Non-IT Jobs, Profiles & Industries Engineering Grads Can Opt For

By T Muralidharan

According to NASSCOM, this year, the IT industry will see 20% less recruitment - thanks to the automation drive of industry giants like TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL and Cognizant. Going forward, the demand for IT professionals will reduce; put straight, campus placements by Tech and IT companies will drop significantly.

On the other hand, the supply of IT professionals from engineering campuses is still constant.  There are no measures being taken to scale down the supply of IT graduates churning out of engineering campuses. According to AISHE report, 2013-14, every year, over 1.5 lakh IT engineers pass-out of engineering colleges from across the country.

To worsen the situation, attracted by the glamour and benefits associated with the IT industry, engineers from other branches of engineering also compete for IT jobs. In fact, more than 7.8 lakh engineers (all branches together) pass-out every year, and for most of them, IT job is the first preference!

Till now the IT industry absorbed all these young non-IT engineers with open arms. However, this will be a challenge in the future.

In this situation, the typical mindset of an engineer is to aim for a core engineering job. But again, core engineering jobs are always limited because they are linked to industry and functional area.  So, what are the other avenues for engineers? 

Obviously, they are the non-IT non-core engineering jobs. 

Align personality and skills

Unlike other graduates, engineers come with good logical, analytical and data management skills. Most of the colleges even include management subjects in the engineering curriculum.

So, instead of making desperate attempts to land an IT or a core engineering job, engineering graduates should explore where they can make a career with the skills they have. Of course, at this stage, it is critical to consider only those options that are aligned to their personality.  As long as the job matches your personality and you have the necessary basic skills, you can make a great career in any field.

Where are jobs?

To understand the kind of jobs and industries suitable for graduates, I did an extensive research and have drawn a list of 101 jobs. 39 of these come under functional domains that are common across industries- three are IT related and 36 are non-IT jobs.

62 jobs are specific to one of the 15 sectors I considered. 11 of them are from IT and ITeS sectors. 9 of the jobs are in core-engineering sectors. The remaining 42 jobs are non-IT and non-core engineering related.  

Engineering graduates can confidently explore many of these non-IT and non-core engineering jobs. In fact many engineers pursue their MBA and take up these jobs. So it is not unusual for engineers to take up non-technical jobs. 

Let’s take a closer look at the same and narrow down the options:

Functional domains:

• Marketing/ Sales: In the marketing domain, engineers can take up roles like Market Research Analyst, Brand Executive, Media Executive and Digital Marketing Specialist. In sales, engineers can do well in B2B Sales, Direct Sales and Pre-Sales.
• Operations: In Operations, engineers can work as Production Supervisor, Project engineer, Quality Control Supervisor and Customer Service Engineer.
• Finance and Accounting: Even in this domain, engineers can don roles like MIS Executive.
• Human Resource: In this area, engineering graduates can take up jobs like E-recruiter, Head-hunter, International Tele-recruiter, Recruitment Data Analyst, Corporate Trainer, Training Coordinator, Operations Executive and Industrial Relations Executive.
• Supply chain: Supply Chain Officer and Purchase Officer are two promising options in this field.

 

Industries:

• Banking: CASA Executive, Recovery Officer, Probationary Officer, Branch Customer Relationship Executive and Branch Operations Clerk are some opportunities engineers can explore in this industry.
• Insurance: Development Officer, Underwriting Executive and Claims Officer options that can be explored.
• Education:  In the education sector, engineers can work as Student Mobilizer or Skill Trainer.
• Logistics: Courier Executive, Transport Logistics Executive and Warehousing Executive are some job roles suitable for engineers.
• Media and entertainment:  Content Editor, Radio Jockey, News Reporter, TV Anchor and Public Relations Officer are some jobs engineers can consider.
• Retail sector:  Billing Service Executive and Customer Service Associate are some jobs that are open for any graduate.
• Travel and hospitality: Front Office Executive and Banquet Executive are some interesting options here.

So, out of the 78 non-IT and non-core engineering jobs, at least 44 jobs are good options engineers can explore.

About the author:

Shri T Muralidharan is a graduate of IIT Madras & IIM Ahmedabad. Currently, he is the CEO, TMI. This article is based on the book “101 Entry Level Jobs” authored by Shri T Muralidharan.