Thing is I'm still about 4-5 months out from acquiring my ccnp and while I know the material I don't have any real world experience with routers and switches. Even the NOC jobs around my way requires experience.. I've yet to get a call back from a networking application.. I've gotten a lot of helpdesk/support call backs and 3 interviews though..
Yeah, you're gonna have to roll with a helpdesk job and work your way up. Even with a CCNP, you're probably not getting a networking job with no experience.
As far as AD experience, most of the basic helpdesk functions (creating accounts, resetting passwords, creating groups, etc.) are pretty self-explanatory so you can honestly just bullshyt it. Just look up a few Youtube videos of people unlocking accounts and shyt and you should honestly be good.