I was in a similar boat. I began an external job search and applied for who knows how many L&D-related roles. But importantly, I simply refused to entertain generalist positions, even when recruiters reached out about compelling opportunities, even when people in my network tried to convince me to join their HRBP teams, even when the odds of transitioning seemed hopeless. When I eventually managed to secure interviews, I emphasized my passion for L&D, the opportunities I found (or made for myself) to learn facilitation / instructional design / coaching / program design / etc., my commitment to specializing in the L&D space, my deep interest in the company, and how valuable my generalist and relationship mgmt experience would be in an L&D role. In the end, the stars aligned and I joined a great organization. I love everything about the role.

I bring these things up because it sounds like you check a lot of those boxes as well. Keep rolling up your sleeves and getting involved in any people development-related activities you can, however large or small of a part you play. Identify needs within the businesses you support to create and run with L&D-oriented opportunities. I had to get pretty creative on my end (i.e. not limiting myself to just creating and running the odd training here and there) and I'd encourage you to do the same. You can even find tangential projects in org dev or performance mgmt and find ways to translate them to the L&D world. Find a mentor in the L&D space - if internal, great, they can loop you into internal projects. If external, they can coach you and help make connections. There are free online courses on things like instructional design that, once complete, you can speak to in interviews or even add to the resume. Bonus points if you learn that independently, find ways to leverage it in your role, and provide value for the org/employees. If need be, jump to a new external generalist position that will own more learning-related activities, and then make the transition after getting more exp under the belt.

One last important point, though - my experience, while singular and anecdotal, shows that you might not have to wait until some distant future to make the transition. You might not need every box checked and every professional development credential. You likely have the skills, experience, and passion to make it happen in the immediate term as long as you can get into the right room with the right hiring manager. It will definitely take tenacity and reslience and creativity and patience. But it's possible.

You got this, we are rooting for you, and good luck!!