Are you feeling the heat? Is the weather hot enough for you? Well welcome to the dog days of summer. I know that many of you have heard that expression and have some idea to what it refers. For the longest time I thought it actually had something to do with real dogs, chows, dachshunds, labs and mutts all getting together and avoiding the heat. But just so that we all understand the term, here is the Wikipedia definition.

"Dog Days" (Latin: diēs caniculārēs) are the hottest, most sultry days of summer. In the northern hemisphere, they usually fall between early July and early September. In the southern hemisphere they are usually between January and early March. The actual dates vary greatly from region to region, depending on latitude and climate. Dog Days can also define a time period or event that is very hot or stagnant, or marked by dull lack of progress. The name comes from the ancient belief that Sirius, also called the Dog Star, in close proximity to the sun was responsible for the hot weather.

So it wasn’t about real dogs but about the Dog Star, Sirius. So now we know. But the part of the definition that applies to business, any business is “Dog Days can also define a time period or event that is very hot or stagnant, or marked by dull lack of progress. “ I have found that many businesses experience stagnant periods where there is a marked lack of progress. And that this usually occurs during this time of year, the Dog Days of Summer.

There are as many reasons for this as there are different types of businesses.  Manufacturing plants may close part of their processes to allow many employees time for vacation; schools close for the summer for the same reason; technology companies may plan new product releases for the holiday season and won’t begin ramping up until after Labor Day; service companies may want to close deals but can’t without the vacationing decision makers; construction companies may hold off new projects for weather related reasons.

In just about every business the Dog Days of Summer are vacation time and when employees are on vacation things sometimes get delayed and there is a marked lack of progress. Things move a little slower and those employees who are not on vacation are wishing that they were and can’t wait until their vacation starts. Stagnation has set in.

So what can a business leader do? We know that we can’t do anything about the actual weather, when it’s hot, it’s hot! We can however do something about the stagnation and lack of progress in our own companies, departments, business units.

We can HIRE!

Bringing a New Hire into your company, department or business unit creates excitement, it generates activity and sends a strong message to your employees that their company is moving forward and plans to be successful and profitable. It also acts as a counter to all of the negative, doom and gloom chatter that all of us hear everyday. It is a way of saying “things are not so bad, the economy won’t be down forever and we as a company are going to do something about it.”

And it could all start with the small business owner. There are 28.6 million small businesses in the US and a small business is defined as under 100 employees (manufacturing), 40 employees (service/retail) and under $50 million in annual revenue.

According to the Depart of Labor, the most recent figures show that there are currently 13.9 million people unemployed. If only it were this simple to put our country back on the right track and fix the economy by having just half of the small business owners hire one unemployed person.

Possible? 

For those of us in the talent acquisition business we know that the world does not work that way. Yes there are many jobs out there and yes there are many people looking for work but finding the right person with the right skills for the right job is and always will be the challenge. Which is why our company, Q4B and others in the recruiting business are in demand and should continue to grow.

So to do our part in weathering the dog days of summer, Q4B just recently added a new member to our Sales and Marketing team, Jennifer Brownell. We are excited and we feel that this new addition has sent a strong, positive message to our other team members and will help move the economy in a small way.

Now it is your turn. Anybody hiring?