I often read posts here about HR Administrators who are frustrated because they have many years of experience in HR and all the necessary qualifications, yet still can't move up to an HR Advisor level role.

However, is either part of or the main reason primarily due to the fact that they are not currently working as or have never previously worked as an HR Advisor, so although they may hold the CIPD Level 7, are purely relying on that alone but still do not have the relevant and necessary level of matching experience?

Thus, and more to the point, even if they obtained such a role, could they actually do the job from a capability standpoint, which is perhaps a key concern in the mind of employers?

There is an age old saying that 'if you want a job in Dubai, you already need to be in Dubai.' It is ten times more difficult trying to do and set it up from the UK via a Skype interview. 

And the same in this case. If you want to become an HR Advisor or an HRBP, you already essentially need to currently be one, working as one and also hold a demonstrated track record of experience as one for many years. You are either one or not.  

Very few Junior or Trainee HR Advisor or HRBP roles exist, as they all presume as a certain prerequisite x amount of years of experience behind you. Chances are that people are also directly competing with Senior HR Advisors and Senior HRBP's for these roles as well. 

A course, however good, is still not the same or a direct compensatory substitute for experience. At the end of the day it is not a job. 

Thus, it may be a very complex and rigid system, but is the fact of the matter here that there is no real easy answer or solution to this, which is another 'catch 22' and 'chicken and egg' scenario. You either by hook or crook somehow 'bridge the experience gap' or not. 

However, can what ultimately do it and indeed break the ice is that if you pay your dues, put in the time and clock up some 5-10 years experience as an HR Administrator, the sheer longevity of a decade's worth of time served behind you mean that you should automatically translate and evolve into default into becoming one? 

You are not presently working as one, but you are sitting in that environment on a daily basis with your eyes and ears open and hence exposed to all the conversations going on around you by them. 

Any thoughts?