But how do you find a 'desperate' company?
That is a good question. Why do some jobs on computerjobs.com and similar sites seem to never be filled? Others are snapped up in seconds.
I wanted to stay in Chicagoland. There were, and are, many high paying jobs in Chicagoland I could do (eg IT fire fighting). But none were my "cup of tea". So I went to cornland where where I love it; perfect fit for my skills and interests. This job had been open over a year with the company aggressively trying to fill it. It has ben unable to fill other positions either because other people are not willing to work in cornland nor in a satelite city on the edge of cornland.
(The job of the person I mentored is in no way related to my situation.)
P{reviously in Chicagoland the person in the cubicle on one side of me was a geek with low self-esteem who worked for %15,000/yr. He would have done it for free. He loved what he did and was good at it. On the other side of me was a guy who made $200,000 to advise the company on future IT direction... and all he did was plagiarize magazine articles into Word without credit to the authors. There was no rhyme or reason to the articles he presented as his own ideas. My income was in the middle.
Some people are lousy negotiators and don't recognize their worth, or their ability to sell themselves. Others are great negotiators and sell the sizzle. Life is not fair.