# VAS Sheffield Jobs Scraper (`memo23/vassheffield-scraper`) Actor Scrape voluntary-sector vacancies from jobs.vas.org.uk (Voluntary Action Sheffield) via WP-JSON. Title, sector taxonomy, posted date, external apply URL extracted from listing body, full description. ~25 live vacancies in one request. JSON or CSV out, billed per result - **URL**: https://apify.com/memo23/vassheffield-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Muhamed Didovic](https://apify.com/memo23) (community) - **Categories:** Jobs, Agents, Automation - **Stats:** 16 total users, 1 monthly users, 90.6% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $1.00 / 1,000 results This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. - **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use). - **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`. - **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`. - **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`. - **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## VAS Sheffield Jobs Scraper **Scrape voluntary-sector vacancies from jobs.vas.org.uk — Voluntary Action Sheffield's dedicated jobs board.** Pulls every live vacancy via the public WP-JSON REST API: title, sector taxonomy, posted date, full description HTML, featured image, and the external apply URL extracted from the listing body. JSON or CSV out, no compute charge per run, just per result. #### How it works ![How VAS Sheffield Jobs Scraper works](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/muhamed-didovic/muhamed-didovic.github.io/main/assets/how-it-works-vassheffield.png) #### ✨ Why use this scraper? Building a Sheffield / South Yorkshire voluntary-sector dashboard? Tracking nonprofit hiring across charities, faith-based orgs, and community groups in the city? Need a clean dataset without manual scrolling? - 🎯 **Three starting points.** The `/current-vacancies/` page, a direct `/vacancies//` URL, or the WP-JSON endpoint — all auto-classified. - ⚡ **WP-JSON REST API as the data source.** One fetch returns every active vacancy (~25 live at any time). - 🏷️ **Sector taxonomy inline.** `Administration`, `Community Development`, `Fundraising`, `Project Work`, etc. embedded via WP-JSON `_embed` — no extra HTTP calls. - 📧 **External apply URL captured.** VAS posts often link out to the org's own ATS / vacancy page — the body's first outbound link is extracted as `externalApplyUrl`. - 🇬🇧 **Sheffield-specific.** Voluntary Action Sheffield is the city's CVS — every vacancy is local to Sheffield / South Yorkshire. - 📤 **Clean exports.** One row per vacancy, all fields inline. JSON + CSV exported automatically. #### 🎯 Use cases | Team | What they build | |------|-----------------| | **Sheffield CVS / regional CVS network** | Cross-region nonprofit recruitment comparisons | | **Voluntary sector recruiters** | Daily new-vacancy feeds across the city | | **Workforce strategy / funders** | Sector-by-sector hiring trends in Sheffield voluntary orgs | | **Researchers** | Sheffield third-sector labour-market datasets | | **Job aggregators** | External apply URLs (typically charity websites, JotForm, charity ATS) for redirect-and-track | #### 📥 Supported inputs | URL pattern | Behaviour | |---|---| | `https://jobs.vas.org.uk/current-vacancies/` | **Full listing** — scrapes every live vacancy | | `https://jobs.vas.org.uk/vacancies//` | **Single vacancy** — translates to slug-filtered WP-JSON query | | `https://jobs.vas.org.uk/wp-json/wp/v2/vacancies` | **WP-JSON endpoint** — pass-through | | `https://jobs.vas.org.uk/wp-json/wp/v2/vacancies/` | **WP-JSON single record** — translates to `?include=` | Leave `startUrls` empty to scrape every live vacancy. **Not supported:** filtering by sector via URL query string; hosts outside `jobs.vas.org.uk`. #### 🔄 How it works 1. **Classify each `startUrl`** and translate it to the canonical `/wp-json/wp/v2/vacancies` shape. 2. **Fetch the WP-JSON endpoint** — typically just 1 request, since VAS has ~25 vacancies (fits in one page of 100). 3. **Parse each vacancy item** — title, content HTML, `sector` taxonomy, featured-media URL, author, dates. 4. **Extract the apply target** — first outbound `mailto:` → `applyEmail`, else first outbound URL → `externalApplyUrl`. 