I have about nine years of IT experience, mostly in second-line support, with increasing third-line responsibilities. For the past two years my job title has been Systems Engineer, supporting roughly 400 users across 11 international sites. In practice, the role involved a mixture of first- and second-line site support, infrastructure tasks, and projects.
My experience includes endpoint management, PRTG monitoring, Windows Server 2016–2022 administration, Active Directory, DHCP, DNS, Group Policy, Hyper-V, joining around 200 devices to Entra ID, enrolling devices in Intune, onboarding them to Defender, auditing the business against Cyber Essentials, and upgrading licensing servers. However, I have limited experience with complex infrastructure troubleshooting and networking, and only basic backup and PowerShell skills.
I have been unemployed for two months and have been rejected after six interviews. Sometimes I do not even reach the technical assessment stage. I find interviews much harder than communicating at work, and English is my second language, so that may be affecting my performance. I am 46 and would prefer not to return to a purely second-line role, but I am unsure whether my experience is strong enough for third-line or systems administrator positions.
Has anyone been in a similar situation and managed to break through? What should I focus on improving: my CV, technical skills, interview technique, or a particular area of specialisation?
4 Answers
The fact that you are getting interviews suggests your background is broadly relevant. The main issue may be interview performance rather than a complete lack of technical experience. Interview nerves usually improve with deliberate practice, so try mock interviews and review which questions cause you to freeze. It is also fine to say that you are nervous, take a few seconds to think, and ask for clarification when needed. A drink and a small notepad can help you slow down and organise your thoughts. Since English is not your first language, taking an extra moment to form a precise answer is completely reasonable.
Your experience sounds closer to systems administration than ordinary second-line support. The way you present it may be holding you back, especially if your CV says you assisted with tasks rather than showing what you owned, implemented, improved, or resolved. Describe the scale and outcome of your work: how many devices you managed, what you migrated, what problems you prevented, and which systems you were responsible for. Also consider choosing one area to deepen, such as Microsoft cloud administration, Intune and security, Windows infrastructure, or PowerShell, and build a qualification or practical project around it.
That is a good point. I think I may be describing the support side too much instead of showing the engineering work and ownership.
Try to frame your examples around the difference between second-line and third-line work. Second-line support is often about resolving the immediate ticket; systems administration also involves finding the underlying cause, improving reliability, documenting the fix, and preventing the issue from returning. Prepare several examples using that structure, such as an endpoint rollout, a monitoring improvement, a server change, a security audit, or an infrastructure project. Explain the problem, your decisions, the technical work you personally carried out, and the result. Asking each interviewer for feedback may also reveal whether the problem is technical depth, communication, or simply competition in a difficult job market.
The market is difficult in many countries right now, so six unsuccessful interviews do not automatically mean you are too old or unqualified. At 46, your experience can be an advantage if you present yourself as someone who understands business impact, reliability, and ownership rather than as someone trying to compete with junior support candidates. You may also find better results by targeting roles that match your actual background, such as Microsoft systems administrator, endpoint engineer, infrastructure support engineer, or junior-to-mid-level cloud operations, instead of only applying for highly advanced third-line positions.
Thanks, I appreciate that. I communicate much more confidently during normal work than I do in interviews, so I need to practise that specific situation.