If you're looking for a job in St.John's, you've got your work cut out for you. At least that's according to a recent Manpower Employment Outlook Survey.

Hiring is down 20 per cent compared to this time last year. Only 10 per cent of employers plan to hire in the coming months.

With few opportunities on the horizon, business owners and prospective employees are forced to make tough choices.

Tiffany Palmer lost her job as a mechanical engineer in the oil and gas industry in 2014. She was pregnant at the time and spent the following year at home with her new baby, looking for work.

"I was applying to things, I wasn't getting any callbacks, nothing. I was starting to get nervous," Palmer said.

"I kind of had to draw the line and say 'ok, this engineering thing is not panning out. I have to do something else in the meantime until the economy picks up again,' So, I decided to open a dayhome."

From major projects, to small jobs

Business owners have had to make serious cutbacks in response to the economic downturn.

"Over the last year we've went from major, major projects to very small jobs," said Harry Bartlett, who has been running H.J. Bartlett Electrical for 25 years.

"We went from over 100 tradesmen down to 30 and it's a struggle to just to keep those guys going. The revenue is just not there as it used to be."

It's a struggle to just to keep those guys going - Harry Bartlett

Dozens of resumes land on Bartlett's desk every week from apprentices and highly skilled journeypersons looking for work.

His advice? "Find ways to get out and get moving because if you sit around you aren't going to find anything."