Nearly 5,500 graduates from 100 universities have applied for 1,000 jobs as community workers, Shanghai’s civil affairs authorities said yesterday.

Launched in late April, it is the nation’s first large-scale recruitment of community workers targeting university graduates since the novel coronavirus epidemic.

A total of 5,494 graduates from universities such as Shanghai Fudan University and Shanghai Tongji University have applied.

Graduates with Shanghai hukou, or residency, and graduates from universities in Shanghai are eligible to apply.

The positions are at the grassroots, and related to community service and management. Community workers are based in residential complexes and public affairs service centers of subdistricts and towns.

The recruitment aims to provide job opportunities for university graduates and attract talent to the grassroots.

Interviews were conducted in Putuo District yesterday.

All recruitment is due to be completed before mid-August.

The recruitment drive is hosted by the bureau, Shanghai’s human resources and social security bureau and Shanghai Education Commission.

“The public recognition of community workers has increasingly improved, and more university graduates are joining the team,” said Jin Lihui, deputy director of the grassroots work department of the bureau.

Shanghai has registered 52,000 community workers with an average age of 39.