in
NPLs through constant monitoring and focused recovery efforts, closing the year with an
NPL ratio of 7.61 percent as against an industry average of 9.69 percent. Interest spread and
commission came under pressure in the wake of a declining interest rate regime which saw
assets being re-priced faster than the liabilities. However, our Bank’s cost of deposit has
come down to 7.36 percent (2017: 8.80 percent). Moving forward, we expect interest rates to
be stable in 2018 and provide the impetus for a higher credit growth. As we head into 2015,
many commercial projects that were not previously deemed financially viable could gain new
life in this more favorable interest rate environment and non performing situation may
improve. Even though our margins will be leaner, it would be compensated through growth in
volume and improved asset quality with borrowers finding their credit obligations more
affordable. Remittance growth started gaining momentum and became positive in the second
half of 2018. The growth in remittance was 10.30 percent during 2018.

1.23 Compensation, Pay & Benefits:

The Bank is committed to follow a fair, competitive and flexible remuneration policy. The
Board is the final authority for approval of this policy and will amend and review the policy

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on recommendation of the Managing Director / Management Committee periodically. The
remuneration policy of the bank will cover all persons engaged in permanent service of the
bank.
The different job grades at BRAC Bank are as follows:
 Deputy Managing Director
 Executive Vice President
 Senior Vice President
 Vice President
 Senior Assistant Vice President
 First Assistant Vice President
 Assistant Vice President
 Senior Principal Officer
 Principal Officer
 Senior Officer
 Management Trainee Officer (Direct Recruit)
 Officer Grade II
 Officer Grade I
The Salary structure of the Bank is based on the aforementioned Job Grades. Job grades are
decided on the basis of an analytic assessment of the position based on the size,
responsibilities, decision-making authorities and the nature of the job.

1.23.1 Compensation Systems of Prime Bank Ltd

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1.23.2 The remuneration of employees consists of:
 Basic Salary
 House Rent and
 Medical Allowance
Salaries are confidential between the employees concerned and the Management. The salary
ranges for these job grades are reviewed from time to time. HR Temporary & outsource staff
do not have any assigned job grade. The contracts get a consolidated payment per month and
there are no other entitlements applicable except commission based on job criteria.
1.23.3 Performance Bonus (PB) ;( once a year):
The Board of Directors at its discretion, based on the Bank’s profit will declare a certain
percentage of the pre-tax profit as Performance Bonus. The contribution measurement will be
coming from the Performance Matters. Performance Matters for such purpose shall be made
on the criteria set by the management from time to time. Amount of Performance Bonus will
be 3% based on net profit after tax and method of distribution will be based at Management
discretion No bonus will be applicable to the employees rating marginal & unsatisfactory.
Final Evaluation will be decided by the MANCOM for the entire bank after going through a
rating‟ process to ensure that a consensus is reached for the entire bank.
1.23.4 Leave Fare assistance (LFA); (once a year):

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Leave Fare Assistance is a non-recurring benefit for all the permanent employees of the Bank
who have completed at least one year service. According to Bangladesh Bank policy all the
permanent employees have to take 15 days mandatory leave in one go and LFA will give in
this leave period, so that everyone will be encouraged to avail the leave. The Board has
approved the LFA in its 92nd Meeting. Prime Bank provides Leave Fare Assistance to its
Employees to ensure that the employees enjoy a sound mandatory leave of 15 days in one go.
This will definitely enhance the employees‟ satisfaction and it will enhance competitiveness
with peer organization in the industry. Every Confirmed Employee is entitled to receive LFA
only once in a year. If any staff fails to go to mandatory leave his/her LFA will not be carried
forward. That means in a calendar year only one LFA will be given to the staff.
1. Telephone policy:
2. Hospitalization Insurance:
3. Travel allowance:
a. On officially assigned tour
b. To give evidence in a court of law
c. On transfer
d. On compulsory recall from leave
e. To appear at a departmental/professional examination as authorized by the
competent authority
f. To attend a course of training sponsored by the Bank
g. To bear the cost of travel of deceased employee
4. House Building loan:
5. Termination Benefit:
6. Suspension Benefit:
1.24 Performance Appraisal System of Prime Bank Limited
Prime Bank rehearses execution examination to assess their worker's execution. They utilize
quantifiable criteria for assessing their representatives. The center reason for PRIME BANK
LTD's execution evaluation is to advance or increment compensation of their representatives
whose execution is better contrasting with different workers. By denoting the worker's office
going to time, relational aptitude, work area watch execution, business execution and so on of
Prime Bank Limited's Performance examination Systems. It occurs on-yearly premise. It
serves to:
 Align worker destinations to the business objectives. Empower vital Performance
Management through Management by Objectives (MBO)

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  Measure and Assess worker execution intermittently and give input and support to
accomplish quantitative, subjective and process targets
 Evaluate and track Hi-Performance and achievers in light of Competency driven
rehearses
 Empower Reward and Recognition
The assessment is finished by the directors of the specific representatives. The assessment
sheet ought to be marked by the both manager and the worker. On the off chance that the
worker is happy with his assessment then the boss signs and offers it to the HR division. In
any case, if the representative isn't happy with the assessment then he signs in the wake of
composing on the assessment sheet that he doesn't concur. In addition, administrators are
permitted to impart the examination data to the workers by sending them the filled
assessment sheet.
1.24.1 Process of Performance Appraisal

Associate

Supervisor

Reviewer

Associate

Accept Reject

HR Department

The Prime Bank Ltd. follows this Performance Appraisal Process. First of all it starts from
the associate then it goes to the supervisor. Then the supervisor gives it to the reviewer to see
it properly whether their happened any kind problem or this is correct. Then it again sends to
their associate. Then he accepts it or reject it. It is rejected it goes to the HR Department to
see the process again.

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Conclusion
The success of a commercial bank depends largely in the quality of service rendered to the
clients. Quality of service depends on the competence and the quality of the employees of the
organization. Therefore, the authority of PBL has to be careful in recruiting the right person
for each job. As has been seen, the recruitment and selection process of PBL has rooms for
improvement. The policy and process should be revised. So although the process they have
been adopting so far has been somewhat effective, to adapt to the changing times, the process
should be revised and streamlined.
The Prime Bank Ltd. furthermore keeps up a standard of worker treatment, both in
administration and non-administration areas and has an all-around resourced HR division.
The diverse units perform separately and incorporate their as each unit in HR workers leaded
by the Talent Manager. The HR units administrator work amicably under the lead of a HR
head, who specifically answer to the head working officer and are effectively running for a
considerable length of time, it has been to keep up a nonstop development of associations and
representatives. In spite of the fact that they have various insufficiency. They rehearse a
standout amongst the best execution examination framework in the business of bank which
made a worker agreeable working environment as well as a standard to work.

Reference:

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1. Concept of Human Resource Management. Retrieved from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_resource_management
2. Definition of Human Resource Management. Retrieved from:
https://searchhrsoftware.techtarget.com/definition/hunman-resource-management-HRM
3. Human Resource Management. Retrieved from:
https://www.inc.com/encyclopedia/human-resource-management.html
4. Prime Bank Ltd. Retrieved from:
https://www.assignmentpoint.com/business/management/performance-appraisal-system-
bank-asia-2.html

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