5. **Push one normalised row per vacancy** to the dataset. #### ⚙️ Input parameters | Parameter | Type | Default | Description | |---|---|---|---| | `startUrls` | array | `["https://jobs.vas.org.uk/current-vacancies/"]` | Browser URLs, single-vacancy URLs, or WP-JSON endpoints. Empty = scrape everything. | | `enrichTaxonomies` | boolean | `true` | When `true`, embeds `sector` term names + featured image via WP-JSON `_embed`. Zero extra HTTP cost. | | `followExternalPages` | boolean | `false` | When `true`, follows a job's external apply page (charity microsites etc.) to fill any `salary` / `closingDate` / `contractType` / `hours` the VAS listing didn't state. Best-effort and slower (one extra request per applicable job); skips PDFs and JavaScript-only boards like Workday. | | `postedWithinHours` | integer | (none) | Only return rows posted in the last N hours (24 = last day, 72 = last 3 days). Empty/0 = all. Ideal for daily monitoring runs that only want fresh postings. | | `maxItems` | integer | `1000` | Hard cap on rows pushed (~25 live). | | `maxConcurrency` / `minConcurrency` | integer | `5` / `1` | Parallel WP-JSON page-fetch limits. | | `maxRequestRetries` | integer | `5` | Retries before a failed request is given up. | | `proxy` | object | No proxy | Site does not anti-bot — proxy optional. | #### 📊 Output overview Each scraped vacancy is one **single dataset row** of `type: "job"`. Row count equals vacancy count exactly. #### 📦 Output sample Structured fields (`companyName`, `salary`, `closingDate`, `location`, `contractType`, `hours`, `employmentTypes`) are mined from the listing body and the employer's logo file — populated when the listing states them, and `null` when it genuinely doesn't. ```json { "type": "job", "source": "jobs.vas.org.uk", "jobId": "2994", "slug": "office-manager", "jobUrl": "https://jobs.vas.org.uk/vacancies/office-manager/", "wpJsonUrl": "https://jobs.vas.org.uk/wp-json/wp/v2/vacancies/2994", "title": "Office Manager", "descriptionText": "RAW People is recruiting an Office Manager. Salary: £26,277.50 – £30,000 per annum …", "companyName": "Raw People", "companyWebsite": null, "companyDomain": null, "location": "Rotherham Town Centre", "remote": false, "salary": { "currency": "GBP", "min": 26277.5, "max": 30000, "raw": "£26,277.50 – £30,000 per annum (depending on experience)", "unit": "year" }, "salaryRaw": "£26,277.50 – £30,000 per annum (depending on experience)", "sectors": ["Mental Health", "Administration"], "categories": ["Mental Health", "Administration"], "employmentTypes": ["Full-time"], "contractType": null, "hours": "37.5 hours per week", "postedDate": "2026-06-05T09:00:00Z", "closingDate": "2026-06-30", "closingDateText": "Closing Date: Tuesday 30th June 2026 at 12pm", "modifiedDate": "2026-06-05T09:00:00Z", "applyType": "external", "applyUrl": "https://jobs.vas.org.uk/vacancies/office-manager/", "applyEmail": null, "externalApplyUrl": null, "featuredImageUrl": "https://jobs.vas.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/raw-people-logo.jpg", "authorId": 1, "authorName": null, "scrapedAt": "2026-06-11T09:34:00.000Z" } ``` #### 🗂 Key output fields | Group | Fields | |---|---| | **Identifiers** | `type`, `source`, `jobId`, `slug`, `jobUrl`, `wpJsonUrl`, `scrapedAt` | | **Role** | `title`, `description` (HTML), `descriptionText` (plain) | | **Dates** | `postedDate` (ISO), `closingDate` (ISO, when stated), `closingDateText` (raw phrase), `modifiedDate` (ISO) | | **Employer** | `companyName` (mined from the employer's logo file — ~3 in 4 jobs), `companyWebsite` / `companyDomain` (from an outbound apply link, when present) | | **Compensation** | `salary` (`{ currency, min, max, raw, unit }`), `salaryRaw` | | **Location** | `location` (street/area when the listing states it, else `Sheffield, South Yorkshire`), `remote` | | **Classification** | `sectors[]`, `categories[]` (mirror of `sectors`), `employmentTypes[]`, `contractType`, `hours` | | **Apply flow** | `applyType` (`email` / `external` / `internal`), `applyUrl`, `applyEmail`, `externalApplyUrl` | | **WordPress meta** | `authorId`, `authorName`, `featuredImageUrl` | #### ❓ FAQ **Where do `companyName`, `salary`, `closingDate`, etc. come from?