I was laid off last week after working for the company for 2 years with the title of HR Generalist but doing mostly clerical work tracking new hires and background checks and doing exit interviews. I haven’t done a true generalist job since 2019-all jobs since then have been “ HR light.” Wanting to take a ‘real’ generalist job but fear that I won’t be hired as that due to my sort of gap. Any advice on how to proceed?

Since contract jobs are often easier to obtain, you may want to follow what the previous posters said, and having done that, also post your resume to the usual job boards, or perhaps ones specializing in HR positions (? This is not my area of expertise, so don't know if they exist, but you can probably Google and find out). This would allow you to "get your foot in the door" and I have found in the past that it is fairly easy to get hired into a higher level position once they see your capabilities in action.

Wishing you well!

See if there are any free certification programs available to add to your credentials during this time.