How to deal with non-technical HR?

I’m trying to switch from process operator to field IT support and applied last week at a local SME.

Without an IT degree or relevant work experience, you have to demonstrate your knowledge in other ways, and I seem to be struggling with that. I had anticipated this and decided to describe in my cover letter that I have a “broad general IT knowledge” and to support that with a computer vision project I built in the previous weeks: a bird feeder with pigeon repellent (ESP32 + relay + water pump) and Telegram integration via the Bot API. A bit of overkill considering the job I’m applying for, but I thought it would land me some points since it’s quite technical and involves networking (the company emphasizes networking).

Then I got a call from an HR employee who was clearly external (she’s based in Limburg while the SME is in East Flanders), and what followed was pretty much the worst job interview I’ve ever had.

She kept going on about that “broad general knowledge” in a way that was at least equally vague, and didn’t ask a single technical, targeted question. It literally felt like we didn’t understand each other. Besides saying I was “passionate” and “motivated,” she didn’t have anything positive to say. Turns out she didn’t even looked at my project (I asked politely).

Since that conversation, I’ve been wondering what I could’ve done better. Was this just bad luck and part of the process, or should I have kept things more “basic” as well and just said that I’m comfortable with all operating systems, have a good knowledge of (network) hardware, etc.