YSK: If your instance updated to 0.18.1, there's new themes in your profile settings, including compact and pure black themes! (for the website version of lemmy, version number at bottom of page)
I really like the darkly-pureblack theme, but I wish there was also a darkly-compact-pureblack :). I also like the vaporwave themes, but I wish it would let us choose a different monospace font (or any other font for that matter).
Sorry to hear about the bad news, wish you best of luck with the job search.