Vdab.be Scraper

What does VDAB Vacatures Scraper do?

VDAB Vacatures Scraper collects job vacancies from VDAB, the public employment service of Flanders, Belgium. Enter a keyword such as a job title or skill, optionally narrow it by city or postcode, and the Actor saves structured vacancy records to an Apify dataset. Every record includes the full vacancy description, work schedule, education and language requirements, and application details where VDAB publishes them.

The Actor is built for recurring job market monitoring. Run it once to inspect the current offer, or schedule it daily to track new vacancies, hiring companies, and regional demand.

Why use VDAB Vacatures Scraper?

• Structured job data - Save job titles, employers, locations, and descriptions as separate fields instead of copied text.
• Detail enrichment - Collect full vacancy descriptions, requirements, and application details, not just listing titles.
• Location filtering - Search within 20 km of a city or postcode.
• Repeatable runs - Reuse the same input to compare hiring activity over time.
• Large collection support - Pagination continues until the requested count is reached.
• Export ready - Download results as JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML.

What data can you extract from VDAB?

Field	Description
vacancy_id	VDAB vacancy identifier
title	Job title
company_name	Hiring company name
supplier_name	Recruiter or source organization when the vacancy is posted through a partner
location	Vacancy location label, for example ANTWERPEN or Regio Gent
employment_location	Detailed work location from the vacancy detail
region	VDAB region label
contract_type	Contract label such as Vaste job or Tijdelijke job
contract_code	VDAB contract code
first_published_at	First publication timestamp
last_modified_at	Last modification timestamp
is_closed	Whether the vacancy is closed
is_bottleneck_job	Whether VDAB marks the occupation as a bottleneck job
duplicate_count	Number of linked duplicate vacancies
description_text	Full vacancy description as plain text
description_html	Sanitized description HTML
work_regime	Work duration and shift schedule, for example voltijds and Dagwerk
experience_level	Required experience level
education_requirements	Required education or equivalence
salary	Salary information when the vacancy publishes it
language_requirements	Required languages and levels
job_domains	VDAB job domains
drivers_licenses	Required driving licenses
certificates	Required certificates or attestations
is_regulated_profession	Whether the profession is regulated
application_methods	How candidates can apply, for example online or email
contact_email	Application email when published
employer_type	Employer or supplier type
employer_website	Employer website when published
external_reference	Reference used by the original job board
vacancy_uuid	VDAB internal vacancy UUID
source_detail_url	Original application or detail URL
url	Public VDAB vacancy URL
raw_light	Original listing payload when includeRawData is enabled
raw_detail	Original detail payload when includeRawData is enabled

How to use VDAB Vacatures Scraper

1. Open the Actor in Apify Console.
2. Enter a keyword, or paste a VDAB vacancy search URL.
3. Optionally add a city or postcode.
4. Set the maximum number of jobs and pages.
5. Run the Actor and open the dataset.
6. Download the results or connect the dataset to your workflow.

The default keyword is software engineer. Clear the keyword field if you want to supply a start URL instead. A supplied start URL takes precedence over the keyword and location fields.

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
keyword	String	No	software engineer	Job search keyword, for example a function title or skill
startUrl	String	No	-	VDAB vacancy search URL. Its query filters are used, and the keyword and location fields are ignored
location	String	No	-	City or postcode used to narrow the search
sort	String	No	standaard	Result order: standaard, datum, or relevantie
results_wanted	Integer	No	20	Maximum number of vacancies to save
max_pages	Integer	No	10	Safety cap for pagination
includeRawData	Boolean	No	false	Add raw_light and raw_detail payloads to each record
proxyConfiguration	Object	No	-	Optional proxy settings. Leave empty to connect directly

Usage Examples

Basic keyword search

Collect current software engineering vacancies:

{
  "keyword": "software engineer",
  "results_wanted": 50
}

Keyword with a location

Search for nursing jobs within 20 km of Antwerp:

{
  "keyword": "verpleegkundige",
  "location": "Antwerpen",
  "results_wanted": 100
}

Start from a VDAB search URL

Reuse a VDAB search URL with its own filters. The URL controls the search in this mode:

{
  "startUrl": "https://www.vdab.be/vindeenjob/vacatures?trefwoord=verpleegkundige&arbeidscircuit=8&sort=datum",
  "results_wanted": 100
}

Larger collection

Collect more vacancies while keeping the page cap:

