What does a Personal Banker do exactly? How is it different from a Teller?

I had a phone interview with the recruiter today (that I don't feel went well) and am trying to be more prepared if I actually get a second interview. I have tons of experience in sales and management but none in banking. The job description is very vague and says, "to discover their financial needs and provide product and service recommendations." but it doesn't say what those products ARE. In other words do you sell everything from checking to savings to mortgages or do you focus mostly on specific products? From reading the posts on here I saw where checking and credit cards were mentioned so that also makes me confuse the position with that of a Tellers? Sorry! I'm trying to make a career change here so I'm a bit naive on all this. I would appreciate any information you can provide. Thanks!

jobhunting in Owensboro, Kentucky said: I had a phone interview with the recruiter today (that I don't feel went well) and am trying to be more prepared if I actually get a second interview. I have tons of experience in sales and management but none in banking. The job description is very vague and says, "to discover their financial needs and provide product and service recommendations." but it doesn't say what those products ARE. In other words do you sell everything from checking to savings to mortgages or do you focus mostly on specific products? From reading the posts on here I saw where checking and credit cards were mentioned so that also makes me confuse the position with that of a Tellers? Sorry! I'm trying to make a career change here so I'm a bit naive on all this. I would appreciate any information you can provide. Thanks!

I hope your interview went well and that you got the job. Basically, a personal banker is the person that sets you up for credit cards, checking accounts, savings accounts, Loan applications, Direct Deposit(at some banks) and onlines banking(some banks). The tellers merely suggest various items and get a sale for the referral. However, lets say someone comes into a bank and wants to open a savings account, it is the responsibility of the personal banker to understand their financial needs, wants and goals and to get them into as many bank products as possible. Anything is fair game as far as sales is concerned except like Mortgage loans, those are usually handled by a Mortgage Loan Officer. The Personal Banker Role is usually a step above a Teller, again, depending on the bank. They are not considered a Management team member at most banks and usually only pay around 30K per year base, but you could potentially double your income with commission depending on how well you and your branch does(lots of foot traffic means lots of opportunity and less time spend cold calling customers).

I was searching for Personal Banker role in Ohio as (also have been an Asst Manager)and was not surprised to see role is similar for most banks and states.

In Ohio both First Merit and Huntington have grown this role however I would caution that in Cleveland area First Merit has some issues. They have much more turnover within Cleveland suburbs than in Akron and Medina (closer to main Headquarters).
Also there does not seem to be any rationale for the lack of consistency in Branches in Cleveland suburbs --a friend has told me that the employees who have left First Merit are much more caring and helpful than those still there.
I would recommend Huntington or USBank if you want to be treated consistently.