Professional Struggles with SOC Job Applications Despite Experience and Education

A Canada-based professional with 1 year 8 months of SOC T1 experience, 1 year 6 months in software development, 1 year 6 months as a Jr. Sysadmin, and 10 months in T3 IT Support has applied to ~200 SOC T1/T2 jobs over 3 years, receiving only one phone screening in 2023 and mostly rejections or no responses. They hold a Bachelor’s in Cybersecurity, MS-900, and a firewall-related vendor certification but lack major security certifications like Security+. For general IT roles, they typically secure an offer after ~80 applications and 3 months.