Bangalore, May 05, 2006 (IANS)

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has launched a nationwide campaign to hire young engineers or aircraft designers for a dream job in the state-owned defence behemoth.

Shedding its laid-back public sector image, the Bangalore-based company has gone into a corporate mode to hire about 500 engineering graduates from campuses in Chennai, Mumbai, Roorkee, Guwahati, Warangal and Allahabad.

"With the focus of the company more on customer support, new design and development programmes, we have launched a campaign to attract young techies into aeronautics," said HAL chairman Ashok K. Baweja in a statement here on Friday. "We want to tell the youth if they are chasing a dream in aviation, then HAL is the place to be."

With its catchy phrase - "Join us, propel your dreams" -, the campaign is meant to convey that there is more to joining HAL than dating flying machines and exploring high-end technology.

An audio-visual campaign with trainees from the HAL management academy cast as role models is used to highlight the exciting opportunities that await smart engineers in the aviation field.

The campaign shows HAL designer interns turn into models, trainee engineers as co-stars, technicians as supporting cast and pilots forming the cheer group.

In one of the themes, the participants are shown celebrating a birthday in the helicopter hangar, a walkathon with pilots and narrating accounts of their first flight experience.

"It is a great honour to be the face of HAL through this campaign," said Anushree, a young management trainee, from Bhagalpur in Bihar.

The company plans to launch a series of promotional campaigns to portray brand HAL image in the subcontinent and overseas.