As part of a national hiring day, local McDonald's restaurants will be looking to fill a wide range of positions later this month.

April 19 has been designated as McDonald's first national hiring day. The fast-food giant will look to fill 50,000 openings at its restaurants nationwide.

Lynn Petzoldt, operations manager for Short Enterprises, said the restaurants will try to fill positions from crew to managers during the hiring day, but was unsure how many positions would be filled locally.

Short Enterprises in Anna operates several Southern Illinois McDonald's, including ones in Carbondale, Anna, Vienna, Murphysboro and Du Quoin.

Petzoldt said between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. April 19, store managers will be taking applications in the lobby of the restaurants and interviews will be conducted on site. He said applications can also be completed online.

Petzoldt said the hiring day is a chance for people to get back to work.

"With people out of work and being laid off, it will be an opportunity for some people to pick up some work," Petzoldt said.