If you are graduating now or nearing the end of a postdoc, it sucks to have to go on the job market with hiring freezes being announced left and right. But there is hope. I was ~1 year from the end of my postdoc when the depth of the 2008 financial crisis became apparent. 1/4

There were job interviews to which I was invited and then disinvited when hiring freezes were imposed. My partner needed a job, imposing geographic constraints. And as a gay couple there were locations in which we just didn't feel safe living. 2/4

But we did both get stable jobs (though he spent 6 months unemployed first!), and just as importantly jobs that try to make a difference. We needs people working on public health, climate, poverty. We are seeing now how little a better smartphone or TV-watching app can help. 3/4

So I'm hoping that students and recent graduates won't despair, and will see that there are lots of people a little bit older who have gone through economic crises and watched humanity come out the other side, perhaps a little scarred but also a little wiser. 4/4