I have a "XML like" file <...>

If you don't want to write a custom parser from scratch or within the framework something like Parse::RecDescent provides, you'll need to convert your file into valid XML before you could use XML::Parser or XML::Simple.

But if you do, doing what you need is a cinch ...

use XML::Simple;

my $xml = XMLin(<<__XML__);
  <posts>
    <post>
      <jobnumber>1234</jobnumber>
      <location>Somecity, NJ</location>
    </post>
    <post>
      <jobnumber>87922</jobnumber>
      <location>Othercity, AK</location>
    </post>
  </posts>
__XML__

foreach my $post ( @{ $xml->{'post'} } ) {
  print "City: $post->{'location'}\n";
}
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    --k.