Sozjobs.ch Job Scraper

Scrapes job listings from sozjobs.ch, the leading Swiss job portal for social and healthcare professions (Sozialwesen, Pflege, Gesundheit).

Three Scraping Modes

This scraper supports three distinct modes for different use cases:

Mode	Input	Output	Use Case
SERP Only	includeContactExtraction: false	Basic job data (title, company, location, URL)	Fast mass collection, deduplication
SERP + Details	includeContactExtraction: true (default)	Full job data with contact info	Complete data in one run
Direct URLs	directUrls: [...]	Full job data + job_status	Still-alive checks, re-scraping specific jobs

Features

• Browser-based scraping - Uses PlaywrightCrawler for full JavaScript rendering
• Contact extraction - Extracts contact person details from each job listing
• Healthcare focus - Specializes in Pflege, Sozialarbeit, Betreuung, and related fields
• Region filtering - Filter by Swiss regions (Zurich, Bern, Ostschweiz, etc.)
• Three scraping modes - SERP only, SERP + details, or direct URL scraping
• Job status detection - Track if jobs are still online, offline, or expired
• Standardized output - Returns data in the JobListing schema format
• Infinite scroll handling - Automatically clicks "Load More" to get all results
• Proxy support - Built-in proxy rotation for reliability

Input

Field	Type	Description	Default
directUrls	array	Direct job URLs to scrape (skips search mode)	[]
searchQuery	string	Job title, skills, or keywords to search for	"" (all jobs)
regions	string[]	Regions to search in	All German-speaking regions
contractTypes	string[]	Contract types: permanent, temporary	["permanent"]
maxResults	integer	Maximum number of job listings to scrape	500
includeContactExtraction	boolean	Visit detail pages for contact info	true
proxyConfiguration	object	Apify proxy settings	Residential

Mode 1: SERP Only - Fast Mass Collection

Set includeContactExtraction: false to scrape only search results without visiting detail pages:

• Fastest mode - Only scrapes search result pages
• Most cost-efficient - Minimal compute and proxy usage
• Basic data - Title, company, location, URL
• Use case - Mass job collection for deduplication against existing database

Mode 2: SERP + Details - Full Data

Default mode with includeContactExtraction: true:

• Two-phase scraping - First collects from SERP, then visits each detail page
• Complete data - Full descriptions, contact info, benefits
• Use case - Initial comprehensive scraping of new jobs

Mode 3: Direct URLs - Still Alive Checks

When directUrls is provided, the scraper operates in direct mode:

• Skips search phase - Goes directly to provided job URLs
• Job status detection - Returns online, offline, expired, or unknown
• Full data extraction - Same as detail page scraping
• Use case - Periodic "still alive" checks, re-scraping specific jobs after deduplication

Available Regions

Region ID	Coverage
zurich	Zürich and surroundings
berne	Bern and Mittelland
east	Ostschweiz (SG, TG, AI, AR)
northwest	Basel, Aargau, Solothurn
mittelland	Bern, Fribourg, Solothurn
central	Zentralschweiz (LU, UR, SZ, OW, NW, ZG)
graubunden	Graubünden

Example: SERP Only Mode

{
  "searchQuery": "Pflegefachfrau",
  "regions": ["zurich", "east"],
  "contractTypes": ["permanent"],
  "maxResults": 500,
  "includeContactExtraction": false
}

Returns basic job data quickly for comparison with existing database. After deduplication, use Mode 3 to scrape full details of new jobs only.

Example: SERP + Details Mode (Default)

{
  "searchQuery": "Pflegefachfrau",
  "regions": ["zurich", "east"],
  "contractTypes": ["permanent"],
  "maxResults": 200,
  "includeContactExtraction": true
}

Default mode - collects complete job data including descriptions, contact info, and benefits.

Example: Direct URLs Mode - Still Alive Checks

{
  "directUrls": [
    "https://www.sozjobs.ch/stelle/pflegefachfrau-spital-12345",
    "https://www.sozjobs.ch/stelle/sozialarbeiter-heim-67890",
    "https://www.sozjobs.ch/stelle/betreuung-kita-11223"
  ]
}

Use this mode for:

• Still alive checks - Verify if previously scraped jobs are still online
• Post-deduplication enrichment - After SERP-only scraping, fetch full details for new jobs only
• Re-scraping specific jobs - Update data for specific job URLs

Output includes job_status field: online, offline, expired, or unknown.

