Beijing is launching an 18-month global recruitment drive as it looks to hire around 27,000 volunteers to work at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

An online application system will be available from Thursday, which coincides with the United Nations' annual International Volunteer Day, and will be open to both domestic and overseas applicants.

Successful candidates will be trained to assist organizers in 12 job categories specifically during the 17-day Olympics as opposed to the build-up to the Games, including international liaison, competition organization, media operation and venue service, in Beijing and co-host Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, according to the organizing committee's human resource department.

It's envisaged that many of the volunteers will also serve at the 10-day Winter Paralympic Games.

Drawing on its experience of hosting the 2008 Summer Games, the 2022 recruitment push will further promote the country's volunteering spirit, said Yan Cheng, human resource director of the 2022 organizing committee.

"With stories of the 2008 Games' volunteers still warming our hearts, we are embracing yet another opportunity with the 2022 Winter Olympics to raise greater awareness of volunteering service in society, which is no doubt inherited from the Olympic legacy," said Yan, who also oversaw work on the 2008 volunteer program.

In 2008, a total of 100,000 volunteers served at competition venues, while an additional 400,000 city volunteers were stationed at major transport hubs, hotels, malls and scenic spots across the capital.

The 2022 volunteers are expected to be mostly comprised of domestic college and high school students, overseas Chinese and international applicants. The entire recruitment process will last one and a half years, with the deadline set for June 30, 2021.

Offline applications will be possible via the organizing committee's partner agencies worldwide, while basic tests and background checks will be conducted before quality assessment and professional training.

The 2022 organizing committee is encouraging retired winter sports athletes to apply for positions involving professional and technical skills at competition venues.

"We welcome anyone who respects and obeys Chinese laws, is enthusiastic about volunteering, and is physically and mentally capable of working in a team to join us for the 2022 Games," said Yan.

A special logo and theme song for will be launched for the volunteer program on Thursday at a grand ceremony staged at western Beijing's Shougang Industrial Park, one of the 2022 venues.

As part of the overall 2022 volunteer program, which was initiated at the 1,000-day countdown to the Games in May, the organizing committee has already recruited 130 people to work at its Shougang headquarters and since October 2018 has assembled 300 amateur skiers to service the slopes at mountain resorts during the Games.

"Hopefully, what we are doing today will leave a great human-resource legacy for urban development, social service and the winter sports sectors in our country beyond 2022 just like the 2008 Games did," said Yan.