{
  "keyword": "magazijnier",
  "location": "2000",
  "results_wanted": 200,
  "max_pages": 5
}

Sample Output

{
  "vacancy_id": "73959300",
  "title": "Software Engineer",
  "company_name": "Madison Recruitment",
  "supplier_name": "Editx",
  "location": "ANTWERPEN",
  "employment_location": "ANTWERPEN",
  "region": "Regio Antwerpen",
  "contract_type": "Vaste job",
  "contract_code": "G",
  "first_published_at": "2026-06-16T16:40:57Z",
  "last_modified_at": "2026-09-18T09:36:19Z",
  "is_closed": false,
  "is_bottleneck_job": true,
  "duplicate_count": 0,
  "description_text": "Onze klant in Antwerpen, een van de Belgische koplopers binnen de levensverzekeringen, is op zoek naar een Software Engineer om hun team te versterken. ...",
  "work_regime": ["voltijds", "Dagwerk"],
  "experience_level": "Beperkte ervaring ( < 2 jaar )",
  "education_requirements": "Bachelor | Master",
  "language_requirements": "Nederlands: Medium",
  "job_domains": ["ICT"],
  "is_regulated_profession": false,
  "application_methods": ["online"],
  "employer_type": "DERDENLEVERANCIERS",
  "employer_website": "https://editx.eu/nl/it-jobs",
  "external_reference": "11147",
  "vacancy_uuid": "fa724d35-04bc-4a18-9f7d-8474fd734b18",
  "source_detail_url": "https://editx.eu/en/job/11147/software-engineer",
  "url": "https://www.vdab.be/vindeenjob/vacatures/73959300/software-engineer"
}

Tips for Best Results

• Start with results_wanted: 20 to confirm the filters match your target.
• Use a postcode when you know it. City names work too and are resolved to coordinates automatically.
• Location searches cover a 20 km radius. Use startUrl with afstand when you need a different radius.
• Descriptions, requirements, and contact details are collected for every vacancy.
• By default the Actor collects vaste jobs. Use startUrl with an arbeidscircuit parameter to target another contract type.
• Schedule recurring runs with the same input to compare vacancy counts over time.

Integrations

• Google Sheets - Send vacancy records to a spreadsheet for team review.
• Webhooks - Trigger downstream workflows after each run.
• Make or Zapier - Route new vacancies to recruiting or alerting automations.
• API - Read datasets programmatically from your own systems.
• Business intelligence tools - Build dashboards for hiring demand and regional trends.

Export formats

• JSON - Engineering and API workflows
• CSV - Spreadsheet analysis
• Excel - Business reporting
• XML - System integrations

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I scrape only permanent jobs?

Yes. The Actor collects vaste jobs by default. To target another contract type, supply a VDAB search URL with the matching arbeidscircuit parameter.

Does the Actor paginate automatically?

Yes. It requests pages until it reaches results_wanted or max_pages.

Can I search around a specific city?

Yes. Set location to a city or postcode. City names are converted to coordinates, and the search covers a 20 km radius.

What happens when I supply both a keyword and a start URL?

The start URL wins. Its filters are used and the keyword and location fields are ignored. This keeps URL-based runs predictable.

Are vacancy descriptions always included?

Yes. The Actor fetches the detail record for every vacancy, so descriptions, requirements, and application details are present when VDAB publishes them.

Why are some fields empty?

VDAB publishes different information for each vacancy. Recruiter postings may omit salary, contact details, or region. Empty optional fields reflect the source data.

Can I export the dataset to CSV or Excel?

Yes. Apify datasets can be downloaded in CSV, Excel, JSON, XML, and other formats.

Can I schedule the Actor?

Yes. Use Apify Schedules to refresh the dataset hourly, daily, weekly, or at another interval.

Is this an official VDAB product?

No. This is an independent data collection Actor for publicly available vacancy pages.

Related Actors

• APEC Jobs Scraper - Collect job vacancies from APEC in France.
• USA Jobs Scraper - Collect federal job postings from USAJobs.
• Naukri Jobs Scraper - Collect job listings from Naukri in India.

Support

For issues, feature requests, or custom Actor work, use the Issues tab on the Actor page or contact the developer through Apify.

Legal Notice

This Actor is designed for legitimate collection of publicly available job vacancy data. You are responsible for complying with applicable laws, VDAB terms, and your own data governance rules.