How do I scrap job ads?

Web scraping is an increasingly popular technique. One of the most sought-after items of information on the internet is job data. Are you wondering why this information is so sought after? And what are the best ways of obtaining it on a large scale so that you can make the most of it? Find out in this article.

Reasons to scrape job vacancy data

Job vacancy data is certainly of great value. There are several ways of using it. You can feed job aggregation sites with new data on vacancies. You can also collect this data with a view to analysing labour market trends.

There are data that provide information on new market demand. These include salary statements. The web scraping data on job vacancies to find out what competitors are offering in terms of salary, so you can stay one step ahead.

It also allows you to offer your services to specific companies with a view to generating leads. Some agencies use web scraping to update their job databases. However, it should be noted that it is not always easy to scrap information on job offers.

How do you scrap job advertisement data?

Are you wondering how to do web scraping on websites like Indeed or Linkedin ? There are several options for extracting job offers from the web.

Using a web scraping service

There are companies on the market offering 'managed services'. You can opt for reputable suppliers such as Datahen, Data Hero or Scrapinghub. They will take care of your requests and do everything necessary to satisfy you. They will use IP proxies, servers, scripts and much more.

Scraping services very often charge according to the amount of data to be retrieved, the number of websites to be scraped or the frequency of extraction. Some web scraping companies charge additional fees. These relate to the number of data fields and data storage.

There are other factors that are likely to have an impact on the final price. For example, the complexity of the website. For each scraping job, there are usually monthly maintenance fees. So, to extract data on job offers from websites such as Indeed or Linkedin, you need to budget accordingly.

Using this solution offers a number of advantages. You can take advantage of a service that is highly customisable and well adapted to your needs. What's more, the data is delivered free of charge. On the downside, the cost can be high, especially if you have a lot of sites to scrape.

Using a web scraping tool

For those in the know, technology is progressing. It is now possible to automate web scraping. There are several web scraping software packages on the market. They are designed so that people with no technical knowledge of the field can recover data from the web.

These web scrapers access the target sites and capture the data. To do this, they decipher the HTML structure of the web page. Most scraping tools are compatible with your system.

It's a solution that offers considerable advantages to all users. Everyone can take advantage of it because it's economical. By using the scraping tools on Google and others, you can pay monthly. There are even free packages to suit your needs.

What's more, these tools are generally easy to use. You don't need to be an expert to use them. People with little or no technical knowledge can handle them. This is an excellent time-saving solution. In fact, some suppliers offer crawler configuration services and training sessions.

What's more, web scraping software is powerful. They are suitable for projects of any size. Whatever the number of websites to be scraped, they will be of great use. What's more, they offer a fast turnaround time. A crawler can be set up in 10 minutes.

You can configure crawlers or modify existing ones without the help of the technical team or service provider. Finally, scraping tools require low maintenance costs.

On the downside, there is the problem of compatibility. All job offer web scraping tools claim to be able to cover any website. However, there are some sites for which scraping is not possible. Secondly, job board scraping tools cannot completely solve the problems caused by Captcha.

Note also that you need time to learn how to use the tool you have chosen. Virtual tools such as Octoparse or import.io are easier to learn.

The internal configuration of web scraping

You have the option of setting up a team of professionals to do nothing more than web scraping of job offers. This gives you complete control over the crawling process. What's more, the turnaround time is faster. There are fewer communication challenges.

However, this solution is expensive. It can also lead to a lack of concentration. You will gain by devoting more time and energy to growing your business.

Web content scraping is a process that requires a great deal of technical skill, especially when it comes to scraping the most popular sites. The same applies if you need to extract a large amount of data on a regular basis.

It is then difficult to set up a team for this even if you hire professionals.

In short, whichever solution you choose for scraping job vacancy data, you will benefit not only from the advantages but also from the disadvantages. The best option should be the one that best meets your specific needs. It has to fit in with your schedule, your budget and your project. Obviously, a solution that works for one company will not necessarily work for another. It's up to you to make the best choice to get the most out of it.