Venezuela needs help right now
And there’s a clear way to help.
Hey there,
My thoughts are with the people of Venezuela. Two large earthquakes struck northern parts of the country on June 24, and rescue teams are still working through the rubble to reach people.
I’ve worked with Venezuelans for years. They’re some of the most capable people I know, and they’ve built careers under conditions most of us never have to think about. Seeing them face this is hard.
I reached out to friends there to ask what actually helps right now. They said money for rescue efforts and shelter for families who’ve lost their homes. They pointed me to Caritas, a trusted option. Donate if you can. I’ll point to it again in the first story below.
Two other things stood out this week. Three labor reports showed layoffs are low, but getting rehired is harder. New hiring data show that half of rejected candidates never hear back from anyone, which is hurting companies’ reputations.
Let’s get into it.
🌐 News Shortlist
1. Two Earthquakes Hit Venezuela. Here’s How to Help.
Recap: On June 24, two major earthquakes struck northern Venezuela seconds apart: a 7.2 followed by a 7.5, with the epicenter in the state of Yaracuy. The worst damage hit La Guaira and Caracas. As of this week, more than 1,700 people are confirmed dead, over 10k are injured, tens of thousands are still unaccounted for, and roughly 59k buildings have been damaged or destroyed. International urban search-and-rescue teams from many countries, including the United States, are on the ground. The US government has pledged $150 million in aid. Rescue crews are still pulling survivors from collapsed buildings a week on.
Venezuela is a place full of people I work with and trust, and right now they need help.
If you’ve read this newsletter for a while, you know I don’t treat Venezuela as an abstraction. I’ve written about the World Baseball Classic win, about Maduro’s arrest, about the professionals who kept building through years most countries never have to survive. Now those same people are dealing with two earthquakes on top of everything else.
The friends I spoke to were clear about what matters at this stage. Money moves faster than goods, and it reaches rescue and shelter efforts directly. Caritas Venezuela has been among the first to respond, rooted in the territory since 1997 and maintaining a permanent presence in communities across the country.
If you employ Venezuelans, give them time. Some are checking on family and can’t work as usual right now. Let them know it’s okay to take the time they need.
Advice:
If you can, donate to a verified fund now. If you have Venezuelans on your team, let them know work can wait.
2. The Layoffs Cooled. Getting Rehired Got Harder.
Recap: Three labor reports landed this week and pointed the same direction. ADP reported that private employers added just 98k jobs in June, below the roughly 118k economists expected, with education and health services accounting for nearly half of the gains. Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported June layoffs cooled to 45,849, down 53 percent from May, but AI was the most-cited reason for cuts for the fourth month running, at 14,029 in June and 101,743 so far in 2026. Technology led every industry with 139,156 cuts year to date, up 83 percent from the same period in 2025. The Chicago Fed’s real-time model forecasts June unemployment at 4.36 percent, up from 4.30 percent, driven not by more firing but by a drop in the rehiring rate for unemployed workers, which fell to 44.45 percent from 45.69 percent in May.
The headline most people will read is that layoffs cooled. That’s true, and it doesn’t tell you much on its own. The more useful read is what comes next.
Look at the three reports together, and the picture is consistent. Hiring is slowing, not collapsing, and the slowdown is concentrated. Strip out education and health services from the ADP number, and the rest of the economy added roughly 50,000 jobs across every other sector combined. When one sector carries that much of the load, the market feels tighter to a jobseeker than the headline suggests.
The catch is in the rehiring rate. Layoffs barely moved, but the share of unemployed people finding their way back into work dropped again. That’s why the Chicago Fed expects unemployment to tick up. It’s more of a hiring problem than a firing problem. If you have a job, you’re likely keeping it. If you’re looking for one, the door is narrower than the low layoff numbers suggest.
For employers, the job market is slow. Fewer candidates have multiple offers, so you can take your time to find the right person. But waiting too long for the “perfect” candidate can cost you, including in Latin America.
Advice:
Be clear about what you need in a role and act when you find the right candidate. Don’t delay decisions just because the market feels slow.
3. Half Your Rejected Candidates Never Hear From a Human.
Recap: A 2026 Enhancv survey found that 50.5 percent of job seekers were rejected at least once in the past year without a single word from a human, and 63.8 percent of that group believed a machine made the call. Only 9.7 percent said an employer had ever clearly told them AI was involved in a decision. Separate research found 70 percent of candidates who went through an AI interview weren’t told upfront that AI would evaluate them, 34 percent came away with a more negative view of the employer, and 38 percent had already withdrawn from a hiring process specifically because it used an AI interview.
I wrote about this on LinkedIn this week because a reader sent me a rejection email that contradicted itself twice in three sentences. It said they’d picked other candidates, then said the role was closing, then encouraged the person to keep applying for the role that no longer existed. The candidate had no idea what actually happened, and that confusion was the whole message.
The data says this isn’t a one-off. Half of jobseekers were turned down last year without ever hearing from a person, and most of them assumed a machine made the decision. For example, a candidate completes an AI screening, receives an automated “no,” and never learns whether a human ever saw the application. That experience is what they remember, and it’s what they tell other people.
Why does this matter? Every candidate you reject could be a customer, referral, or future hire. Many companies automate rejections without thinking. A clear, honest “no” earns respect. Confusing, automated messages can hurt your reputation, especially if you’re hiring a lot.
Rejection is unavoidable. Confusion and disrespect aren’t. If you’re going to tell someone no, the least you can do is make the message clear and make sure a person stands behind it.
Advice:
Check the rejection messages your system sends and read them as a candidate would. If a person isn’t reviewing decisions or the wording isn’t clear, you’re risking your reputation for the sake of speed.
That is it for this week.
Venezuela is facing a crisis, and the most useful thing right now is to donate to a verified fund and give Venezuelan colleagues space. Job market reports show layoffs are low, but finding new work is hard, so clear, patient hiring helps. The AI rejection data shows that treating candidates well shapes your reputation.
The trends that move first are the ones worth watching now. That’s what this newsletter is here for. It’s also what we help clients with every week at lupahire.com.
Until next time,
Joseph Burns
CEO & Founder, Lupa