Ive heard it said that its better to hire an underqualified person that you work with easily than an overqualified person that you work with poorly.

The reason is that you can TEACH the underqualified person to do what you need as they are easy to work with. The person who thinks they know everything already may be less inclined to listen to you and your needs, especially if you are trying to teach them something.

Just because there are "IT Pros" out of work doesnt mean that I'd want to hire from that pool of people, talented or not. People arent always out of work through unfortunate circumstance. Some refuse work based on a perceived reduction of rank or pay. Some people have bought themselves into a hole and genuinely need to wait until they find a job that pays at or above some inflated wage they earned in a bubble.

Again, lots of IT Pros out of work... could just be a lot of poor matches to local IT needs. People who wont move to where the work is. People who wont work at what the going rate is. People who find it hard to take direction. ...Know any IT people like that?