According to reports, there were over 9 million job openings in April in the United States this year alone. Also, about 58% of all job seekers come online to look for jobs. The implication of this is huge. First, it implies that there will be millions of data on job postings alone each month for companies and individuals to gain from. Secondly, it means that businesses that deal with this sort of data already have half their problem solved for them.
Web scraping job postings have become a popular concept now employed in regularly gathering data about jobs and employment all over the internet. Scraping this data, like any other type of data, needs to be automatic instead of manual to remove the stress and excessive strain that comes from data collection.
Other challenges that bedevil scraping for job postings online include the reluctance of websites that own the data to allow access to everyone, the presence of different anti-scraping practices, and restrictions such as geo-blocks and IP restrictions.
But once obtained, this data can be the one ingredient that sets a brand apart from its competition or allow an applicant to get firsthand information.
What Is Web Scraping?
Web scraping can be defined as the process of extracting and retrieving important user data from multiple sources such as websites, key marketplaces, and social media channels and storing it in an easy-to-access format.
The data is initially extracted in an HTML format before it is parsed and transformed into a less complex format such as a JSON or CSV. Then it is stored in a local storage system to allow for quick access.
This task which once was always done manually – taking days to extract even a little amount of data – can now be done automatically with technologies that make it easier for anyone, even those with no prior technical background, to extract a large amount of user data from multiple websites or sources at once.
Why Web Scraping Is Popular Among Various Businesses
For businesses that need this type of data, using web scraping is important for the following reasons:
Efficiency
Time is everything in today’s world, and businesses know better than waste it on activities that can be handled more proficiently. Harvesting job posting takes more energy and time than brands can care to offer. But using web scraping provides a way out as companies can now collect data quickly, safely, and automatically thereby saving time and effort that can be channeled into other aspects of the business.
Data Availability
For most businesses, the most interesting thing about web scraping is how it allows them to lay hands on the data they need and in large quantities. Data is very important for performing key business operations such as brand and assets monitoring and protection, competition monitoring, market research, etc.
Also, web scraping allows brands to have niche-specific data, as seen in the employment industry, where companies can have access to all the job postings on the internet and use the data for improving their businesses.
Cost Saving
Data is important and can be expensive to acquire, and manually gathering this data can cost even more. However, an automated web scraping process saves not just time and energy but money as well. So that brands can still gather the data they need while still having the resources to invest in other areas of their business.
Even better, the best web scraping technologies require no routine maintenance by the patronizing company and have all technical issues handled by the web scraping service providers, such as Oxylabs.
Enhanced Security
Manually crawling the internet for data can leave a brand exposed to several problems such as data breaches and other attacks. And since internal security is of utmost importance, it would be unwise to do it that way.
On the other hand, using web scraping, which uses special tools known as proxies, can save a brand from having its details poured into the internet.
Moreover, web scraping can help encrypt the extracted data, thereby adding more security to the company.
Web Scraping Job Postings
The concept of web scraping job postings is yet another reason web scraping is now widespread amongst today’s businesses with the type of information collected, including job postings, job vacancies and descriptions, profiles of both hiring companies and employees.
Any of the above data, once collected from job listings in very large amounts, can be useful in several ways, including the following:
- Hiring companies can have full prior knowledge about who they are hiring
- The job seekers can find vacancies easier and more quickly
- Aggregator websites can regularly update their listings to improve both the volume and quality of jobs
- Governments can have a full understanding of the employment situation and what to do to improve it
Conclusion
Job posting data is as important as any other type of data, and gathering them is as difficult as it is necessary. However, by using web scraping and its tools, companies can easily and effortlessly harvest and harness this special type of data.
Doma Stankevičiūtė is a Content Manager with experience of over three years. Currently, she is working at Oxylabs, a leading proxy service provider. She has a wide interest in technology and data analysis. Thus she mostly writes about said topics. She believes that quality content is the key to a successful website.
