Conventional wisdom says hiring slows in August. Schedules become harder to coordinate. Vacations disrupt interview processes. Hiring managers assume candidates are distracted.
But hiring activity continues.
Zeki analysis of hiring activity between 2021 and 2025 found that August ranked as the fifth strongest hiring month across the period, accounting for 9.25% of annual hires. That’s virtually identical to July (9.27%) and only marginally behind September (9.65%). Across all five years analysed, August consistently represented between 8.61% and 9.97% of annual hiring activity, showing no evidence of a systematic seasonal slowdown.
The finding is consistent with broader labour market data. LinkedIn’s Workforce Report found U.S. hiring was essentially unchanged between July and August 2025, reinforcing the idea that hiring activity remains resilient during a period many employers assume is quiet. National labour market data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics tells a similar story, with millions of hires continuing to take place throughout August each year.
The assumption that hiring pauses until September is not reflected in the data. That distinction matters because hiring success is often determined by competition as much as candidate availability. If fewer companies are actively recruiting while candidates continue making career decisions, August becomes an opportunity rather than a challenge.
A Pattern Zeki Has Seen Before
This finding is consistent with broader research from Zeki on AI talent mobility.
January and August emerged as recurring periods of increased movement among top AI talent in the United States in Zeki’s State of AI Talent 2025 report. The dataset tracks long-term net flows of elite AI talent and revealed seasonal patterns that persisted even when viewed through rolling averages designed to smooth short-term volatility.
The broader trend of changing AI talent flows identified by Zeki was reported by Semafor, which highlighted shifts in where elite AI professionals choose to build their careers. The hiring patterns observed in August align with the wider picture of a talent market that remains active even when conventional wisdom suggests otherwise.
Zeki’s recent analysis shows scale-up hiring accelerating following the slowdown of 2023. Engineering hiring continues to expand, science and research hiring remain strong, and GTM hiring is growing particularly quickly. At the same time, more experienced talent from major technology companies is moving into scale-ups.
August consistently remains active as a hiring month despite the widespread belief that it is not. And whenever perception falls behind reality, opportunities emerge for the companies paying attention first.