Wearing the HAL hat

Gauri Chhabra

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Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is an Indian state-owned aerospace and defence company headquartered in Bangalore, India. The company was started in collaboration with the Government of Mysore with the aim of manufacturing aircraft in India. The Government of India took over its operations in 1942. In 1964, Hindustan Aircraft Limited and Aeronautics India Limited merged to form ‘Hindustan Aeronautics Limited’ with its principal business being design, development, manufacture, repair and overhaul of aircraft, helicopter, engines and related systems like avionics, instruments and accessories. It has developed various Research & Development centres across India in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kanpur, Nasik, Lucknow and Koraput.

Today HAL is fully under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defence, Department of Defence Production. HAL has contributed to the famous “Mars Mission” by helping develop parts for the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C25).

HAL hires Graduate Engineers the posts of Management Trainee/Design Trainee for its various Production, Overhaul & Service Divisions / Research & Design Centers / Offices at Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kasaragod, Nasik, Koraput (Orissa), Lucknow, Kanpur, Korwa (Uttar Pradesh) and Barrackpore (West Bengal). These posts are generally available for multiple research, production, and design centers in India.

Eligibility

The candidates should be a graduate in Mechanical/ Electronics/ Electrical/Production/Computer Science/ Metallurgy/ Aeronautical branches of engineering from any recognised institution/university.

2) General/ OBC candidates should have secured 65% marks and SC/ST candidates should have secured a minimum of 55% marks in their degree courses. Engineering Graduates in the Aeronautical branch should have secured a minimum aggregate of 60% marks (for General/OBC)

3) The candidates should not be more than 28 years of age (for General candidates). For SC/ST candidates relaxation up to 5 years is allowed and in case of OBC candidates relaxation up to 3 years is allowed.

Along with these basic eligibility criteria of HAL India, there are others too which are according to the posts applied for.

Following are the some of the posts with their eligibility criterion of HAL Recruitment Process-

(a) Management Trainee-

For this HAL Job, the candidate need to have a full-time bachelor’s degree in Engineering and Technology from a recognised university in Electrical or Computer Science or Aeronautical Engineering or Metallurgy or Mechanical Engineering.

Candidates with special degrees like AMIE Course from Institute of Engineering (India), AMAeSI courses from Aeronautical Society of India, New Delhi or Grad IIIE course of Indian Institution of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai or AMIIM course of Indian Institute of Metals, Kolkata are also eligible for this post.

(b) Trainees at Induction Level D6-

Under this post, different sections are there like audiologist, physiotherapist, Dietician etc. The eligibility and qualification required are PUC/Inter (in physics, chemistry & Biology) with a bachelor degree with specialisation required for the respective posts for which the candidate is applying.

(c) Engineers: For various engineering posts, the requirement for graduate engineer is mentioned in the HAL Recruitment Notification. Many of the posts are filled on the basis of the GATE score of the candidate. Along with these mentioned placement criteria of HAL, there are others which depends on Post requirement and as mentioned by the authorities of HAL.

Selection process

The company conducts recruitment process every year to select new candidates. The selection process of the company consists of 3 rounds. These rounds are as follows:

• Written Exam
• Technical Interview
• HR Interview

Academic criteria

• Above 60 per cent marks in Class X and XII and 60 percent or more in Graduation.
• No backlogs are allowed.
• Gap of upto two years is allowed for valid reasons.

Pattern of written exam

Testing Areas No. of questions

Aptitude 10

Technical 55

Total 65

The total time allotted to the written exam is 180 minutes.

• General Awareness Section consists of questions from static and dynamic GK
• The Verbal Reasoning section consists of short reading comprehension passages. They are easy to solve and answers can be easily found in the passages. The questions based on RC’s are generally synonym type. This section also consists of basic grammar usage questions like fill in the blanks, synonyms, antonyms, vocabulary, etc.
• Technical section involves questions from core subjects of Mechanical, electronic, electrical and civil engineering. This section was tough and required thorough preparation. A person whose basics are clear could easily excel in this section.
• The written exam conducted by HAL for selection is moderate to difficult. The exam has around 65 questions from Aptitude and Technical sections with a total time allotment of 180 minutes in total. Aptitude section (around 10 questions) consists of questions based on data interpretation, graphs, blood relations and statement reasoning. Topics from basic mathematics like time, speed & distance, algebra, arithmetic, probability, geometry, permutation & combination can also be asked. Questions on English based on grammar usage and fill in the blanks were also seen.

Technical section (around 55 questions) consists of questions from engineering subjects of Mechanical, Electronic, Electrical and Civil Engineering. There is a negative marking of 0.33. However there is no negative marking in the numerical ability section..