CHICAGO - Following an announcement earlier this month that it was seeking to fill 50,000 newly posted jobs at its U.S. restaurants during an April 19 hiring day, McDonald€™s announced earlier this week that it had been inundated with applications.

"It was positively overwhelming," said one McDonald's employee in New York who asked not to be identified. "We knew national hiring day was going to be successful and prepared for lines of folks, and we were amazed by the turnout and the excitement."

Crowds of prospective workers applied at a Newark restaurant, one hundred applied at a Cincinnati store, and hundreds applied at a Tampa location, company officials said.

McDonald€™s said the jobs ranged from kitchen and cashier positions paying minimum wage to managerial positions paying up to $50,000 annually.

McDonald€™s was quick to point out that the jobs were permanent, not temporary, seasonal fillings.

"The summer is certainly busy, but these are on-going, nonseasonal positions," said company spokesperson Nicole Curtin, adding that social media helped drive applications.

"I think social media has played a large part in this. We are in the hundreds and hundreds of re-tweets €" all about today's effort," Curtin said.

McDonald€™s said it did not yet know the exact total of applications received.