Output

Each job listing follows the standardized JobListing schema:

{
  "id": "pflegefachfrau-spital-12345",
  "title": "Dipl. Pflegefachfrau/-mann HF 80-100%",
  "company": "Kantonsspital St. Gallen",
  "location": "St. Gallen",
  "canton": "SG",
  "job_status": "online",
  "top_listing": null,
  "employment_type": "full-time",
  "workload_min": 80,
  "workload_max": 100,
  "remote_option": null,
  "description_snippet": "Wir suchen eine erfahrene Pflegefachperson für unsere...",
  "description_full": "...",
  "requirements": [],
  "posted_at": "2024-01-15T00:00:00.000Z",
  "expires_at": null,
  "source_url": "https://www.sozjobs.ch/stelle/pflegefachfrau-spital-12345",
  "source_platform": "sozjobs.ch",
  "contact_salutation": "Frau",
  "contact_firstname": "Anna",
  "contact_lastname": "Keller",
  "contact_position": "Leiterin Personal",
  "contact_email": "personal@kssg.ch",
  "contact_phone": "+41712341234",
  "apply_url": "https://www.sozjobs.ch/stelle/pflegefachfrau-spital-12345",
  "apply_email": "personal@kssg.ch",
  "company_url": "https://www.kssg.ch",
  "scraped_at": "2024-01-16T12:00:00.000Z"
}

Notes:

• job_status - Indicates job availability: online, offline, expired, or unknown. Most useful in Direct URL mode (Mode 3). In search modes, jobs are always considered online (field set to null).
• top_listing - Not available from sozjobs.ch (always null)
• contact_position - Contact person's job title/role (e.g., "Leiterin Personal", "HR Manager")
• Contact fields - Only populated when includeContactExtraction: true or when using Direct URLs mode

Usage

Via Apify Console

1. Go to the actor page
2. Configure input parameters
3. Click "Start"
4. Download results from the Dataset tab (JSON, CSV, Excel)

Via API

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/santamaria~sozjobs-ch-scraper/runs" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "searchQuery": "Sozialarbeiter",
    "regions": ["zurich", "berne"],
    "maxResults": 100
  }'

Via Apify SDK (Node.js)

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_API_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('santamaria/sozjobs-ch-scraper').call({
  searchQuery: 'Betreuung',
  regions: ['east', 'central'],
  maxResults: 300,
  includeContactExtraction: true,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(`Found ${items.length} jobs`);

Job Categories Covered

Sozjobs.ch specializes in these healthcare and social work sectors:

Category	Examples
Pflege	Pflegefachperson, Fachfrau Gesundheit, Pflegehelfer
Sozialarbeit	Sozialarbeiter, Sozialpädagoge, Sozialbegleiter
Betreuung	Betreuungsperson, Fachperson Betreuung, Nanny
Therapie	Physiotherapeut, Ergotherapeut, Logopäde
Pädagogik	Heilpädagoge, Sonderpädagoge, Schulische Heilpädagogin
Administration	Teamleitung, Pflegedienstleitung, Heimleitung

Performance

• Speed: ~30-50 jobs/minute (browser-based, respects site limits)
• Cost: ~0.1-0.3 CU per 100 jobs (higher due to browser usage)
• Reliability: Built-in retry logic and graceful error handling

Technical Notes

This actor uses PlaywrightCrawler because sozjobs.ch:

• Requires JavaScript rendering to display job listings
• Uses infinite scroll with a "Load More" button for pagination
• Serves dynamic content that cannot be scraped with simple HTTP requests

The actor operates in different modes:

SERP Only Mode

1. SERP Phase: Loads search results and clicks "Load More" to collect all job URLs

SERP + Details Mode

1. SERP Phase: Loads search results and clicks "Load More" to collect all job URLs
2. Detail Phase: Visits each job page to extract full descriptions and contact info

Direct URLs Mode

1. Direct Phase: Visits provided URLs directly, detects job status (online/offline/expired/unknown)
2. Data Extraction: Extracts full job data from detail pages

Data Source

This actor scrapes data from the leading Swiss healthcare job portal:

• Website: sozjobs.ch
• Focus: Social work, healthcare, and education professions
• Coverage: German-speaking Switzerland

Legal Notice

This actor accesses publicly available job listings. Please ensure your use case complies with the sozjobs.ch terms of service.

Version History

• v1.1.0 (2025-12-12): Direct URL mode for still alive checks

  • Added directUrls input parameter for direct job page scraping
  • Added job_status field (online/offline/expired/unknown) for job availability tracking
  • Added top_listing field to output schema (always null for sozjobs.ch)
  • Added contact_position field to capture contact person's job title/role
  • Skip search phase when direct URLs are provided
  • Detect offline jobs by checking for 404, "nicht gefunden", etc.
  • Performance improvements for direct URL mode

• v1.0.0 (2025-12-05): Initial release

  • Search-based scraping with region and contract type filtering
  • Contact person extraction
  • Infinite scroll handling
  • Standardized JobListing schema output

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Part of the Santamaria Job Scrapers Suite - Professional-grade job data for the DACH region and beyond. Need help with integration, aggregation, or custom scraping solutions? Contact us at contact@alessandrosantamaria.com