A job fair is held at a college in Shanghai on March 24, 2021. [Photo/VCG]

Shanghai recently released a number of policies and held a series of activities for recruiting talents, especially high-level talents and college graduates, from around the world.

The city has issued several policies and measures for attracting global talents to promote economic recovery and revitalization, and has taken action to support the employment and entrepreneurial spirit of the city's college graduates.

The initiatives also aimed to increase Shanghai's talent pool in order to support the reboot of business operations and production following the most recent COVID-19 wave and to improve the employability of recent university graduates whose job prospects have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.

To attract talent, the policies reduce the rules for the city's hukou, or household registration permit. Residents must have a local hukou in order to acquire public health insurance, receive an education, and own real estate.

For new graduates from non-Shanghai regions, Shanghai has continued to relax its hukou requirements. It has also optimized hukou policies in the "five new cities" of Jiading, Qingpu, Songjiang, Fengxian, and Nanhui.

Non-locals who've graduated from the world's top 50 universities and work in the city can obtain a hukou for immediate settlement. The short-listed candidates, unlike regular candidates, will not be required to earn points based on conditions such as the amount of time they've made social security payments in the city.

In addition, new graduates from the world's top 100 universities can qualify for a hukou if they have paid social insurance in the city for six months and have full-time jobs in the city.

Graduates who earned bachelor's degrees or above in urgently-needed majors such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics from the world's top 500 universities can also qualify for a hukou if they pay social insurance in the city for six months and have full-time jobs at key units in the city.

Graduates who earned master's degrees from research institutes and institutions of higher education in Shanghai this year and those employed at qualified institutions in the city can apply for a hukou in the city.

Qualified employers include Party and government departments, public institutions, social organizations and social service agencies, as well as reputable enterprises that contribute to industrial development in the city with a minimum of 1 million yuan ($149,000) in registered capital.

Shanghai will also offer rent reductions or exemptions, subsidies and loans, and other forms of preferential treatment to graduates from international universities who start their own business in Shanghai. The government will introduce favorable measures to beef up employment rates for graduates, such as releasing more entry-level jobs, tax exemption and social security subsidies, as well as preferential loans dedicated to start-up businesses. The city will also provide affordable, long-term and stable rental housing for fresh graduates by adding 25,000 public rental houses.

Shanghai's talent and employment-related departments have gone all out to connect employers and explore more job opportunities, with the city holding 87 cloud job fairs since June 15. Shanghai plans to hold 95 more by October, offering at least 200,000 jobs.

Over 3,000 employers including Fortune Global 500 companies, large State-owned companies, well-known foreign companies, listed companies and high-tech companies have signed up to participate. Institutions of higher learning, scientific research institutes, hospitals and other institutions who urgently need high-level talents from home and abroad will also be offering jobs.

To better serve talents at home and abroad, the talent service-related departments of Shanghai has designed "cloud recruitment", "cloud interview" and "cloud guidance" services.

During a launch ceremony for the city's cloud job fair for high-level talents on June 15, local officials introduced important talent policies and job postings, and a platform for connecting talents, employers and the government was also launched. Representatives from industry administrative departments, colleges and universities, key enterprises, and human resources institutions, participated in the ceremony. There were also sub venues in 16 districts and 58 colleges and universities, which were connected via video.