u/Vanityless

Hey everyone,

I need a reality check on my interview approach. I’ve had several interviews for IT support roles lately, and getting past the initial recruiter chat is never an issue.

When I make it to round two with the IT leads/hiring managers, I honestly walk away feeling confident. I answer all their technical and troubleshooting questions without freezing up, and the conversations feel solid. But the rejections keep rolling in at this stage, so I’m clearly missing something specific they want to hear.

I’ve been reading up on how to fix this, but the advice feels all over the place. Half the stuff I see pushes rigid frameworks like Amazon’s STAR method, while the other half says to just "be yourself and show passion."

For IT managers or people who’ve cracked this:

Is there a specific way IT leads want troubleshooting scenarios broken down that goes beyond just giving the right technical answer?

Does using rigid frameworks like STAR actually help for technical support interviews, or does it come off scripted?

What are some subtle green/red flags you listen for when a candidate seems confident but still misses the mark?

How can I actually practice and get realistic feedback on what I'm saying before my next interview?

Hey everyone,

I’m hoping to get some advice from people actually working in the field. I’ve been trying to transition into a proper Help Desk / IT Support role for a while now, but I’m hitting a wall when it comes to landing interviews.

I feel like I have a decent foundation, but I want to know if there's a gap in my experience that I'm just not seeing.

Here is a quick rundown of my background:

Education & Certs: Recent grad with a BS in Computer Science, and I hold an active CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701).

Current Role: Working as a Hardware Technician. My day-to-day involves hardware audits, data sanitization, and large-scale OS reimaging on laptops.

Past Experience: Spent about two years doing media systems support, which involved a lot of real-time troubleshooting and customer service during live events.

Home Lab: To make up for my lack of enterprise IT experience, I recently built out a virtual environment using VirtualBox with Windows Server 2022 and Active Directory to practice domain controller configuration and user management.

Despite this, I’m getting ghosted or rejected for standard Tier 1/Tier 2 help desk roles.
Am I aiming too high or too low? Is there a specific skill or certification (like the A+ or Network+) that hiring managers want to see despite my degree and Sec+? Any brutal honesty or resume advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance.