Use every "unfair advantage" you have. I graduated during the height of the Great Recession, and I weathered it using the fact that I was already involved in undergraduate research and that I'm a US citizen.
My research supervisor had funding for someone who can work on ITAR-restricted projects, and I was the perfect fit for that. I made money earning my graduate degree. Afterwards, I used my research experience and connections to land a full-time job at an FFRDC [1], which only hires US citizens. I learned a lot from my group there, and it set me up for even more future opportunities. Those "unfair advantages" made life much easier for me during a tough market.
My research supervisor had funding for someone who can work on ITAR-restricted projects, and I was the perfect fit for that. I made money earning my graduate degree. Afterwards, I used my research experience and connections to land a full-time job at an FFRDC [1], which only hires US citizens. I learned a lot from my group there, and it set me up for even more future opportunities. Those "unfair advantages" made life much easier for me during a tough market.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federally_funded_research_and_...