Entry-level engineers outnumber available jobs in talent market: Report
Professionals with 0-3 years of experience make up nearly 45% of the active engineering candidate pool, but account for only 28% of job opportunities, according to a report by talent platform foundit.
The engineering talent market faces a growing mismatch between candidate supply and hiring demand, with entry-level job seekers accounting for 45% of the pool against the requirement of just 28%, according to a report.
The gap between the availability of engineering talent and demand is most pronounced at the entry level, the report by talent platform foundit, formerly Monster, said.
Professionals with 0-3 years of experience make up nearly 45% of the active engineering candidate pool, but account for only 28% of job opportunities, it added.
The report is based on active job postings in August, compiled from engineering roles posted across online platforms, and the candidate supply was derived from foundit's talent database.
Overall, the August 2026 estimate shows 39.59 lakh active engineering candidates against 6.68 lakh engineering-background jobs, translating to 5.9 candidates for every job.
The aggregate ratio, however, varies significantly across engineering streams, from 1.1 candidates per job in automobile/automotive engineering to 11.5 in electronics and instrumentation.
The report found that candidate availability is highest at the beginning of an engineering career and tightens considerably beyond three years of experience.
While engineers with 0-3 years of experience form the largest candidate pool, the candidate-to-job ratio more than halves by the 15+ years cohort, from 9.5 to 4.1.
The 4-10 year segment captures the majority of engineering demand at 54%.
"Engineering careers today are no longer defined by a single sector or traditional career path. As demand expands across technology, manufacturing, infrastructure, automotive, electronics and energy, engineers have a wider canvas to build their careers. The opportunity is to keep evolving with where industries are headed and apply their engineering foundation across emerging areas of demand," said foundit CPTO Tarun Sharma.
Further, the report revealed that technology remained the largest single destination for engineers, but most engineering opportunities now sit outside it.
IT/software and services/GCCs account for 33% of engineering jobs, while the remaining 67% span other industries. Manufacturing/industrial is the second-largest destination at 15%, followed by construction/engineering/real estate at 13%. Electronics/semiconductors, automotive/EV and energy/power/renewables together account for another 26% of opportunities.
Geographically, Bengaluru remains India's largest individual engineering hiring hub, accounting for 19% of opportunities, or 1.27 lakh jobs. Delhi-NCR follows at 13%, Hyderabad at 12%, Pune at 10%, Chennai at 9% and Mumbai at 8%.
Other Tier I and II cities collectively account for 29% of engineering opportunities, or 1.94 lakh jobs, with demand spanning sectors including manufacturing, IT, infrastructure and industrial engineering, it added.