THe umbrella organization for independent day schools in the US, The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) has a long and lovely list of jobs available in Ill.

http://careers.nais.org/jobs/state_province/illinois

That does mean abandoning the idea of teaching at a public school, but the world of independent day schools is wonderful and intellectually rewarding. I spent 14 years in one (as did my kids) and we had a terrific experience.

North Shore Country Day School is an exemplar of a member school

I have several friends with their teaching certificates in social studies who are unemployed. The truth of the matter is that there are more teachers then jobs in that area (just like English teachers and a couple of other endorsement areas). Your friend might want to broaden the search area – looking at many districts, and maybe head back for a second, more marketable endorsement such as special education.

Here’s a position as an English/Social Studies teacher at Morgan Park Academy, a college prep. school since 1873 in Chicago.

http://careers.nais.org/jobs/5517461/humanities-teacher

I am an English major and I now work at private school teaching ESL. The pay isn’t good but it’s experience. Tell your friend to look into private schools, ESL or otherwise (English as a Second Language) . It’s very rewarding work!

Be careful you don’t get exploited, as is happening to me at the moment..