I'm in Chicago and I'd jump in a second if someone was offering a competitive salary. Nobody is budging here. They're trying to find senior devs with junior salaries.
Edit: Email me. taylor.dorsett@jobspringpartners.com or dorsetttaylor@gmail.com Linkedin page for proof that I'm real: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylordorsett
PS: Tell your client in DuPage county that they should take a break from trying to fill that GUI developer role. It's been what, 2-3 years now? It's embarrassing.
Edit: Sorry. I believe the gui role is for a contract client that is nearly always hiring. We've got two out there that are similar roles so I believe the C++ team keeps the roles posted because when they find someone with a good fit the company will always talk with/hire them.
Oh, cool. Thanks for bringing my other gripe about the Chicago scene.
Not to pick on your firm specifically, because I see this at other places like SEI and Aerotek too, but everyone is literally just out of college. And with zero tech experience. And nobody stays more than a year or two. I realize it's pretty easy to fill webdev jobs these days so maybe a tech/engineering background isn't quite necessary anymore but, MAN, you all really could benefit from some people with some experience and connections.
There's exactly one guy in the Chicago area whose calls I'll physically take because he knows his shit and has been doing this for 30 years. The rest of them are just...gone.
This is with all recruiting, maybe with the exception of in house recruiting. The % of turnover in the recruiting industry is estimated around 70% within 2 years. It's a high pressure job that depends a lot on luck (contacting the right people, they're interested in the role, they want to change roles, they pass the interviews, etc). Output (number of reach outs) is one of the few things they can control, so a lot of people go with the spray and pray method.
My advice to everyone who is working with a recruiter is look at their linkedin page, see if people have actually recommended them, and make sure they have been there for more than a year. Like you mentioned... There are good recruiters out there but most people who are good move into a higher paying sales job or go internal where there is less stress.
Chicago is, I think, a better city to consult from than SFBA is (it's close, though). There are more opportunities to do contract dev for tech companies in SFBA, of course, but contracting jobs in SFBA tend to allow remote workers. Meanwhile, the business community in Chicago is much more diverse, so if the kind of work you do is amenable to solving problems that "Fortune 500 companies that don't employ 1,000 software developers" have, Chicago is full of prospects.