** VAS Sheffield's WP custom post type is plain — it carries no structured job meta (`acf` is empty on every record). So the actor mines them from what each listing actually publishes: the org name from the employer's logo filename, and salary / closing date / contract / hours / location from the labelled text employers paste into the description body. These are best-effort and high-precision — populated when the listing states them, `null` otherwise (no noisy guesses). **Why are some of these fields still null on certain jobs?** Because that listing genuinely doesn't state them. Smaller charities often post a few paragraphs of prose with no salary or closing date, and a generic image instead of a logo. The actor never fabricates a value — a `null` means the source didn't provide it. **Can I get the full job spec?** The full `description` / `descriptionText` is always included. For anything beyond what the listing states, the `externalApplyUrl` typically links to a charity's vacancy page or a downloadable PDF with the complete spec — and enabling `followExternalPages` will automatically pull a missing salary / closing date / contract / hours from that page when it's a readable web page. **Can I scrape private pages or applicant data?** No. Only the public WP-JSON endpoint. **How do I limit results?** Set `maxItems`. VAS rarely has more than 25 live vacancies, so `maxItems: 100` covers everything safely. #### 💬 Support - For issues or feature requests, please use the **Issues** tab on the actor's Apify Console page. - Author's website: - Email: #### 🛠 Additional services - Custom output shape, additional fields, or one-off datasets: - Similar scrapers for other CVS / volunteer hubs (Doing Good Leeds, VA Rotherham, York CVS, Barnsley CVS, BCVS): drop an email. - For API access (no Apify fee, just usage): #### 🔎 Explore more scrapers See other scrapers at [memo23's Apify profile](https://apify.com/memo23) — covering job boards, real estate, social media, and more. *** ### 🤖 For AI Agents & LLM Apps Compact reference for AI agents calling this actor via the [Apify MCP server](https://mcp.apify.com) or the Apify API (actor: `memo23/vassheffield-scraper`). **Purpose:** Extract Sheffield voluntary-sector vacancies from jobs.vas.org.uk as structured rows via the public WP-JSON REST API — title, sector taxonomy, mined salary/closing date/company, dates, external apply URL and full description HTML. **Minimal input:** ```json { "startUrls": ["https://jobs.vas.org.uk/current-vacancies/"], "maxItems": 50 } ``` A single vacancy is scraped by passing its page instead, e.g. `"startUrls": ["https://jobs.vas.org.uk/vacancies/office-manager/"]`. Leaving `startUrls` empty scrapes every live vacancy. **Output:** one dataset row per vacancy — `type`, `source`, `jobId`, `slug`, `jobUrl`, `wpJsonUrl`, `title`, `description`, `descriptionText`, `companyName`, `companyWebsite`, `companyDomain`, `location`, `remote`, `salary {currency, min, max, raw, unit}`, `salaryRaw`, `sectors[]`, `categories[]`, `employmentTypes[]`, `contractType`, `hours`, `postedDate`, `closingDate`, `closingDateText`, `modifiedDate`, `applyType`, `applyUrl`, `applyEmail`, `externalApplyUrl`, `featuredImageUrl`, `authorId`, `authorName`, `scrapedAt`. **Behaviors an agent should know:** - Always set `maxItems`; VAS lists ~25 live vacancies, so `maxItems: 100` covers everything. Empty `startUrls` = scrape all. - URLs are auto-classified to the canonical `/wp-json/wp/v2/vacancies` shape; sector filtering via URL query string is not supported — filter downstream. - `companyName`, `salary`, `closingDate`, `contractType`, `hours`, `location` are mined from the listing body and logo file — populated when stated, `null` otherwise (never fabricated). - `followExternalPages: true` follows each job's external apply page to fill missing salary/closingDate/contractType/hours; best-effort, one extra request per applicable job, skips PDFs and JavaScript-only boards (e.g. Workday). - Use `postedWithinHours` (e.g. 24 / 72) for daily monitoring runs. Billing: one paid event per result — no per-run compute charge. *** ### ⚠️ Disclaimer This Actor