Government Sector Engineering Jobs

India Education

Engineering is not only a career but more of as an area of expertise, which opens doors to a vast area of jobs. Engineers probably have a wider choice of the environment in which to work, and the type of job, than any other profession. The engineers today are not confined to the obvious sectors such as mechanical, chemical and electrical but have a vast scope in advanced areas such as ultrasonic, vacuum technology, as thermal engineering, polymer technology, computers, telecommunication, and many more. There are many fields in engineering in India. Engineering has several branches, and often the knowledge in one branch can be applied to many fields. Moreover, in any organization or project, engineers from one field work with engineers and specialists of many other fields as well.

Securing a government job is a dream for anyone (even engineers) till today but for some obvious reasons like the fewer recruitment’s, less salary, staying limited to a particular geographical area have made engineers to move towards private sectors in the past. But since 2008 there has been a change in the trend, now engineers from prestigious institutes are looking forward to join services in government sector as compared to private sectors.

Benefits of working in Public Sector

Broad overview of the sector
Flexibility to plan
Limited working hours
Flexibility to stay in a particular geographical location
Job stability

Public sector has played a very crucial role in the growth of the economy and the industrialization of the country since independence. The first public sector undertakings were the railways. Soon after independence the autonomous government undertook the task of setting up of a strong economic infrastructure. The main areas that were focused on were iron & steel industries, power generation, mining and oil refining activities. Later on the government undertook development of the major infrastructure activities such as on employment in electronics companies. Engineers in the public sector can work for various organizations as diverse as the Railways, Ministry of Defence, local government or the Environment Agency etc. A lot of Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) under the aegis of Government of India regularly provide for employment opportunities. Job seekers can apply to these undertakings, according to their required job profile and area of interest.

Below is the list of some PSU’s in India:

Air India Limited
Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL)
Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL)
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)
Engineers India Limited (EIL)
Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL)
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)
Indian Oil Corporation Limited(IOCL) * Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL)
Oil India Limited (OIL)
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC)
Steel Authority of India (SAIL)

Engineers are in great demand everywhere and almost in all the sectors, but of late we have noticed lot of public sector banks are also recruiting them. Engineers prefer to join them simply for the reason as the bank jobs are thought of as one of the prestigious careers in our social value system. Eventually, bank jobs are rewarding financially and give a lot of social security. Some of the banks offering employment are:

Reserve Bank of India
State Bank of India
Union Bank of India
UCO Bank

Other areas where engineers are in great demand are the Defence forces (Army, Navy and Air Force). These three sectors provide ample opportunities of growth. One either joins the Indian army to qualify for the rank of an officer or one opts for other ranks. Combined Defence Service exam is conducted by UPSC twice every year for recruitment to office cadre of the Army, Navy and Air force. Another major exam for engineers is Indian Engineering Services (IES), a combined competitive examination conducted by the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC) for recruitment to the Indian Engineering Services. Till date UPSC remains the top most choice of people who are interested in careers in government sector. Despite of benefits that come with career in government sector like long term security, prestigious, limited working hours, still there is a chunk of population which is still interested in private sector.

Eligibility Criteria

A CAT 2022 aspirant must hold a bachelor’s degree with at least 50% marks or equivalent CGPA (45% in case of the candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) / Scheduled Tribe (ST) or Persons with Disability (PWD) category) from any recognized University of India. If the aspirant is in the final year of Bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification and have completed degree requirement and are awaiting results, he/she can also apply.

For some programmes offered by IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore and some other premier management institutes, the eligibility criteria is different. Complete information on CAT 2022 eligibility criteria is available here.

You can work in private sector companies if you

Want Higher Pay Package
Are looking for In-depth knowledge
Dislike bureaucracy
Want commercial experience
Flexibility to travel abroad

There have been incidents where people have given up their full fledged job in government sector to work in private sector. However, one can see that these days people are opting for engineering jobs in the government sector because of improved pay package and security more so after the recession.(yr 2008) There are excellent job opportunities in engineering both in public and private sectors both in India and abroad and now you need to decide on your priorities and take up the opportunity that suits you best.

For jobs in private sector click here