How to get job listings from SEEK Australia with an API (Python, Node or no code)

#webscraping #python #javascript #api

SEEK is where most Australian job ads live. If you want those listings in a spreadsheet, a database or an n8n workflow (for salary benchmarking, lead lists of companies that are hiring, or a daily feed of new jobs in one city), copying them by hand doesn't scale.

This tutorial uses Seek AU Job Scraper, an Apify actor I built that reads SEEK's own JSON search API. It needs no browser and no proxy, so a run takes seconds. The full examples are on GitHub: auto-actor/seek-au-job-scraper.

Input

{"keywords": "carpenter", "where": "Brisbane", "maxItems": 50}

keywords and where work the way they do on seek.com.au; maxItems caps the number of jobs.

Python

"""Run Seek AU Job Scraper on Apify and print the results.

    pip install apify-client
    export APIFY_TOKEN=...   # Apify Console -> Settings -> Integrations
    python example.py
"""
import os

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient(os.environ["APIFY_TOKEN"])

run = client.actor("daedal_quintuplet/seek-au-job-scraper").call(
    run_input={
        "keywords": "carpenter",
        "where": "Brisbane",
        "maxItems": 50
    }
)

jobs = client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items()
for job in jobs:
    print(job["title"], "|", job["company"], "|", job.get("salary") or "no salary listed", "|", job["url"])

Node.js

// Run Seek AU Job Scraper on Apify and print the results.
//
//   npm install apify-client
//   APIFY_TOKEN=... node example.js     (token: Apify Console -> Settings -> Integrations)

const { ApifyClient } = require('apify-client');

async function main() {
    const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });

    const run = await client.actor('daedal_quintuplet/seek-au-job-scraper').call({
        "keywords": "carpenter",
        "where": "Brisbane",
        "maxItems": 50
    });

    const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
    for (const job of items) {
        console.log(job.title, '|', job.company, '|', job.salary || 'no salary listed', '|', job.url);
    }
}

main().catch((err) => {
    console.error(err);
    process.exit(1);
});

No code: one HTTP request

Works from n8n, Make, Zapier or curl:

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/daedal_quintuplet~seek-au-job-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"keywords": "carpenter", "where": "Brisbane", "maxItems": 50}'

What you get

One row per job:

Field	Meaning
`id`	SEEK job id
`title`	Job title
`company`	Advertiser
`locations`	One or more locations
`salary`	Salary text as shown on SEEK, when the ad states one
`workTypes`	Full time, Part time, Contract/Temp, Casual/Vacation
`classifications`	SEEK classification
`listingDate`	When the ad was listed (ISO 8601)
`teaser`	First lines of the ad
`bulletPoints`	Up to three selling points, often empty
`isFeatured`	Paid placement flag
`url`	Link to the ad

Only the fields SEEK returns in search results are included, not the full ad text.

Price

$0.001 per job ($1 per 1,000), paid per result, with no monthly fee. Apify's free plan includes $5 of usage a month, which is enough to try it.

Links: Store page · GitHub examples

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