Web Scraping and Automating Job Search with Python, and Visualizing Data with Power BI
The goal of this project was to create a Python script that scrapes job postings from Finn.no, a popular Norwegian classified advertisements website. The script allows users to specify their desired job position and then retrieve relevant job listings from the website’s search results page. The extracted job data is saved to a CSV file for further analysis or reference.
The extracted job data is then imported into Power BI Desktop for visualization and analysis. Finally, the report is published to Power BI Service and configured with scheduled data refresh using a gateway.
Solution
The solution utilizes the BeautifulSoup library for web scraping and Requests library for making HTTP requests. The user inputs their desired job position, and the script generates the corresponding search URL for finn.no. It then fetches the HTML content of the search results page, parses it using BeautifulSoup, and extracts relevant job posting information such as job title, company, location, and description. Finally, the extracted job data is processed and saved to a CSV file.
Once the job data is gathered, it is imported into Power BI Desktop, where a report is created to visualize various job market trends and insights. The report is then published to Power BI Service, allowing for easy access and sharing with stakeholders. To ensure the data remains up-to-date, a gateway is configured on the Power BI Service to schedule a data refresh at regular intervals.
Conclusion
By combining Python web scraping with Power BI, you can automate the job search process, gain valuable insights into the job market, and easily share your findings with stakeholders. This project demonstrates the power of leveraging multiple tools and technologies to solve real-world problems and drive informed decision-making.
You can find the complete code for this project on GitHub. Feel free to customize and extend it to suit your specific needs or integrate it into your own projects.
Happy job hunting and data analyzing!