is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Voluntary Action Sheffield (VAS), jobs.vas.org.uk, or any of their subsidiaries or affiliates. All trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The scraper accesses only the publicly available WP-JSON REST endpoint and public vacancy pages on jobs.vas.org.uk — no authenticated endpoints, recruiter-only features, or content behind a login. Users are responsible for ensuring their use complies with jobs.vas.org.uk's Terms of Service, applicable data-protection law (GDPR, CCPA, etc.), and any contractual obligations of their own organisation. *** ### SEO Keywords vas sheffield scraper, scrape jobs.vas.org.uk, voluntary action sheffield jobs api, sheffield voluntary sector jobs scraper, sheffield charity jobs scraper, south yorkshire charity recruitment data, sheffield third sector jobs api, Apify vas sheffield, sheffield nonprofit jobs scraper, sheffield community sector jobs, wp-json scraper, voluntary sector hiring trends, sheffield volunteer hub api, charityjob alternative scraper, doing good leeds alternative scraper, barnsleycvs alternative scraper, va rotherham alternative scraper, uk cvs jobs scraper, voluntary sector recruitment data uk # Actor input Schema ## `startUrls` (type: `array`): Supported shapes: `https://jobs.vas.org.uk/current-vacancies/`, `https://jobs.vas.org.uk/vacancies//`, `https://jobs.vas.org.uk/wp-json/wp/v2/vacancies`, or `.../vacancies/`. Leave empty to scrape every vacancy. ## `enrichTaxonomies` (type: `boolean`): When enabled (recommended), each row carries the decoded `sector` term names (e.g. `Administration`, `Community Development`) plus featured image URL. No extra HTTP requests — uses WP-JSON `_embed`. ## `followExternalPages` (type: `boolean`): Off by default. Company, salary, closing date, contract and hours are already mined from each VAS listing. Enable this to ALSO follow a job's external apply page (charity microsites, etc.) and fill in any of those fields the VAS listing didn't state. Best-effort and slower — it adds one HTTP request per applicable job, and skips PDFs and JavaScript-only job boards (e.g. Workday) which can't be read this way. ## `postedWithinHours` (type: `integer`): Filters on each row's posted date. Set 24 for the last day, 72 for the last 3 days, etc. Leave empty (or 0) to return everything regardless of age. Rows whose source has no posted date are always kept. ## `maxItems` (type: `integer`): Hard cap on rows pushed. VAS Sheffield typically lists ~25 live vacancies — set to 100+ to scrape everything. ## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`): Maximum WP-JSON pages fetched in parallel. ## `minConcurrency` (type: `integer`): Minimum WP-JSON pages fetched in parallel. ## `maxRequestRetries` (type: `integer`): Number of retries before a failed WP-JSON request is given up. ## `proxy` (type: `object`): Leave empty — the actor already routes all traffic through its own built-in residential proxy at no extra cost to you. Only set this if you want to use your own proxies. ## Actor input object example ```json { "startUrls": [ "https://jobs.vas.org.uk/current-vacancies/" ], "enrichTaxonomies": true, "followExternalPages": false, "maxItems": 1000, "maxConcurrency": 5, "minConcurrency": 1, "maxRequestRetries": 5 } ``` # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "startUrls": [ "https://jobs.vas.org.uk/current-vacancies/" ] }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("memo23/vassheffield-scraper").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "startUrls": ["https://jobs.vas.org.uk/current-vacancies/"] } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("memo23/vassheffield-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}") for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "startUrls": [ "https://jobs.vas.org.uk/current-vacancies/" ] }' | apify call memo23/vassheffield-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,memo23/vassheffield-scraper" } } } ``` The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer ` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations). ## OpenAPI specification Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/JEv9VIQsrf9oWivxC/builds/XFUr4rgNfccmLMLDl/openapi.json