By now, Ash said, she had expected to have found work in the field or mental health. But her optimism began fading with summer's arrival, because she knows that hiring tends to freeze as the mercury rises.

"I came here for the opportunities, but things seem to be moving pretty slowly lately," said Ash, 26, who is living in a shelter here after migrating from the Florida Panhandle.

With the nation's unemployment rate at a nine-year high of 6.1 percent (3.8 percent in Hawai'i) and the number of long-term unemployed — defined as those out of work for at least six months — recently rising to its highest mark since the early 1980s, millions of job hunters are reaching the desperation point in their quest at precisely the wrong time.

During the summer, employment experts say, a flood of cheap student labor fills short-term hiring gaps, and many human resources types hit the beach, leaving stacks of résumés to gather dust until after Labor Day, when hiring tends to surge again.

Bureau of Labor Statistics data suggest that hiring lags most in July and August and the first few months of the year.

"There is a tendency to have hiring slowdowns in the summer months because of slow business, vacations and ... help from college interns," said Garth Young, a partner in the Indianapolis office of Management Recruiters International, a recruitment firm.

"On the other hand, if individuals with families are going to make a move, the time they want to do it is in the summer to avoid problems with school systems. So you have a little bit of a conflict there — businesses slow down just when people are looking," Young said.

When the dot-com bubble burst in spring 2000, many newly unemployed Internet gurus could afford to relax by the pool for the summer before finding their next paycheck. Today, however, more and more job seekers say that pausing their search is just not an option.

"I have to keep looking. I can't afford to stop just because it's summer," said Ash, who has secured several interviews in recent weeks but no firm offers. "I have been out of a job too long."

Kevin Barenblat, who just graduated from Harvard Business School, said he sent out about 100 résumés over the course of the academic year. He's still looking.

"I go through spurts where I think about taking some time off (from the job search), but not a whole summer" said Barenblat, 29, who is looking for work in Boston, New York or Washington.

Most job-hunting specialists say that Barenblat and other job seekers are wise to continue the chase, even if companies don't seem to be paying attention.

"It's true that once August rolls around, few decisions get made," said Charles Ingersoll, a client partner in the Washington office of Korn/Ferry International, a placement firm. "But from a strategy perspective, the summer can actually be a good time for people to position themselves" for September and October, which he calls "tremendous hiring months."

Many companies he works with do not experience severe hiring lulls in the summer, especially if their sales volume does not vary significantly by season, Ingersoll said. And in the summer, "people aren't as busy, so they may actually have more time to meet with you."

Lisa Stewart, the public relations director for Washington Marriott and Renaissance hotels, said fewer workers are hired for hourly positions, such as housekeeping and banquet services, because of decreased summer demand for hotel rooms and receptions. But Marriott hires managers in sales and operations year-round.

"When you need someone, you need someone," Stewart said. "You don't just keep those positions empty."

Jeffrey Wenger, an economist from the Economic Policy Institute who studies long-term unemployment, said that the summer is prime hiring time for construction and other outdoor jobs. But overall, he said, it could be a long, hot summer for those pounding the pavement.